10 - The Oakville Beaver, Friday November 10, 2006 www.oakvillebeaver.com Veteran glider pilot recalls Operation Overlord By Krissie Rutherford OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF World War II glider pilot Jack Robson made holding the attention of a group of more than 30 Grade 8 students look easy Wednesday at Eastview Public School. The 87-year-old veteran told his captivated crowd of his contribution in June 1944 to the Allied surprise invasion of the Germans at Normandy. The largest invasion force in history, June 6 is regarded the most famous of all D-Days. "It was called Operation Overlord," said the medal-clad Robson, whose visit was organized as a lead-up to Remembrance Day and was part of a national program called the Memory Project. Operation Overlord, Robson explained, while showing slides of maps and wartime pictures, was planned to deliver both men and equipment to the beaches of Normandy for the surprise invasion. It's something glider pilots like Robson were instrumental in doing. "The gliders had an 88-ft. wingspan," he told students, while showing a slide. "It looked like an airplane, but unfortunately it didn't have an engine. "It was towed and took off with a tug at a rope, which was about 100 yards long." To land the plane, Robson explained, flaps were dropped down at the gliders' sides to stop the momentum, "and you dropped right down." Another way to land was the dive approach, which meant the pilot would put the nose down about a mile from the target. "You'd get right down on the ground and you had enough momentum to keep going along the ground and sneak in," said Robson. Six gliders were sent to Pegasus bridge at Benouville for a night drop off, which Robson said, "was considered one of the best flying episodes in the whole of WWII." FRED OLIVER - Regional & Town Council Ward 2 NOTICE WARD 2 RESIDENTS on November 13th VOTE FRED OLIVER SEE THE FRED OLIVER AD IN TOMORROW'S OAKVILLE BEAVER THE ONLY CANDIDATE IN WARD 2 WITH Y TOWN AND REGIONAL COUNCIL EXPERIENCE. 905-849-5669 Email: fred.oliver@hotmail.com ELECT MARY CHAPIN Ward 3 Councillor Quality of Life y preserving and protecting our neighbourhoods, environment, health & safety Development p "intensification" that makes sense in the community, no unnecessary or intrusive development. Fiscal Accountability y We pay for what we get and we should get what we pay for more services and amenities needed for Ward 3 families "Mary has served her (school board) constituents with great energy and dedication. She is respected for her wisdom and her sincere desire to represent her community in a highly moral and ethical manner. The voices of her constituents will be effectively presented at Oakville Town Council." Ethel Gardiner, Past Chair, Halton District School Board. "I will be your FULL-TIME Councillor for Ward 3" Phone: 905-337-8285 Visit: www.marychapin.ca For the benefits of EXPERIENCE and COMMITMENT ELECT MARY CHAPIN He and a group of other gliders flew to another bridge in France to make their nighttime drops. "The night time drop offs weren't easy, if you can imagine. And if the weather wasn't calm, it took a tremendous amount of physical effort," he said, adding the gliders were manned by two pilots. "It helps to have another guy to take over part of it, one might get shot at, or sometimes the two of you work together if the weather is bad." And flying a glider while an assault was underway was no easy task. "When there's an assault if you can imagine, you've got planes with paratroopers, maybe between 500-600 aircrafts on the field," he said. "It's a very dicey thing to fly one of those gliders into that situation." So dangerous, in fact, that in the photo Robson showed of 13 glider pilots in their 20s, just three, including himself, survived. Students had a number of questions following the presentation, including whether Robson was scared. "I don't remember being scared because we were so stupid," he said, drawing a laugh from the students. "We just thought it was a wonderful opportunity to show what we could do." The June 6 invasion included nearly 133,000 troops from Canada, England and the United States, and casualties from the three countries numbered 10,300 during the landing. Luckily, Robson escaped with some scratches and an injury from shrapnel. The landings, though, didn't always work out as planned. "One time I came into land and I found it was a very expensive landing," he said, in response to a student's question. "I took out two roofs, hit off the chimney of one home and killed a farmer's pig," he explained. The training he had to go through, students discovered, was just over one year long and included an Air Force exam and two stints in Battle School. "They tried to give you the same conditions you had in a battle," said Robson, who enlisted at age 19. "By the end of three weeks you ran six miles with 60 pounds on your back and a rifle in your hand." Once he passed that, Elementary Flying School was VICTORIA ROBERTS / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER WAR STORIES: World War II veteran Jack Robson speaks of his experience in the war to the Grade 8 students at Eastview Public School on Wednesday. He's pictured here as the students and Oakville MPP listen intently to his story. next only about 25 of every "Sometimes I think we 100 who applied passed flying take those sacrifices they school and became pilots. gave for us for granted," he "You're 21 or 22, and the added, encouraging students government puts you in a nice to attend the Remembrance little airplane and says, `Go fly Day parade in town to give it,'" he said. thanks. "We lost quite a few men in The Grade 8 students are elementary pilot training, not also taking a trip to Europe to mention during battle." next March to visit WWI It's those men who gave up and WWII sites and memotheir lives to serve their country rials. that Robson and Oakville MPP "Just be happy that you've Kevin Flynn, who was also in got the freedom. That's what attendance Wednesday, urged those guys fought for," said the students to recognize on Robson. Nov. 11. "It's not the ones that lived, "Some very, very brave peo- it's the ones that died that are ple gave up the biggest thing the real heroes." you can give up. They put -- Krissie Rutherford can be their lives on the line," said reached at krutherford@oakvilleFlynn. beaver.com.