TRANSCRIPT

RW - Richard Wilson, interviewee [with Marlene (MJ) Jamieson present] / LR - Lyn Royce, interviewer

LR: What was school like for you?

RW: It was, for me it was, uh, I didn't really understand it and... I think. And when, uh... We had an, the auditorium at school and so... Just about this time the, uh...

MJ: [in background, offering coffee] Do you want something?

RW: ...in services, especially the Air Force used to come in on Thursday morning and we would get to watch those newsreels.

LR: 'Kay...

RW: Thing... And then they were recruiting.

LR: Okay...

RW: So there was about 6 or 7 of us and this 1 day we're all gonna join the service. So, uh, I figured I'm going to go too. Because I was only a little guy, I only weighed a 100 pounds. And, uh, uh, so I thought, 'Okay, they're not gonna take me,' and 'cause my Dad wanted me to stay in school. So, um, as I said, [pause] we had all kinds of extra things going for us... and, uh... So I signed the papers and that... come down and have a physical. And, uh [pause] I got, I didn't figure I would make it, 'cause... And then they had me on the scale and he said uh, 'cause the minimum for air crew, the minimum hei[ght], weight, was 100 pounds. So I thought, 'Oh well, I'll never make that.' But I did.

LR:Okay.

RW: And he said, they, the recruiting officer said, 'That looks like a 100 pounds to me,' because I was standing on the scales! I said, 'Oh, boy...' [chuckles]

LR: How old were you Richard?

RW: I was 17 when I...

LR: Okay.

RW: Before I went in, I was 17. I had signed up, but I was living at home and waiting for a room to...

LR: Okay... Okay... So what happened after you signed up?

RW: Oh, ah, then I thought, 'Well, I'll never make the, uh, the so called IQ tests,' and I made THAT! And I was scared to tell my Dad, because he had, I thought he'd be mad at me. He wasn't though, he was really proud.

LR: Oh, good... good. That's nice... So what was your, what was your Air Force career like?

RW: Terrible. It was just nothing; they... I don't know it wasn't anything special, I just ... I, because, ah... of Grandpa Wilson and all of my uncles, was 3 of them that... I mean... So in high school there all the uh, things that were ah... ah, more or less co-sharing with the air force because it was physics and math and some language and all of that; we were down there in Montreal, the Air Force in Montreal, we were down there for 6 months.

LR: Okay.

RW: And that. We... And uh, so that was it. And again, I always... I just came short on everything because, uh, they had... we had too many people, 'n...

LR: [chuckles] So did you actually wind up going over, going overseas?

RW: I was in a year in England, over in England.

LR: Ah!

RW: Into the airdromes over there.

LR: Okay.

RW: I was an air bomber.

LR: An air bomber.

RW: Yeah.

LR: Okay, and what was that?

RE: We dropped the bombs in the plane.

LR: Okay. So you were in the plane?

RW: Yeah.

LR: How, how... What was it like when you were in the plane?

RW: Oh... It was... It's just... It's natural.

LR: Okay.

RW: It's uh... [pause]... It wasn't... it was... it was a lot easier than most people think.

LR: Than most people think. Okay. So you weren't... Do you remember being scared? Or... nervous? Or...

RW: Only when somebody else was doing things that... it's... 'Cause I remember 1 night, they uh... And not only that we were playing tricks all the time, see. Over Port Stanley 1 night, 3 o'clock in the morning, with an old Lanson plane and we had finished our exercise at night and, uh, we ran up and down the streets just at 3 o'clock in the morning, and we're burpin' the engine making...

LR: Oh my gosh...

RW: Then we would watch the newspaper for about 3 or 4 days to see if they, if they were upset about it. They weren't...