Remembering the Telegraphist Air Gunners
Following in their Father's Footsteps
October 22, 2008
Article in The Vanguard (Yarmouth NS)
By Michael Gorman
More
than
60
years
ago
a
young
man
named
Bill
West,
barely
old
enough
to
be
considered
a
man,
walked
the
streets
of
Yarmouth
in
his
navy
uniform.
He
spent
nine
months
in
Yarmouth
training
at
East
Camp
as
part
of
the
Telegraphist
Air
Gunners
(TAG)
before
heading back home to England to fight in the Second World War.
Today
West
and
his
family
reside
in
Australia,
where
he
and
his
wife
Gwen
moved
after
the
war.
He's
never
since
returned
to
Yarmouth.
But
last
week
his
daughters
walked
the
same
streets,
sat
in
the
same
parks
and
toured
the
same areas their father did so long ago.
War
has
a
lasting
effect
on
people;
why
they
are
the
way
they
are,
why
they
do
the
things
they
do.
But
as
is
typical
of
many
people
who
were
involved
in
the
Second
World
War,
it
took
West
a
very
long
time
before
he
talked
openly
and freely about his experiences.
Marilynne
Darroch,
Annette
Moulds
and
Judi
Trent
all
say
their
father
was
strict
with
them
when
they
were
growing
up
and
that
he
liked
things
done
a
certain
way.
For
years
they
couldn't
quite
understand
why
—
then
they
learned
about his involvement in the war as a gunner so many years ago.
Darroch
says
their
decision
to
come
to
Yarmouth
has
a
lot
to
do
with
a
different
connection
their
father
has
with
the
area
—
the
one
between
him
and
the
Wartime
Heritage
Association.
West
was
a
regular
visitor
at
the
family
home
of
the
association's
director,
George
Egan,
during
his
months
in
Yarmouth.
Years
later,
it
was
a
wedding
photo
of
West
and
his
wife
that
provided
Egan with inspiration for one of his many productions.
"My
grandmother
used
to
write
to
Bill's
mother
in
England
during
the
war,"
says
Egan.
"My
mother
and
her
sisters
knew
Bill.
Then
when we started doing this, I made the connection."
It
wasn't
until
Egan
started
contacting
her
dad
via
e-mail
for
information
about
his
stories,
says
Darroch
that
her
father
started
to open up to the family about his experiences.
"Dad
had
never
spoken
about
very
much
to
do
with
the
war
before
(he
was
contacted
by
Egan),"
she
says.
"We
started
to
find
out
quite a lot about it."
The
three
have
visited
Shearwater
and
seen
the
restored
Swordfish.
Seeing
that
plane
and
thinking
about
their
father
inside
it
was
enough
to
give
them
a
new
appreciation
for
what
he
did.
But
the
more
they
learned
about
the
connection
between
their
dad
and
Egan,
and
when
they
saw
videos
of
the
productions,
some
of
which
featured
stories
about
their
father
and
mother,
they
knew they had to see Yarmouth.
The
Wartime
Heritage
Association
(WHA),
formerly
known
as
440
Productions,
is
known
not
only
in
Yarmouth
but
also
throughout
the
province
and
beyond
—
especially
in
England
—
for
the
work
it
does
telling
the
stories
and
preserving
the
memories
of
those
involved in the Second World War, particularly those with a connection to Yarmouth.
During
the
war,
thousands
of
young
men
passed
through
Yarmouth
to
train
at
East
Camp,
West
Camp
and
Camp
6o.
The
WHA
is
in
the
midst
of
a
new
production
run,
already
having
performed
in
Chester
and
with
upcoming
shows
in
Truro
and
a
four
show
run
at Th'YARC, Nov. 8, 9, 15 and 16.
West's daughters are amazed by the work the program does and the stories it tells.
"It
makes
you
feel
really
proud,"
says
Trent.
"I
think
dad
—
like
many
of
the
men
and
women
were
told
after
the
war
to
just
go
home
and
get
on
with
your
lives
and
forget
about
it,
but
that
shouldn't
have
happened,
I
don't
think
at
all.
And
he's
bottled
all
the
things
up
and
I'm
sure
there
are
lots
of
things
that
have
affected
his
life
during
that
time
and
I
think
that
we
can
now
understand."
Beyond
learning
about
their
father's
experiences
during
his
time
in
the
service,
Moulds
says
hearing
him
speak
and
watching
the
WHA
performances
also
affords
them
a
glimpse
of
what
their
father
was
like
as
a
young
man.
Growing
up,
the
three
never
had
the
chance
to
meet
any
of
their
father's
family
in
England
until
much
later
in
life.
And
because
none
of
their
father's
friends
from his youth are in Australia they've always had to rely on the stories from their mother and maternal grandmother.
"I
think
we
realized
that
we
weren't
dealing
with
our
father
as
sort
of
a
50-
or
60-year-old
man;
he'd
been
young
(when
he
served) and I think that was what really kind of caught me up. I was just trying to figure out what I would have felt like."
"We
all
see
him
as
a
young
man,
which
we've
not
had
the
perspective
any
other
way
before,"
says
Darroch.
"I
think
we're
a
bit
gentler with him."
The
visit
was
an
emotional
one
for
the
three
of
them.
Trips
to
East
Camp
and
throughout
the
town
brought
many
of
the
stories
their dad started telling them to life.
"Now
that
we've
seen
where
East
Camp
was
we'll
probably
know
a
lot
more
about
what
he's
talking
about,
we'll
actually
understand," says Moulds.
During
their
visit
to
the
East
Camp
memorial
by
the
Yarmouth
cenotaph,
the
three
became
emotional.
Things
were
starting
to
become very real.
"I'm
just
so
impressed
with
what
(Egan)
and
others
have
done
to
unearth
so
much
information
and
the
connections
and
the
human
side
of
these
individuals
that
were
here
and
dad's
just
one
of
those
individuals,"
says
Trent.
"It's
really
good
to
have
come
to see it, to walk on the same ground and think, 'well this is where all that happened.'"
Marilynne Darroch (left), Annette Moulds and Judi Trent.
(Michael Gorman photo)