no4mkit
13th July 2011, 00:18
(posting this at the request of Paul McManus (bpm))
From the Ottawa Citizen, Friday July 1, 2011
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/no4mkit/Halifax%20HR686/Patrickroyals.jpg
The last time Patrick McManus met a royal was in June 1945 when Prince William's great grandfather, King George VI, hosted a garden party at Buckingham Palace for returning prisoners of war.
At the time, McManus was only weeks removed from a German POW camp, where he had spent the final months of the Second World War after being shot down over the North Sea.
He told then Princess Elizabeth about his harrowing experience.
On Thursday, McManus was among the select group of veterans to meet Queen Elizabeth's grandson, William, and her grand-daughter-in-law, Kate.
"They seemed a lovely couple," said the 91-year-old McManus, who travelled from his home in Westport for Thursday's wreath-laying ceremony by William and Kate at the War Memorial.
Thousands jammed Elgin Street to watch as William and Kate arrived for the first public appearance of their maiden royal tour. They were about 10 minutes behind schedule.
Roars greeted the young couple - even one wolf whistle - as they walked up the red carpet toward the War Memorial, dedicated by King George VI in 1939.
William, in a blue suit, stood beside his wife, in a black-patterned dress and high heels; they were flanked by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife, Laureen.
After listening to the Last Post played by a lone bugler, William placed a wreath beside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
"Lest we forget. N'oublions jamais. William”, said the handwritten note attached to the wreath. Kate placed a bouquet of flowers beside the tomb.
The tomb commemorates the 116,000 Canadian soldiers whose remains have never been recovered or were not identified before being buried.
After the brief ceremony, the couple chatted with some veterans, then thrilled the crowd by shaking hands with spectators who lined the front row.
Ottawa's FRED HICKS, 90, a soldier with the Cameron Highlanders during the Second World War, was one of those who had a chance to chat with the royal couple.
They asked him about his chest of medals and he told them about landing on Juno Beach, one day after the launch of the D-Day invasion.
"They asked questions about it and I answered them," he said. "I think they're a great young couple:"
PATRICK MCMANUS was also one of the veterans hand-picked to attend Thursday's ceremony and meet the royal couple.
His story is a remarkable one. In October 1944, McManus was the 22-year-old pilot of a Halifax bomber assigned to patrol the North Sea, off the Norwegian coast. His orders called for him to attack any German ships the plane encountered.
On the night of Oct. 4, the flight crew detected a ship on radar and McManus dived beneath low-lying clouds, into the driving rain.
The boat below was an armed German merchant ship, but McManus mistook its anti-aircraft fire for the running lights of a ship from a neutral country and broke off his attack. It was too late: his plane had suffered catastrophic damage.
McManus wrestled the aircraft controls to keep the wings level and set the crippled bomber down in the North Sea.
"The port wing touched first, folded back, and then the propellers bent back: I can see it like it's all in slow motion;" he said.
Eight of nine crew members escaped before the plane sank.
With the plane's lifeboat burned, McManus lashed himself to a floating wheel, then tied the other members of his crew to the same wheel or to his limbs. (McManus would later receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for the skill and gallantry that he displayed in the crash landing.)
Three members of the crew died of exposure in the frigid water, but five were eventually plucked from the sea by the same ship that shot their plane down.
McManus and the other men were delivered to the Gestapo in Oslo, Norway, for questioning. He spent two months in solitary confinement before being sent to a German POW camp.
Later, McManus and his fellow POWs endured gruelling forced marches as the Germans retreated before the Allied advance.
When the war in Europe ended in May 1945, McManus returned to Britain before making his way home to Perth, where he resumed work at Canada Post.
McManus married Margaret Dorene Vice and moved to nearby Portland, Ont., where the couple raised seven children. A lifetime birder and naturalist, McManus became an active conservationist after discovering that the water of Big Rideau Lake was so degraded that his children often couldn't swim. He helped found the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority and served as its chairman for 11 years.
Now retired in Westport, he recently published a book, The Rideau Canal and its Corridor, a natural history of the region.
McManus said he wanted to present Prince William with his case for a posthumous knighthood for Lt: Col John By, the British military engineer who supervised the construction of the Rideau Canal and founded the town that became Ottawa, but he didn't get the chance to say more than "Hello" to the royal couple.
"They'll get along all right without me," he said.
From the Ottawa Citizen, Friday July 1, 2011
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y295/no4mkit/Halifax%20HR686/Patrickroyals.jpg
The last time Patrick McManus met a royal was in June 1945 when Prince William's great grandfather, King George VI, hosted a garden party at Buckingham Palace for returning prisoners of war.
At the time, McManus was only weeks removed from a German POW camp, where he had spent the final months of the Second World War after being shot down over the North Sea.
He told then Princess Elizabeth about his harrowing experience.
On Thursday, McManus was among the select group of veterans to meet Queen Elizabeth's grandson, William, and her grand-daughter-in-law, Kate.
"They seemed a lovely couple," said the 91-year-old McManus, who travelled from his home in Westport for Thursday's wreath-laying ceremony by William and Kate at the War Memorial.
Thousands jammed Elgin Street to watch as William and Kate arrived for the first public appearance of their maiden royal tour. They were about 10 minutes behind schedule.
Roars greeted the young couple - even one wolf whistle - as they walked up the red carpet toward the War Memorial, dedicated by King George VI in 1939.
William, in a blue suit, stood beside his wife, in a black-patterned dress and high heels; they were flanked by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife, Laureen.
After listening to the Last Post played by a lone bugler, William placed a wreath beside the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
"Lest we forget. N'oublions jamais. William”, said the handwritten note attached to the wreath. Kate placed a bouquet of flowers beside the tomb.
The tomb commemorates the 116,000 Canadian soldiers whose remains have never been recovered or were not identified before being buried.
After the brief ceremony, the couple chatted with some veterans, then thrilled the crowd by shaking hands with spectators who lined the front row.
Ottawa's FRED HICKS, 90, a soldier with the Cameron Highlanders during the Second World War, was one of those who had a chance to chat with the royal couple.
They asked him about his chest of medals and he told them about landing on Juno Beach, one day after the launch of the D-Day invasion.
"They asked questions about it and I answered them," he said. "I think they're a great young couple:"
PATRICK MCMANUS was also one of the veterans hand-picked to attend Thursday's ceremony and meet the royal couple.
His story is a remarkable one. In October 1944, McManus was the 22-year-old pilot of a Halifax bomber assigned to patrol the North Sea, off the Norwegian coast. His orders called for him to attack any German ships the plane encountered.
On the night of Oct. 4, the flight crew detected a ship on radar and McManus dived beneath low-lying clouds, into the driving rain.
The boat below was an armed German merchant ship, but McManus mistook its anti-aircraft fire for the running lights of a ship from a neutral country and broke off his attack. It was too late: his plane had suffered catastrophic damage.
McManus wrestled the aircraft controls to keep the wings level and set the crippled bomber down in the North Sea.
"The port wing touched first, folded back, and then the propellers bent back: I can see it like it's all in slow motion;" he said.
Eight of nine crew members escaped before the plane sank.
With the plane's lifeboat burned, McManus lashed himself to a floating wheel, then tied the other members of his crew to the same wheel or to his limbs. (McManus would later receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for the skill and gallantry that he displayed in the crash landing.)
Three members of the crew died of exposure in the frigid water, but five were eventually plucked from the sea by the same ship that shot their plane down.
McManus and the other men were delivered to the Gestapo in Oslo, Norway, for questioning. He spent two months in solitary confinement before being sent to a German POW camp.
Later, McManus and his fellow POWs endured gruelling forced marches as the Germans retreated before the Allied advance.
When the war in Europe ended in May 1945, McManus returned to Britain before making his way home to Perth, where he resumed work at Canada Post.
McManus married Margaret Dorene Vice and moved to nearby Portland, Ont., where the couple raised seven children. A lifetime birder and naturalist, McManus became an active conservationist after discovering that the water of Big Rideau Lake was so degraded that his children often couldn't swim. He helped found the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority and served as its chairman for 11 years.
Now retired in Westport, he recently published a book, The Rideau Canal and its Corridor, a natural history of the region.
McManus said he wanted to present Prince William with his case for a posthumous knighthood for Lt: Col John By, the British military engineer who supervised the construction of the Rideau Canal and founded the town that became Ottawa, but he didn't get the chance to say more than "Hello" to the royal couple.
"They'll get along all right without me," he said.