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

Eric Timms i in detail to escort I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been able to interview at least a dozen WWII veterans for previous issues of Focus on Scugog magazine and I always sit in awe as these courageous men and women replay events from their past. can always sense the trauma when they share their feelings and am reminded how fortunate our generation has been not to have been directly involved in global war- fare. Another reward I cherish from these con- versations is the immense amount of history they share and once again this year I was pleasantly surprised. Just to back up a little, on a recent trip to Norway, I learned that King Haakon VII spent the war years in England. At the time I did not give it much thought, but in talking with one of Port Perry Villa’s residents, I wr \ (we) Bie) sie) 905-985- sass 1565 Highway 7A, Port Pert i} www. taylorfordsales. com 42 FOCUS - NOVEMBER 2012 ‘11.NOVEMBER.56 final indd 42 learned that Eric Timms was part of the detail responsible for King Haakon’s safe return to Norway at the end of the war. Eric, born in the city of Manchester, UK, like so many men of his day, joined the Royal Navy on his 18th birthday. “I volunteered,” he explained, “because I wanted to join the Navy. If you wait for them (the government) to select you, they will probably put you in the infantry and I hated walking.” Eric’s first assignment was basic training in Scot- land; followed by a posting to the HMS Onslow (fans of Keeping Up Appearances will know the name). He was trained as a coder, a person who translates messages sent to the ship. “It was great, because I would always know what was happening before anyone else,” Eric smiled as he reminisced. Eric married his sweetheart Lillian in the early years of the war, but spent most of his time patrolling the Scottish coast. “We would go 10 days up and 10 days down and if we were lucky we would get a day off in between.” “Transporting King Haakon VII back to Norway ‘was a very top secret event,” Eric explained. Very few people knew of the trek and fortunately, as a result of the crew’s diligence, the mission was successful. The Eric Timms Pm lovin’ it. 12-10-22 8:29AM