The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Page 6 ROTARY PARK SUPPLEMENT Wednesday, May 29,1996 A Tribute William Colville • Alexander Colville • John Colville William Freeborne Colville 29 April, 1917 to 6 May, 1942 by Laura J. Richards The mid-afternoon crash of a Hudson aircraft #761 in Torbay, Newfoundland, snuffed out the lives of two pilots and six other Air Force personnel, including a Bowmanville man. Killed in the crash and explosion explosion was William (Bill) Freeborne Colville, the second second son of Alexander and Josephine Colville. Bill was a Flight Sergeant Pilot with the #11 Bomber Reconnaissance Squadron. Bill Calver, who has been researching local residents who served in the wars, said the plane stalled, crashed and burned at the end of the runway. The Lockheed Hudson had risen about 50 feet into the air, before it went astray. Bill is buried in the Gander Cemetery in Gander, Newfoundland. Upon his gravestone plot 3, row 3, grave 15, his mother, Josephine, had made sure it was inscribed: "We love you so, Darling Bill. He gave his today for our tomorrow." Bill was the second Colville son who went to war. He followed in the footsteps of older brother, Alex, in many ways. Like his brother, he was an avid sports enthusiast. Like his brother, he aspired to be a pilot. Connie Hooey, a niece who lived with the Colville family for a while during the war years, says: "There's a lot of conflicting reasons as to why the plane went down." She wondered out loud if "it could have been sabotage. sabotage. The plane wasn't that high off the ground when it came down." Connie said, when the family got word that Bill's plane had crashed, taking the lives of all on board, her mother, Margaret, seemed to know. "Mom had a funny feeling when she was at the (Goodyear) plant," she recalled. Her mother was visited at the plant by the foreman, who gave her the bad news. "I came home from school and granny was crying and Mom came home from the Goodyear Plant," Connie said of the first time she learned that one of her uncles had been killed. Looking back at happier times, when her uncles were alive and at home, Connie said the brothers were popular guys and there were always lots of people around before Bill enlisted and afterwards. Bill was a tennis player. "We used to go together (as a family) to watch Bill play tennis," she said. After he enlisted, he (as did his brothers) brought friends home from Oshawa to spend an evening meal with the family and have fun. "They would come to have supper and play piano. "Sometimes you had to have a lottery ticket to get to the table," she added, smiling. She remembers a couple of times when "Jo's boys" would be flying over Bowmanville and "they would tip the wings and buzz the houses. The neighbours would have fits." She noted that her uncle had been engaged to a girl from Victoria, British Columbia. After the war, the young woman visited the Colville family. A Hudson bomber -A - j p .A if|i y y I Si y à. i- j LJ' W'vyJL A. %s/t> À. A a A %/. n b ofri A ri ; |t i fi--** I.; fi s i . v ■ LA ■ llvllv U Alexander Colborne Colville 19 September, 1915 to 16 March 1944 by Laura J. Richards Pilot officer Alexander (Alex) Colbome Colville could have been a professional football player for Ottawa. That's what a number of local residents remember about the man who was reported as missing after an air operation on March 16, 1944. He was the second of the three Colville brothers, all pilots, to be killed during the Second World War. Alex was the second child and first son of Alexander and Josephine Colville, who lived in Bowmanville. Niece Connie Hooey, who spent a few years in her grandparents' home during World War Two, recalls she was the unfortunate person who was at home when the news of her uncle came to the family. "I answered the door for that one," she said in an interview recently. "You knew when someone was standing there with a telegram, it was bad news." Bill Calver, a World War Two pilot who has researched the lives of the Colville brothers, said Alex was flying his third mission when he was shot down. He and a crew of seven in a Lancaster #11718 went missing from night operations operations over Stuttgart, Germany. He was never heard of again. But that didn't stop Connie's mother, Margaret, Alex's oldest sister from hoping that he was still alive. "Mom always felt he really wasn't dead. She could never settle herself," Connie said. Connie pointed out that there were many families who felt that way during and after the war about family members. "A lot of families on both sides of the war had ones that just didn't come home ." On the night Alex was shot down, so were two other Bowmanville men -- 20-year-old Kenneth Cole and 21-year-old Lome Yeo. Lome and Alex went missing over Stuttgart, while Kenneth was shot down near Monchberg, also over Germany. His body was never found, but his name is commemorated at the Runnymede Memorial outside of London, England. A letter from Rev. Martin Harrison, for the parishes of Skelton with Shipton and Newton- on-Ouse, England, wrote to Bill Calver: "Alec (Alex) Colville was based at R.A.F. Linton-on- Ouse and he flew from there in March of 1944 never to return. "Such selfless sacrifice and bravery as shown by him and the other Colville brothers, is an inspiration to all of us who value our freedom. freedom. It also acts as a reminder that as peoples of the World we have a responsibility in caring for each other's good and well-being." Rev. Harrison concludes his letter by stating that, during the church service on Sunday, June 2, "we will be giving thanks for all who, like the Colville brothers, gave their lives that we might be free. "We will particularly be remembering those from the Royal Canadian Air Force who gave their lives and served so far away from their own homes and country. I hope that you will be able to express our best wishes, love and prayers to all who attend your service in Bowmanville," Rev. Harrison wrote. Alec was the recipient of a variety of medals and decorations including the 1939-45 Star, Air Crew Europe Star, Defence Medal, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Clasp and War Medal 1939-45. He served in Canada, Newfoundland and overseas. What could be more fun than to have a popular teenager as a friend and playmate? That seems to be the thought in this young lady's eyes as she (Conney Hooey, nee King) poses with her uncle, Alex Colville.