The Cellar » Found an official WW2 photo of Dad. Do I tell him?

Carruthers · 6/10/2022 12:57 pm

Dad was called up to serve in the Royal Navy in the second half of 1943 having attained his eighteenth birthday in July of that year.
Although he hasn’t told me very much, I know that he was selected for pilot training with the Fleet Air Arm in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
The RAF was up to strength by 1943 so the available capacity was taken up by RN/Fleet Air Arm trainees.
Training took place at an airfield just outside Goderich, Ontario, on the shores of Lake Huron.

The Huron County Museum in Goderich has an online collection of group photos, amongst others, taken at the airfield, each showing the trainees and officers in three rows.
Those depicting the RN/Fleet Air Arm are catalogued as 1943-44, the base closing by July 1944.
Additionally, a while back Dad commanded me to search out some document or other in the numerous boxes of paperwork that languish in the bottom of his wardrobe.
During the search I stumbled across an old photo album but didn’t pay much attention to it at the time but last night I managed another look and immediately homed in on a photo of him with another RN recruit in uniform with snow underfoot. On the back of the photo was written ‘Detroit, March 1944’.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve spotted Dad in one of the group photos from that time.
Now the problem is do I tell him?
I know that he didn’t take up an aircrew posting after training and went on to serve on a landing craft carrier in the Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf.
There are two possibilities. One is that he was ‘weeded out’ having failed to make the grade, the other is that the requirement for naval aircrew had declined, after all D Day was only a few months away.

If he failed to make the grade, I don’t want to rake up what might be bad memories for him.
There’s no shame in that as I know from my own experience in another field but he’s from an earlier generation when perhaps attitudes were different.

Anyway, if you’ve got this far, does anyone have any thoughts on whether I should tell Dad and, if so, the best way to do it?

Or do I let sleeping dogs lie?

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan

glatt · 6/10/2022 2:19 pm

You're very thoughtful. It wouldn't have occurred to me that he might not want to see it.

I have in a box somewhere a bunch of old baby shower photos from a baby shower thrown for me at work over 20 years ago. I don't really care about those pics, because it's a bunch of cow orkers. But if somebody found an old one that they had on their own camera roll, and they tracked me down and sent it to me, I would be appreciative of the effort they went through, even if I'd just throw it in a box and never think of it again.

I'd imagine enough time has gone by that he wouldn't be upset by it, but may be indifferent. On the other hand, he may be thrilled to see old friends.

How do you mention it to him? Well, how did it happen? You would need to explain it in a way that seems natural that you found it.

TheNeverWas · 6/10/2022 9:19 pm

I got no advice for ya Mr. C, but that's very cool, finding a pic of Dads from so far away and so far back.

griff · 6/11/2022 5:36 am

That's a really difficult call. Maybe ask him a few careful questions about the time frame and if he avoids answering you hold back.

tw · 6/11/2022 12:43 pm

Show him the picture. Let him decide to talk about it - or not.

Carruthers · 6/11/2022 4:11 pm

@glatt
@griff
@tw

Thank you for your responses, gentlemen.
There's food for thought there.

Dad is still fairly sharp for someone of his years, but there are worrying signs of deterioration in his cognitive ability so that will have to be borne in mind when I decide what to do.

Carruthers · 6/11/2022 4:24 pm

TheNeverWas wrote:
I got no advice for ya Mr. C, but that's very cool, finding a pic of Dads from so far away and so far back.

Yes, I was very fortunate there, Grav.

The photos were all taken by a Mr J Gordon Henderson, a Goderich photographer, whose work was donated to the Huron County Museum by his family.
It seemed that if there was an occasion of note he was the man called in to photograph it.
It's fortunate that the pilot training school used an outside contractor rather than an in house photographer or the photos would probably never have seen the light of day ever again.

About the project.

J. Gordon Henderson

TheNeverWas · 6/12/2022 4:12 am

Hey, it's that guy!

Carruthers · 6/12/2022 12:58 pm

@Anon

Many thanks for the text extract and link.

Since my last post I've found another photo in his 'archived' album which shows five RN personnel with a note in his writing on the reverse 'Niagara Falls May 1944'. I think he took the photo.
Given that late date in the war, I'm tending towards the view that he was one of the many pilots surplus to requirements as the article describes.
Probably no bad thing. A naval aviator's life expectancy wouldn't have been great.

Carruthers · 6/12/2022 4:36 pm

I decided to 'go for it' and show the picture to Dad.
No great build up to the moment, I just handed him the paper copy and asked if he recognised anyone.
He had a brief look and just said 'I can't see myself'.
I had already taken a snip from a zoomed in image which showed him quite clearly and thankfully he didn't say 'that's not me!'
I'm not sure what I expected but his reaction was quite low key.

Anyway, given that this thread is about a photograph, it's about time I included it.

Dad is in the middle row and second from the left.
Eighteen years old and 3,500 miles from home with heaven knows what fate awaits him.

I believe that the picture was taken in early 1944.
I get the impression that a biting wind is blowing as even their greatcoats seem to be flapping around.
Two or three greatcoats appear to be buttoned up to the neck and gloves are being worn.
The wind is probably hurtling in from Lake Huron and the wing of the aircraft (Tiger Moth?) behind the group appears to be lifting slightly although no doubt the airframe is staked or weighted down.

Photo is courtesy of Huron County Museum & Historic Gaol A992.0003.075,

A larger version of the image is available at the above link.

Last edited by Carruthers (6/12/2022 4:37 pm)

monster · 6/12/2022 9:13 pm

Ooh I'm planning to be 90 minutes away from Goderich on Canada Day (1st July) with most of the day to spare -lmk if you want me to visit and look anything up (I imagine the museum will be closed, though :/ )

monster · 6/12/2022 9:15 pm

(despite being 90 minutes away, it will only be a detour of an hour maximum, as I'll be heading home and it's marginally closer)

( I could put distances, but being British, you'd be wanting/expecting me to take a couple of overnight stops en route.... ;) )

tw · 6/12/2022 10:36 pm

British Naval Air was mostly about anti-submarine warfare. Although in years earlier, they even flew Spitfires from a deck of the USS Wasp to address problems in the Mediterranean. But by 1944, an anti-submarine battle had been won. Most aviation was needed for RAF fighter and bomber command.

Carruthers · 6/13/2022 4:23 am

monster wrote:
(despite being 90 minutes away, it will only be a detour of an hour maximum, as I'll be heading home and it's marginally closer)

( I could put distances, but being British, you'd be wanting/expecting me to take a couple of overnight stops en route.... ;) )

Plus several air drops of food parcels!

Thanks for the offer, monster, but online resources seem quite comprehensive and I wouldn't want you to interrupt your journey on my account.

monster · 6/13/2022 5:42 pm

Carruthers wrote:
Thanks for the offer, monster, but online resources seem quite comprehensive and I wouldn't want you to interrupt your journey on my account.

It's no biggie, I've got all day and I'm kinda thinking to kill time until nightfall anyway, so I can see fireworks before heading North back into the US..... :D lmk if you think of anything you would like investigating in the area

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6/10/2022 12:57 pm #1

Found an official WW2 photo of Dad. Do I tell him?

6/10/2022 2:19 pm #2

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6/10/2022 9:19 pm #3

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6/11/2022 5:36 am #4

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6/11/2022 12:43 pm #5

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Re: Found an official WW2 photo of Dad. Do I tell him?

TheNeverWas wrote:

6/12/2022 4:12 am #8

Re: Found an official WW2 photo of Dad. Do I tell him?

6/12/2022 12:58 pm #9

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6/12/2022 4:36 pm #10

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6/12/2022 9:13 pm #11

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6/12/2022 9:15 pm #12

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6/12/2022 10:36 pm #13

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6/13/2022 4:23 am #14

Re: Found an official WW2 photo of Dad. Do I tell him?

monster wrote:

6/13/2022 5:42 pm #15

Re: Found an official WW2 photo of Dad. Do I tell him?

Carruthers wrote:

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