EPISODE 355 WETLANDS RECOVERED 1958 TO 2021 FREEMAN/SKEOCH FARM ERIN TWP, WELLINGTON COUNTY

EPISODE 355    WETLANDS RECOVERED  1958 TO 2021    FREEMAN/SKEOCH FARM  ERIN TWP, WELLINGTON COUNTY


alan skeoch
may 31. 2021

EDWARD FREEMAN, my grandfather bought this 25 acre farm shortly before World War I started.
He did not have much money having been burned out of his log cabin home near Krugerdorf  in
Northern Ontario.   Not many people would want the farm.  Ages ago an ice sheet covered Ontario.
Beneath the ice was solid rock.  Between the ice and the rock was rubble…millions, billions of stones, all sizes, rounded imperfectly…
great heaps of unsorted rubble was ground then left in heaps as the ice retreated.  Along with the
rubble the glacier hollowed out several places on the farm which became wetlands until the farmers
arrived and attempted to drain the wetlands.   Ed Freeman was successful…partly.  He reduced
the wetlands but at least 6 swamps could not be completely drained.  He piled the rocks in heaps.

Since we took over the farm we have reversed the process and expanded the wetlands so that the farm
today no longer looks like a farm.  It looks much as it must have looked when the ice retreated.


POND #1: ONLY POND LEFT ON FARM IN 1958…AND MUCH SMALLER…ANDREW AND I BUILT A SMALL DAM THAT
RAISED THE WATER LEVEL.  THIS POND IS ABOUT 6  ACRES .

This has been a life long job…getting back the wetlands.  A job appreciated by at least one great snapping turtle, a large cluster of painted turtles,
families of Canada Geese, one couple of wood ducks, wild turkeys and deer that we rarely see and coyotes who leave their scat laden with rabbit fur
on the cedar clad forest that surrounds he pond.  The trail gives access to the only field left on the farm.  My flax field.  But this year it will
be mostly sweet clover if all goes well.   Why clover?  Andrew is raising bees.

Hopefully, given time, the frogs, leaches, sticklebacks, snakes …the great pyramid of pond life will be reestablished.  Right now the small
creatures are low in number…but present.

Lots of birds…this year wild canaries seem more than usual.  No bobolinks though.  The ravens and crows are present …deadly to the
young song birds nesting efforts.  And high above hover the turkey vultures searching for dead things.

 POND #2: WAS A HAYFIELD UNTIL WE HIRED RON SAUNDERS TO EXCAVATE…NOW OUR DEEPEST POND

POND #3  WAS A WET PART OF THE BARN YARD UNTIL RON SAUNDERS EXCAVATED.  WHEN EXCAVATED THE POND WAS SOON
FILLED WITH A DOZEN CHILDREN LAUGHING AND DIVING FROM A WOODEN RAFT AND LATER MARJORIE AND VALERIE TOOK
A NUDE SWIM WHILE I WAS WORKING NOT TOO FAR AWAY.  WATER ATTRACTS ALL KINDS OF WILD LIFE.

POND #4 WAS A HIDDEN SHALLOW SWAMP UNTIL JIM SANDERSON BROUGHT HIS BIG EXCAVATOR…AND THE MACHINE SANK
INTO THE QUICKSAND OF AN ANCIENT BEACH…TO GET IT OUT REQUIRED MANY MACHINES AND A RAFT MADE OF BIG TREES…
THE END RESULT WAS A HOME FOR AN AGED BEAVER…POND REMAINED HIDDEN UNTIL THIS YEAR, 2021, WHEN THE BRUSH HAS BEEN
CLEARED.

SO WE HAVE RECREATED A WETLAND.  AMAZING HOW MANY CREATURES THANK US FOR OUR LABOUR.

MAYBE YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE WHAT THE FARM LOOKED LIKE WHEN EDWARD AND LOUISA FREEMAN ARRIVED IN 1914.
COMING IN ANOTHER EPISODE

alan skeoch

EPISODE 354 ROY MAXWELL SENT ME A NOTE…REMNDER OF THoSE GREAT CBC DAYS ON ‘RADIO NOON’


EPISODE 354     ROY MAXWELL SENT ME AN EMAIL….IMAGINE THAT!
(WE WERE PART OF CBC ‘RADIO NOON’ FOR 
A FEW YEARS LONG AGO)

Alan skeoch
May 29, 2021

Who could resist purchasing a machine like this?  This will make sense as
you read my email letter, Roy.


Well what a great surprise…You Maxwell…the man

who did a farm report imitating Foster Brooks and no doubt
caught hell for doing so. (Foster Brooks was a comedian who imitated a drunk person….slurred his words)


Roy Maxwell did the farm prices and related information for Ontario farmers. What
is wrong with this picture Roy?  You must know.

Great to hear from you Roy.

YES, I am still writing stories

When Covid 19 first hit Toronto I decided to do 14 stories…one a day…until
the crisis was over.  To entertain those in isolation.  We were assured 14 days of isolation would be enough…remember?
Well now I am writing my 354th  story…one a day…except for two sojourns to hospital with
gall stone attack. They gave me morphine Roy.  What an experience.  

 354 stories.  Back when we did Radio Noon… CBC expected 1 story a week which I enjoyed doing in
that magnificent old Parliament Street studio.  The new CBC building was never
as good…as quaint…as real.

Who was it went out in the back alley for a smoke and talked to another smoker who turned out to be a dead guy ?

Drunks drifted into the old movie theatre and offered their words of advice on occasion.  One particular
inebriated person even joined one of our broadcasts…some charity show.  His comment…loud
and clear went over the air waves.  “If it’s free, it’s for me!” He kept hollering that as our den mother
whose name I have forgotten tried to hustle him away from the microphone.  God, those
programs were fun.

Radio Noon was just great.   My first producer Doug Koupar (sp?) let me
do 3 or 4 broadcasts before calling me into his office.   “Just great, Alan, just great…!!!….What is the next word
when someone says that?   the next word is ‘but’….”But Alan, you must remember the attention span
of the audience is one minute if you are lucky.  Put the big idea out fast, Alan.”

That was great advice.  Cut the crap in other words.  I applied that to teaching as well.
Cut the bull shit…let’s talk about something meaningful.  

So many great memories…I still have the tapes…but never listen to them.

I did the shows on my lunch hour.  Racing from Parkdale Collegiate to Parliament
Street and back was no easy task.  On one of these jaunts a guy jumped on the back
bumper of my  truck.  When I opened my door he wedged himself right on top of me.
“I am going to fucking kill you!” he yelled.  I had to think fast.  I looked at my bare wrist
and told him “No time for that, I am late for class.”   He stepped back and let me go.
I have never had a watch…my wrist was bare.  Those were the days that some very disturbed
people were cut loose from the psychiatric hospital in Mimico.  Sad people.
Why did he want to fucking kill me?  I have no idea.  Maybe he was a CBC listener
and was offended by something I said.  Funny thing, Roy, even now 40 years later
I remember what his running shoes looked like.  He had big feet…shoes were all worn.

The end came suddenly.  “We don’t need you anymore” which I was prepared for by another
CBC journalist who said….”Alan, remember we all have a shelf life.”

So Roy…I am going to send you some stories…just random.   They are found on Alan Skeoch.ca   …something like that.


FOLK ART: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?  I HAVE NO IDEA.

Life leads us in strange direction Roy.  David Shatsky noticed a hug threshing machine being
hauled up Parliament Street to Riverdale Farm.  “Whose machine?”   Marjorie and I had donated
the thresher.  Had it trucked on a flat bed by Gorden Hume to Riverdale Farm in the heart of Toronto.  David then
asked me to describe the machine to the radio audience.  Sounds boring, Roy, but not so. The
machine is the size of an 18 wheeler and covered in professional folk art…done about 1890…
a snake, an alligator, several lions and lots of garish paint swirls.  On my first CBC broadcast 
I asked David why a snake was painted on that threshing machine.  “Why,David?”He turned the question to me.
“You must know, Alan?” “I have no idea…let’s think about it.”  And we used our imaginations.
I think a lot of radio listeners must have done the same.  Let me ask you Roy.  Why would a professional
sign painter put an alligator on a 19th century farm threshing machine.  There is an answer
but I have forgotten it   Use your imagination.  I love open ended questions that are sincere.
There are so many things in this world that need explaining.   Think of the ex-President of the
United States for instance. “How could he happen?”

Note: Roy, you might wonder why I would give such a great machine to Riverdale farm.
there is an easy answer.  I bought  FOUR of the machines at an auction then wondered
what Marjorie would say when I got home.  “For the museums!” was my answer.


Well Roy, I still collect those old machines and now the movie industry is based in Toronto. They
need those machines often.   Old rusting hulks are great props. All those little threads in life lead somewhere, Roy.
 
Remember you doing Foster Brooks…made me laugh….and, Roy, some farmers must have laughed
as well.   

alan skeoch
May  2021

On May 29, 2021, at 5:52 PM, Roy Maxwell <rmaxwell20@cogeco.ca> wrote:


Alan,

I rediscovered you quite by accident (hay tedder story in an Oakville park) and I cannot resist the temptation to say hello.

Radio Noon was a long time ago! I am still in contact with several of the old CBC gang. Sadly, we recently lost my good friend, Glenn Powell (national Agr. News Reporter), but many of the other folks are still here and doing well.

I am so pleased to learn that you have stayed active and been so successful in pursuing your love of history and farming.

Good on you, Alan.

Roy


EPISODE 352 ROUNDING UP A LOST HERD OF CATTLE…MAY 27, 2021, FIFTH LINE, ERIN TOWNSHIP, WELLINGTON COUNTY

EPISODE 352      ROUNDING UP A LOST HERD OF CATTLE…MAY 27, 2021, FIFTH LINE, ERIN TOWNSHIP, WELLINGTON COUNTY

alan skeoch
May 28, 2021




ALAN MEETS THE ‘CATTLE WHISPERER’

I was pitching stones into the rock pile when Jim Sanderson’s daughter approached me.
“At last we found the remaining three cattle from the herd that got away three days ago. Mr. Skeoch.”
“I have not seen any cattle.”
“Neither had we until now.   Do you want to see them…take a look at Anthony Acres winter wheat field on
your son’s farm…over here.”
Jim Sanderson’s daughter is known locally as the Cattle Whisperer because she has a way of settling
down animals who might be easily startled.  She seemed amused by the adventure.  She seemed confident although I
could not see how these cattle could be rounded up and led like lambs back home…miles away.



“Can’t see any cattle…”
“See that white dot way in the distance?”
“Well, I’ll be damned.  How did they get there?”
“No one knows.”
“How long have they been gone?”
“Three days.”
“Where did they come from?”
“Farm on Trafalgar Road near Ballinafad.”
“That’s several miles from here…maybe 3 or 4!”
“We got the others but these three were a mystery until now.”

PAUSE HERE FOR A MOMENT:  Study the picture.  See if you can
find a tiny white dot.  Do it now.


“There got them on my telephoto lens…got them munching water wheat.”




As we looked, trucks began to arrive.   One truck had an ATV in a trailer.  Sort of a suprise to me.   I was brought up when cattle round ups were
done with horses.   And done by cowboys.  Jim Sanderson’s daughter soon disappeared on the ATV sneaking in behind the cattle.   I thought that
would be done by John Wayne …or Roy Rogers on Trigger…or The Lone Ranger on Silver…”Hi Ho, Silver, Away!”   Instead, and probably better,
Jim’s daughter would whisper, “Time to go home, let me show you the way.”


This began to look like an illegal Covid 19 roadside party


This was not my best picture but does credit to one of the cattle wranglers chest.



Then the owner of the herd appeared with his cell phone.  Maybe the cattle were wired!   Maybe they would respond
to the cattle call….’Co boss..co boss’ which I remembered from the past.

He seemed a little startled as I clicked my camera.

“How can I help?” I said.
He looked me straight in the eye and said “The best way you can help is by staying out of the way.”
Now that sounds like a mean thing to say.   There was no malice in his comment.   Cattle can be
startled by strangers.  Sort of ignored his advice anyway but did keep my distance.



The cattle were on the move.




They burst onto the road for a while and then were herded back into the wheat field while the
trap…the corral…was being assembled and baited.





So, as nightfall approached the corral trap was set and baited.   I do not know the end of this story.  Which would be the happier
ending?  Either the cattle remained in the field until next fall or the cattle enter the corral and someone closes the gate.
As we drove down the road there was no one there to close the gate.  And the cattle were back in the field beyond our vision.



Steer Talking:  “What do you think Elsie?  Is that grain in the trough  trap?”
Heifer Talking:   “I think we should just stay here…whole field of fresh wheat
and lots of water in he swamp.”

Alan Thinking:  “I do not think anyone in this drama appreciates my presence with my camera…
except, maybe, the guy whose bare chest I managed to snap…and neighbour Jamie who 
got same advice I did…”Stay out of the way…block the hole in the fence in the back field…out of sight.”


CONCLUSION

Alan ; “What was the best picture I managed to take of the Great Cattle Round Up?”
Marjorie: “No doubt about that, Alan.”
Alan: “The telephoto of the cattle?”
Marjorie: “No, the picture of the owner of the cattle telling you to STAY OUT OF THE WAY!”



Years ago when our boys were young Marjorie and I and the boys would sing our hearts
out replicating Eddie Arnold’s Cattle Call.   Great days were those.  If only we could
remember the words maybe Jim Sanderson’s daughter would ask us to join her on
the ATV in the big Fifth Line round up.


“Cattle Call”

[Moan]
The cattle are prowlin’ the coyotes are howlin’
Out with the doggies bawl
Where spurs are jinglin’ a cowboy is singin’
This lonesome cattle call [moan]

He rides in the sun till his day’s work is done
And he rounds up the cattle each fall
[Moan] Singin’ this cattle call

For hours he will ride on the range far and wide
When the night wind blows up a squall
His heart is a feather in all kinds of weather
He sings his cattle call [moan]

He’s brown as a berry from ridin’ the prairie
And he sings with an old western drawl
[Moan] Singin’ this cattle call… [moan]







EPISODE 351 THE RhODODENDRON GARDEN (HANCOCK FAMILY of Mississauga) IN FULL BLOOM MAY 26,2021

EPISODE 351    THE RHODODENDRON GARDEN (HANCOCK FAMILY OF MISSISSAUGA) IN FULL BLOOM MAY 26,2021


alan skeoch
May 26, 2021



HOLD on to your socks!   We visited the Hancock rhododendron garden today.   Full bloom here and there in the climax forest.
Something few people have ever seen and yet the garden is open to the public.   If you live close by then pack up your camera
and hike over there right now.  There was only one other couple there today.  Seemed like a wonderland designed just for us
alone.  Marjorie organized our visit.  I had no idea such a fairyland forest existed in heart of Mississauga.

It will really knock your socks off!

Camilla Road…QEW and Hurontario…one block east of Hurontario on North Service Road…small parking lost for 10 cars…free.

Put your socks back on and hustle over to the Hancock Garden right now.  

alan

        

This CUTE little brown snake was hustling across a pathway in the garden.  You should hustle as well.


Why take this picture?  To show how the Mississauga Parks system has protected the Hancock forest with the very
best cable and couplings.   Do not jump the fence and trample the woodland.



Here is a mystery for you to solve.  Why is this Hancock Woodlands garden shed featuring Japanese script.  There must be a reason.  
My high school chums at Humberside in the 1950’s may have known…Takasaki and Hayashi may have known but not said much
about it…actually said nothing about the sudden presence of Japanese families in Toronto in the Second World War.  The Hancock
story is complicated and heart warming if you take the time to read the signage.   Makes the blooms all the more powerful. 

EISODE 340 ACCIDENT…SLIGHT ACCIDENT….AND A KIND ACT by A YOUNG SIKH LAD

EPISODE 340   ACCIDENT…SLIGHT ACCIDENT…AND A KIND ACT BY A YOUNG SIKH LAD WITH A BIG SMILE





Sunday may 23, 2021

NEAR empty three lane highway on Sunday morning May 23, 2021.  Totally
enjoyable  to be zipping along at slightly  above the speed limit.  Relaxed. One
hand on the wheel but paying close attention to the road.

“Alan, watch out!”
Suddenly there was  a big white plastic pail spinning down my lane.  From where?
I had no idea.  Empty road.  Dodged it without panic.  
“Another one , Alan…bigger….you are going to hit it.”
“No time to swerve”
..no idea who was in the inside lane.”
“whump!”
“We hit it….did it pop out behind?”
“Too big….trapped under the truck  …Stop!”
“Give me time…big service station  ahead…empty  lot.”

So we parked…Marjorie got me a broom to sweep under 
the truck.  Found the big container bent and fixed to
our front axle.  No damage but it was fixed in place.  Would not
move.

By this time I was down on my knees.  Reached an age when the knees
are no loner acting like rubber bands.  How the hell  was I to 
crawl under the truck?   And then the big nightmare…how was I to
get up off the pavement?

I poked for  a while.  Then suddenly there was another person pulling from
under the front of the truck.  The thick plastic began to give
way.  My rescuer pulled it out front way.   Bashed, twisted…but
intact.   Not me…the plastic tub.  That was the way I felt though and the way the plastic tub
looked.

How the hell  would I get on my feet.  Knee sore from a football
injury at Victoria College decades ago.   How to get back on my feet?

No problem.  The young lad who noticed our trouble was right beside
me…offered his arm as did Marjorie.  

Incident over.  Well not quite. The boy had the biggest smile
I have ever seen.  His name is Shandeep…a sikh …about
18 to 20 years old.  Bright clothing to match his smile
and a black turban wound around his head.  Exuded cheerfulness.

Then he was gone…before I could rudely ask if I could
take his picture.   Gone.  The service station lot was empty
again.

We have had a number of kind acts lately.  Nice.



alan skeoch




EPISODE 349 WERE SWEATMAN AND MALLETT ON THE NAZI GHOST TRAIN LIBERATED BY BELGIAN UNDERGROUND SEPT. 2,1944?

EPISODE 349  WERE SWEATMAN AND MALLETT ON THE NAZI GHOST TRAIN,  SEPT. 2, 1944?

alan skeoch
May 22, 2021

Here we are suffering through a global pandemic that is shaking the world…killing millions.  Seems strange
to be remembering events of World War II that happened 77 years ago.   But thanks to Edouard Reniere our
thoughts have been cast back to the crew of the Blonde Bomber…HX 313, 424 Squadron, RCAF, # 6 Bomber
Group, Skipton one Swale, Yorkshire.  Night May 27-28, 1944.   I can write all these specifics from memory.

What I knew of that ill-fated bomber came from the amusing notes of Victor Poppa who
survived the crash.   My  cousin George Freeman was killed.  Other members of the crew
also survived and I knew little about their POW and EVADER experiences until a few days
ago (see Episode 348)

It seems Sweatman was aboard the Nazi Ghost train loaded in a boxcar with 50 or so POW’’s and
over 1,000 Belgian citizens including some Jewish citizens being sent to Ravensbruck concentration
(extermination) camp.

Neither Ken Sweatman nor Eric Mallett  are recorded as aboard the train, however. 
 

Lots of references to the Ghost train…here are a few.

alan
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Original artifact. Brown boxcar with light creating shadows from upper right corner.

Replica of a Holocaust train boxcar used by Nazi Germany to transport Jews and other victims during the Holocaust.

The Nazi Ghost Train is the popular name for a train that, at the beginning of September 1944, was intended to transport the political prisoners and Allied airmen held at Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels, to camps in Germany.

Role[edit]

The train was intended to transport the political prisoners and Allied airmen held at Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels, to camps in Germany. Its mission was thwarted by Belgian railway men who delayed the progress of the train for so long that, with the approaching Allies entering the city, the Germans abandoned the idea. They released the political prisoners (but not the Allied POWs) at Klein-Eiland/La Petite-Ile station in Brussels, using the train instead to take troops back to Germany. Note that ‘Ghost Train’ is something of a misnomer since both the Germans and (especially) the Belgian railway workers knew exactly where the train was at all times.[1]

Description[edit]

The train itself comprised thirty or so goods wagons formed up by the German SS troops at Bruxelles Midi Railway Station. It was occupied by 1,370 political prisoners[1] and 41 Allied airmen from Saint-Gilles prison, and destined for prison camps in Germany.[2]
The train had been scheduled to leave in the early morning of Saturday 2 September 1944 but was delayed by railway workers until nearly five o’clock in the afternoon. Further delaying tactics resulted in the train only getting as far at Mechelen that evening and then diverting to Muizen for water replenishment. On leaving Muizen station next morning, further problems (mostly due to sabotage) were encountered and the train eventually returned to Klein-Eiland/La Petite-Ile at 10:15 Sunday morning. More (deliberate) confusion resulted in the locomotive for the train being detached and no suitable replacement being found. Following negotiations with various officials, including the Red Cross, the political prisoners were released from the train at 12.30 and the Germans took the train over for their own troops that afternoon. The train only got as far as Schaerbeek that evening before it was shunted into the railway yards there. In the confusion, several wagons, including the one holding the POWs, were derailed and abandoned. The POWs escaped in small groups throughout the night.[1]


Minute-by-Minute Account of the Phantom Train

Summary of minute-by-minute peregrination of the “Ghost Train”

by Walter Verstraeten

Based upon:

  •  “Le Train fantôme (The phantom train)” from Lokker, Claude,  Des Bâtons dans les Roues, Brussels: MIM Fonds Ortelius, 1985, which is primarily based upon investigations made by Mr. Handeberg, Belgian Railway Personnel Management Inspector.
  • Speech held by René Ponty onNov. 7, 1944
  • Speech held one year later by René Ponty, during a commemorative service at Brussels-South Train Station

General info:

  •  Train mission number: 1.682508
  • Supposed to leave Brussels-South Train Station on Sept. 2, 1944 at 8:30 a.m. from tracks/platforms 14 and 15.
  • Trajectory planned: Brussels-South/Mechelen/Essen/The Netherlands/Germany.
  • Purpose: transport of 1370 Saint-Gilles political prisoners and allied airmen to German extermination camps. Nationalities included Belgians, French, Russians, Americans, Canadians and British.
  • Train under surveillance of SS-troops

The Ghost train denomination

Lokker states that the expression “Ghost Train” has been ill-chosen as the whereabouts of the train were known at all times during its peregrination and was constantly guarded by SS surveillance units. A better name could have been “Miracle Train”.

Deportation figures for the year 1944:

Deportations from Belgiumwere executed under the command of the Reichssicherheitshaupt-amt(General Office for the Security of the Reich). The men who staged this act of infamy included Straub, who was the leader of the SIPO-SD[1] (Security Police-Security Service), Reeder, who was Miltärverwaltungschef (head of military administration), General Jungclaus, who was Head of the Gestapo inBelgium) and von Falkenhausen.

Number of people transferred to concentration camps between April and September 1944

 

Date/month

 

 

Buchenwald

 

Sachsenhausen

 

Ravensbrück

 

Vught (H)

 

Neuengamme

April 16



798


May

1.857





June

544


193



Aug 8


170



Aug 10

827





Aug 30


250

131

1.703

Sep 1


130



Sep 4

800-900




The three phases:

The Ghost Train episode can be divided up in three distinct phases:

Phase 1: The train is prevented from leaving the Brussels-South Train Station and eventually takes off for Vorst-South Train Station on Saturday, Sept. 2 at4:50 p.m.

Phase 2:  The train drives to Muizen Train Station where it arrives at11:40 p.m.and on Sept. 3 at7:15 a.m.returns to Brussels- Klein-Eiland (Petit île) Train Station

Phase 3: The train arrives at Brussels-Klein Eiland (Petit île) Train Station at10:15 a.m.on Sunday, September 3, where the prisoners are released.

 Brussels-South Train Station:

 For ease of reading most names of stations etc. have been translated to English. In Dutch Brussels-South is called “Brussel-Zuid”, the French-speaking population of Brussels refer to this train station as the “Midi”.

The full minute-by-minute account

Phase 1

August 25 thru September 1, 1944

Both on August 25 and September 1, 1944 the Swedish ambassador, baron Knudse de Verchou, backed by the Red Cross helped by Count Berryer, asks the German ambassador, Mayr-Falkenberg, to abandon the plan to deport to Germany close to 5.000 political prisoners held in Belgian prisons. The request also includes the Jews remaining at the Mechelen Dossin Barracks awaiting transfer to the extermination camps.  General Jungclaus makes promises, but keeps his definite answer in consideration. In any case he makes it clearly understood that “heavy cases” will be sent toGermanyno matter what. In spite of this contact and the vague promises made, Jungclaus orders 130 women to be deported to Ravensbrück on September 1, 1370 Saint-Gilles prisoners on September 2 and another 800-900 men from the still occupied part of Belgium on September 4 to Sachsenhausen. Only the September 2 contingency will not reach the extermination camps. This is their story.

Night of Sept 1 – Brussels South Train Station

SS detachments roll in 32 boxcars destined to haul 1.370 political prisoners held at the nearby Saint-Gilles Prison toGermany

Sept. 2 – Saturday

 From 1:30 to 4:00 a.m.

The Saint-Gilles prisoners are awakened and herded together in the central court of the prison. Each prisoner is given two Red Cross parcels. To the prisoners this is the end of their dream of being liberated by the rapidly approaching allied troops.

4:00 a.m. thru 07:30 a.m.

The prisoners leave, walking between rows of machine guns. They are driven away in lorries. At Fonsny Avenue a truck holding women singing the Belgian national anthem is observed. As the lorries drive through the streets towards the train station, bits of paper snow from the lorries. They contain messages from the prisoners to their families, friends, and relatives not to lose hope and to keep the faith. Citizens pick up the bits of papers and will see to it that they get to the addressees.

Upon arrival at the platforms the prisoners are ordered inside the boxcars. They are from 85 to 105 in a boxcar. Peeking out through the cracks in the slats of the cattle wagons the prisoners can see their friends, relatives, and wives pass as they move on to the next boxcar.  A smothering heat starts soon building up quite rapidly inside the cars. Assistant manager Duverger audaciously neglects the German threats and starts opening the ventilation slots, so fresh air can get into the wagons. Through these slots messages are passed in both directions. Slips of paper are thrown out and picked up by patriots walking along Avenue Fonsny that borders the train yard. Verbal messages are passed on in both directions.

 7:30 a.m.

 Michel Petit, the assistant train station manager, and an active member of the resistance group M.N.B., notices that SS soldiers take up positions along tracks 14 and 15. He estimates there are between 150 and 175 SS-men in all on the platforms. A civilian has already informed him around6a.m.that the prison of Saint-Gilles is in the process of being evacuated. Michel Petit gives covert instructions to sabotage the locomotive requested for this action. He immediately sends out a message to the Laken resistance group, asking them to pass on the warning to all other resistance groups covering the Brussels-Antwerp railway trajectory. Informed that a German hospital train is being diverted via Denderleeuw to the Brussels-South train station, Michel Petit, assisted by a staff member, leaves his office to go and fix a dynamite charge onto rail switch no. 67.

07:40 a.m.

The Train Station Manager, Léon Petit, passes on the same information as his namesake Michel. Within a short period of time a resistance man shows up in Léon’s office, pledging the station manager to use all means at his disposal to keep the train from leaving, pending a possible positive answer from General Jungclaus. Petit assures the man that will be no problem, but requests him to go and find the train depot manager, Technical Inspector Piette, and ask him to slow down the delivery of the requested locomotive. No sooner is he informed than Piette passes on the instruction to engine driver Roelants. Without informing the Germans all locomotives dispersed over the marshalling yard are called to the railway depot.

Léon Petit’s office is earmarked as the central headquarters for the whole operation. From here a well-conceived priority sabotage plan will be executed in the course of the day. The actors primarily will be the railroad personnel and staff, aided by resistance people. Soon many resistance members, including the personal representative of Général De Gaulle, are coming and going. A violent intervention is considered, but dropped as it is realized that any such action will invariably entail carnage. The word is spread that the Germans are to be constantly and deliberately misinformed on the total of locomotives available.

As soon as the Fahrtnummer  1.682.508 (convoy number) for the prison train is communicated to Léon Petit, it is covertly passed on to the railway depot workshop. Now the sabotage acts can be accurately pinpointed onto the exact train engines. Now the scenario can be laid down in detail. Spare parts will get broken. Drivers can make themselves sparse or can disappear altogether or they can get hurt or ill. Unnecessary additional controls can be inserted in the day’s schedule to slow down the whole process. Locomotives can show up at the wrong places and “unfortunate” misinterpretations will certainly yield a lot of problems all over the marshalling yard. Imagination will be their only limit.

09.15 a.m.

A locomotive is requested from the depot. The depot reports that specific locomotive, a type 33, has broken down. As a matter of fact rendering the lubrication piping unusable has sabotaged locomotive no. 3302. Locomotive no. 1202 is now assigned, but it turns out to be suffering from a broken Westinghouse pump. The driver Georges reports sick and is replaced by Vanderveken. It becomes obvious to the Germans that the Belgians are deliberately slowing down the repair jobs. They order German mechanics to take over and the engine is soon fixed. However, as the locomotive leaves the depot it is sent off in the wrong direction and ends up in a totally different place somewhere on the marshalling yard. Atnoonit will be reported to still be there.

12:00 noon

 A locomotive towing a German freight train pulls in at Brussels-South. It is reassigned to the prisoner’s train. However, the locomotive is ‘inadvertently’ diverted to the Schaarbeek marshalling yard at the other end ofBrussels. Apparently there has been some misunderstanding at the carousel where trains can be sent off in different directions on different tracks.

2:00 p.m.

Driver Roelants requests to be replaced, as his shift has been completed. He is replaced by Delorme, who claims he still has to go and collect his wages (it is Saturday). He disappears from the depot and as it turns out stays away for two hours.

 2:15 p.m.

Georges’ replacement, Vanderveken, drags his feet as long as possible. Seeing this act cannot be kept up indefinitely, he enacts his tumbling from a locomotive and fakes to be wounded.

3:15 p.m.

 The Germans are completely at a loss and send an armed guard to the locomotive depot and start looking for Delorme. Eventually Louis Verheggen and Léon Pochet are ordered to drive the locomotive. Three SS-guards move into the engine house and take up positions behind the two engineers, their arms trained at their backs. They will remain there until the morning of September 3 at10:15 a.m., an 18-hour constant vigil as to the slightest movements of the drivers. In spite of that Verheggen and Pochet will manage to continue sabotaging the advance of the train during the whole trajectory.

3:30 p.m.

 Locomotive 1202 leaves the depot.

4:15 p.m.

Locomotive 1202 is attached to the row of 32 boxcars. The train is guarded by several German officers and between 150-175 SS-soldiers. A section of machine-guns has been mounted onto the anti-aircraft wagon. They are installed in such manner as to be able to direct their fire along both flanks of the train. Verheggen demands a brake test to be executed, in spite of the German workshop leader assuring him that this as already been done. Verheggen informs assistant manager Deweiger that he’ll do anything in his power to keep the train from passing the border. Deweiger runs along the train shouting the message to all prisoners as he passes each boxcar. In the meantime he picks up all little bits of paper thrown out of the boxcars (via the ventilation slots) by the prisoners. These little bits of paper contain messages to their families and relatives. Deweiger takes a great risk as the patrolling guards normally should shoot him for doing this, but somehow it doesn’t happen.  Assistant-chief Decoster addresses Verheggen to sign a work form. In reality he passes on a message that the French Resistance is counting on him and trusts him.

Departure of the train is now set at4:50 p.m.

Leaving the station, Verheggen notices that the signaller has set the all-clear sign for slow traffic to Ruisbroek. Profiting from the ignorance of the three guards he enters the marshalling yard on this wrong railtrack. The local assistant station manager stops him and after some discussion he is redirected toVorst. At Vorst-South Train Station, Vanderstricht, the assistant station manager, has been informed of the oncoming prisoner train, which is normally due to pass thru his yard at 4:55 p.m. He has put his signals in such way as to force a 72-wagon German freight train coming fromHalleand on its way to Brussels-South viaVorstonto the main track, thus blocking the Verheggen locomotive. Logically Vanderstricht manoeuvres the Ghost train locomotive onto a dead-end sidetrack.  Vanderstricht now starts concentrating on the 72-wagon train on the main track. In order to move it away, the locomotive needs to be brought from the head to the back of the row of wagons. Vanderstricht eventually splits up in the convoy in two parts. Discussions with the Germans leads to the decision to send the locomotive back on the reverse track. In the process an anti-aircraft wagon is attached to the train atVorst. Verheggen takes the opportunity to replenish his water supply.

Phase 2

September 2, 1944 – Saturday

 5:45 p.m.

The Ghost Train arrives at the Schaarbeek railway marshalling yard. In spite of the sign being in the “safe”-position, Verheggen brakes to a stop and intends to leave the engine’s cabin pretending to go and fetch a yard pilot. He is forced back inside the cabin and ordered to leave immediately. One of the guards assures him: ”Maschine kaput, du kaput!”  (Locomotive dead, you dead!).

At Vilvoorde the signs are in the “stop”-position. Verheggen secretly congratulates the clever signaller. It allows him to halt his train for a long period of time. The guards however soon get impatient and suspicious and order him to drive on in spite of the signs.

Driving into the Mechelen marshalling yard via Eppegem at around11 p.m., the signs are in “stop”-position there as well. This however is a normal situation, as the sign installation has been out of order since the latest allied bombing raid on Mechelen. The engineer needs to descend and phone to find out whether he can actually pass the signs. The guards again make a lot of fuss, but realizing Verheggen is in the right, he is given permission to descend from the cabin and is escorted by two guards to the nearest phone. One guard stays with Pochet. Permission to pass the signs is obtained and the journey continues.

The engineers Verheggen and Pochet keep the vapour release activated the whole time, even when the engine is not moving. This absolutely unnecessary manoeuvre, unobserved by the three SS-guards, causes extreme loss of water. Verheggen and Pochet only raise the question of a fill-up of water as they came to Mechelen, where they know the water supply cannot be replenished due to severe damage caused to the water conduits in the course of the latest allied bombing of the Mechelen train yard. This causes the train to be diverted to the overcrowded Muizen Train Station where the nearest water replenishment tanks are available.

11:40 p.m.

The Ghost train pulls in at Muizen Train Station. The train is not given permission to leave. Shots are heard around 0:15 a.m. The person responsible for the German train eventually shows up around5.30 p.m.and orders the train to return to Mechelen.

September 3, 1944 – Sunday

05:30 a.m.

 The Ghost train leaves Muizen. Approaching Mechelen the wheels of the locomotive start slipping as the train takes a curb. The malfunctioning sand distributors cause the slipping. Verheggen calls in at the nearest phone and requests a locomotive be sent to pull his convoy away. A Type I locomotive is available and will be sent ASAP. Its driver is Gerardy. Verheggen makes certain the man at the other side is well informed of the contents of his train and its destination.

Returning to his engine he gets into a discussion with the SS-soldiers manning the anti-aircraft boxcar, which has shifted position from last boxcar atVorst, to first boxcar behind the locomotive at Muizen. They demand their boxcar be repositioned in the back of the train. Verheggen plans to leave them behind. He has informed Pochet of his intentions and plan. As soon as he has disconnected the AA-car, he will not hook it on again and leave forBrusselswithout it. That is the reason why the AA-boxcar was missing when the train pulled in at Klein-Eiland.

 10:15 a.m.

The Ghost train arrives at Klein-Eiland Train Station. The Germans and the (Belgian) collaborators immediately claim Gerardy and his locomotive. In the face of the advance of the allies towardsBrussels, all Germans and collaborators have now reached the point of sheer panic and their only aim is to grab any available transport to make sure they can escape toGermany.  Gerardy’s engine is hooked up to a German train and he himself is forced with a gun at point blank to pull the train out. Later on he and his stoker will manage to flee from the engine in the Mechelen area.

Verheggen’s locomotive having been detached from the train, the driver decides to make his escape.  He descends from his engine and starts inspecting the locomotive, walking around it. One guard stays behind holding a rifle to Pochet’s back. The two guards have left. As soon as Verheggen is out of the German’s sight he makes a dash for it and can get away from the marshalling yard unscathed. Pochet decides to let the fire die out in the engine and starts taking actions to that effect.

Phase 3:

September 3, 1944 – Sunday

09:10 a.m.

Although the Brussels-South personnel have decided to follow the example of the other railway yards and abandon the train stations leaving the Germans to their own problems, they return to their posts as soon as they are informed by phone from Brussels-West that a prisoner train is approaching Klein-Eiland.

The train commander, unaware of Jungclaus’ decision, decidedly demands another locomotive to be hooked up to his train. A troop train commander has already confiscated locomotive 109. For the other machine, locomotive 1202, there is no driver available, Verheggen having made a dash for it. Also by this time stoker Pochet has managed to kill the fire in the engine.  One locomotive is reserved for a Red Cross train. All of sudden it appears several locomotives have been sent off to Schaarbeek without convoys. All signs being held on “safe”, approaching trains just pass the Klein-Eiland Station without stopping. Apparently the Klein-Eiland railway people have taken all the right measures to make it impossible for the prisoner train to leave the station again.

10:30 a.m.

Baron Knudse de Verchou, proconsul ofSweden, Mr. Miney, consul ofSwitzerlandand Mr. Lieckendael, Director of Public Safety are called to the office of the German Ambassador Mayr-Falkenbergh who informs them officially of Jungclaus’ orders to release the prisoners and that the prisoner train is on its way back. The delegation immediately departs for the Klein-Eiland Train Station.

10:45 a.m.

Dr. Van Dooren whose wife is one of the prisoners in the train, starts negotiations with the German Klein-Eiland railway commander.  The doctor arrives with Mr. Roberte of the Red Cross. Roberte has been informed at6 a.m.by the German ambassador that the train had been ordered back and that all prisoners were to return to their cells at Saint-Gilles prison.  Roberte is determined to not let the prisoners return to prison and asks Van Dooren to initiate talks with the German commandant.

12:30 p.m.

The commandant himself being in the dark on any specific orders, lets himself be convinced and orders the prisoners to be released from the boxcars.  He however decides that the boxcar containing the allied airmen will not be opened and that the prisoners inside that specific boxcar will be stay in as PoWs. Shortly after the liberation of the 1.370 prisoners Jungclaus’ orders to liberate the prisoners reach Klein-Eiland station.

Research and text: Walter Verstraeten, July 2004.



EPISODE 348 A SURPRISE EMAIL FROM EDOUARD RENIERE in Belgium re HX 313….escape of eric mallett and Ken Sweatman in 1944



Begin forwarded message:


From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
Subject: hx 313….escape of eric mallet
Date: May 22, 2021 at 7:56:42 AM EDT
To: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>


EPISODE 348    SURPRISE — AN EMAIL FROM BELGIUM RE: SURVIVORS OF CRASH OF HX 313 (KEN SWEATMAN AND ERIC MALLETT)


alan skeoch
May 2021

What  a surprise!  I do not think I can overstates the surprise I felt when I opened an email
from Edouard Reniere sent from Brussels in Belgium.  He had been surfing the internet and
found my story about Victor Poppa and the crash of HX 313 on a raid over Bourg Leopold
on the night of May 27,28 in 1944.   Most readers are familiar with the diary entries of Victor Poppa….
both hilarious at times as he searched for women on his off hours and his graphic descriptions
of the bombing missions.  

The story began long ago when I began tracing the events that led to the death of George Freeman

in 1944.  He was killed in HX313, a Halifax Bomber.   Others survived the crash. Their stories have
come together.


Here is the email from Edward Reniere and a print out of the escapes of Ken Sweatman and Eric Mallett …
bomb aimer and pilot of the ill fated Blonde Bomber.

Good morning,
While searching further on the two RCAF airmen mentioned above, I found your website at http://alanskeoch.ca/?p=3687
This is to tell you we have a page (in French only) for both of them :”
Edouard Reniere


First is the English translation of the escape of pilot Eric Mallett followed by the story of Ken Sweatman

ERIC MALLETT

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PERSON HIDDEN UNTIL RELEASE

Last updated May 20, 2021.

Eric Leo MALLETT / J.6186
4015 West 35th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (4141 Brand North, Vancouver in his Lib report) 
Born November 14, 1916 in England / † April 15, 2000 Vancouver, Canada. 
Fl / Lt, RAF Bomber Command 424 Squadron, pilot. 
Landing location: near Bourg-Léopold and Zonhoven. 
Handley Page Halifax Mk III, HX313, QB-B “Blonde Bomber”, shot down by a hunter during a mission to Bourg-Leopold military camp on the night of May 27-28, 1944. 
Crushed near the Langven in Oostham , 6 Km OSO from Bourg-Leopold / Leopoldsburg, Belgian Limburg. 
Duration: 3 ½ months. 
Camps: Bellevaux, Acremont.

Further information :

Escape report in WO 208/3350. Lib Report IS9WEA / MB / 1358.

The plane took off on May 27 at 11:45 p.m. from Skipton-on-Swale. After hitting the device near their objective, Mallett orders the crew to jump.



Photo of the Halifax HX-313 “Blonde Bomber” (source: http://alanskeoch.ca/?p=3877)

Three men will be killed: F / Off Navigator Robert Aubrey Irwin, Radio / Mechanic Sgt Wilfred George Wakely and Dorsal Gunner Sgt George Frank Freeman. All three will first be buried on May 30 in Sint-Truiden. They were subsequently exhumed in the Heverlee War Cemetery in Heverlee / Louvain-Leuven.

Wounded rear gunner F / Sgt Victor G. Poppa is taken prisoner.

Eric Mallett, his bomber Kenneth Sweatman , mechanic Sgt Maurice Muir and F / Off co-pilot WJ Elliott escape capture.

On June 22, however, while Muir and Muir were cycling towards Veerle, they encountered two men in a car who brought them to 19 Rue Forestière in Brussels. They stay there until July 3, when they are driven by car to another house, where they meet five men. Four of the latter escort them to a car, supposedly to have them photographed. Muir reports that as he was about to get into the car, a German soldier appeared, the four men pulled out guns and told them to get in. The soldier was driving when the vehicle brought them to the Luftwaffe Police HQ at Avenue Louise. Muir and Elliott were searched there and then taken to Saint-Gilles Prison.

After 3 months in Saint-Gilles, Muir, Elliott and other prisoners are on September 2, 1944 aboard the “Ghost Train” (“Ghost Train”) leaving for Germany, but which will never leave the country, resistant railway workers prevented it, thus allowing the release of more than a thousand prisoners, mainly civilians. Muir and Elliott will be in hiding in Brussels until September 9, when they join the Hôtel Métropole. The next day, they flew to Paris for questioning before reaching England by plane on the 12th.

After landing, Mallett buries parachute and Mae-West and walks southwest for 2 kilometers. A man beckons him to hide and he stays for a while in a cornfield, where he unsticks his badges. At daybreak, he buys a pair of shoes from a farmer in a village and uses 50 BF from his escape kit to do so. A second man then takes him to another village, where he finds his bomber, Sweatman. They must stay 9 days in a nearby wood, where they are brought food and civilian clothes. They are then taken to Geel, where they are hidden for 8 weeks.

A 1948 report on the activities of the Geel Section of the MNB (Mouvement National Belge / Belgisch Nationaal Beweging) , indicates that “fallen to Balen-Nethe”, Mallett and Sweatman were recovered by Victor NEELS (from 97 Rosselaar to Balen-Nethe – of the Mol-Postel Section of the  MNB ), which handed them over on June 5 to the Clement LEEMANS Group of Geel. The priest François SCHMIDT (College of Geel) lodged them for one day and then took them to Miss RENIES from Geel, where they stayed until July 14. On this date, SCHMIDT came to take them back and had them taken to Gustaaf RENAERTS, from Kasterlee, who entrusted them to Mme VERSTRAETEN from Turnhout.

According to information gathered by Kamiel Mertens, helped by Colonel NEELS before arriving in Turnhout. Sweatman and Mallett are hidden from July 14 to August 4, 1944 at Zozine Émilienne LAFFILI, 41, wife of François VERSTRAETEN (prisoner in Germany since May 1940) at n ° 80 (currently n ° 84) of the Kwakkelstraat in Turnhout. Note: Zosime LAFILI’s first name is used under different spellings depending on the sources: Zozine, Jozine, Josine, but his birth certificate drawn up in Leuven on November 17, 1902 clearly reproduces Zosime.

From Zosime LAFFILI, still according to Kamiel Mertens, they are guided by her in the company of Albert GEVERS (living in Mol) from Turnhout to Antwerp, then to Brussels, where the meeting was at the Place Communale in Laeken. There, the “packages” were handed over to Frédéric DE MEYER (living at 102 Rue de la Victoire, in Saint-Gilles-Bruxelles).



False identity card established in Brussels for Mallett, identifying him as Frans Dumont, employee, 
living at 16 Rue Blanche in Saint-Gilles, Brussels

Passed through Brussels and Dinant, Mallett will be placed with Sweatman around mid-July in a Catholic school between Bastogne and Libramont. He will arrive there in the company of Paul Kasza , Lloyd Hermanski , Ronald Dawson and James Sherwood, among others All will be liberated by American troops on September 8, 1944.



Articulet from the “Vancouver Sun”, July 5, 1944, announcing that Eric Mallett is missing 

Articulet from the “Vancouver Sun”, September 28, 1944, 
confirming that Eric Mallett and Kenneth Sweatman are safe.

Eric Mallett wrote a book on his escape: “Eric Mallett’s Story: Through the German Lines with Forged Identity Papers”, edited by W. Ronald Conway and published by Conway Publishing, Victoria, BC, Canada in 1993.

The inset photo is from https://www.balenbevrijd.com/mei-2019.html.



© Philippe Connart, Michel Dricot, Edouard Renière, Victor Schutters


KEN SWEATMAN

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OPERATION MARATHON AVIATOR

Last updated May 20, 2021.

Kenneth Cyril SWEATMAN / R.20655
Kelliher, Saskatchewan, Canada (his wife Thelma lived in Calgary, Alberta, Canada during her service in Europe) 
Born 1920 / † April 30, 1987 in Kelliher, Saskatchewan, Canada 
WO 2, RCAF Bomber Command 424 Squadron, bomber 
Landed near Balen-Nethe, Province of Antwerp, Belgium. 
Handley Page Halifax Mk III, serial number HX313, QB-B, “Blonde Bomber”, shot down by a hunter during a mission to the Bourg-Leopold military camp on the night of May 27-28, 1944 
Crashed near the Langven to Oostham, 6 km OSO from Bourg-Leopold / Leopoldsburg, Belgian Limburg 
Duration: 3 ½ months 
Marathon Camps: Bellevaux / Acremont

Further information :

The plane took off on May 27, 44 at 11:45 p.m. from Skipton-on-Swale.



Photo of the Halifax HX-313 “Blonde Bomber” (source: http://alanskeoch.ca/?p=3877)

Three men will be killed: F / Off Navigator Robert Aubrey Irwin, Radio / Mechanic Sgt Wilfred George Wakely and Dorsal Gunner Sgt George Frank Freeman. All three will first be buried on May 30 in Sint-Truiden. They were subsequently exhumed in the Heverlee War Cemetery in Heverlee / Louvain-Leuven.

Fl / Sgt Victor G. Poppa, rear gunner, wounded, is taken prisoner.

Kenneth Sweatman, his pilot the Fl / Lt Eric Mallett, Engineer Sgt Maurice Muir and Fl / Off Co-pilot WJ Elliott escaped capture. On June 22, however, while Muir and Muir were cycling towards Veerle, they encountered two men in a car who brought them to 19 Rue Forestière in Brussels. They stay there until July 3, when they are driven by car to another house, where they meet five men. Four of the latter escort them to a car, supposedly to have them photographed. Muir reports that as he was about to get into the car, a German soldier appeared, the four men pulled out guns and told them to get in. The soldier was driving when the vehicle brought them to the Luftwaffe Police HQ at Avenue Louise. Muir and Elliott were searched there and then taken to Saint-Gilles Prison. After 3 months in Saint-Gilles, Muir, Elliott and other prisoners are on September 2, 1944 aboard the “Ghost Train” (“Ghost Train”) leaving for Germany, but which will never leave the country, resistant railway workers prevented it, thus allowing the release of more than a thousand prisoners, mainly civilians. Muir and Elliott will be in hiding in Brussels until September 9, when they join the Hôtel Métropole. The next day, they flew to Paris for questioning before reaching England by plane on the 12th. but who will never leave the country, resistant railway workers having prevented it, thus allowing the release of more than a thousand prisoners, mainly civilians. Muir and Elliott will be in hiding in Brussels until September 9, when they join the Hôtel Métropole. The next day, they flew to Paris for questioning before reaching England by plane on the 12th. but who will never leave the country, resistant railway workers having prevented it, thus allowing the release of more than a thousand prisoners, mainly civilians. Muir and Elliott will be in hiding in Brussels until September 9, when they join the Hôtel Métropole. The next day, they flew to Paris for questioning before reaching England by plane on the 12th.

A 1948 report on the activities of the Geel Section of the MNB (Mouvement National Belge / Belgisch Nationaal Beweging) , indicates that “fallen to Balen-Nethe”, Mallett and Sweatman were recovered by Victor NEELS (from 97 Rosselaar to Balen-Nethe – of the Mol-Postel Section of the  MNB ), which handed them over on June 5 to the Clément LEEMANS Group in Geel. The priest François SCHMIDT (College of Geel), lodged them for a day and then took them to Miss RENIES from Geel, where they stayed until July 14. On this date, SCHMIDT came to take them back and had them taken to Gustaaf RENAERTS, from Kasterlee, who entrusted them to Mme VERSTRAETEN from Turnhout.

According to information gathered by Kamiel Mertens, helped by Colonel NEELS before arriving in Turnhout. Sweatman and Mallett are hidden from July 14 to August 4, 1944 at Zozine Émilienne LAFFILI, 41, wife of François VERSTRAETEN (prisoner in Germany since May 1940) at n ° 80 (currently n ° 84) of the Kwakkelstraat in Turnhout. Note: Zosime LAFILI’s first name is used under different spellings depending on the sources: Zozine, Jozine, Josine, but his birth certificate drawn up in Leuven on November 17, 1902 clearly reproduces Zosime.

From Zosime LAFFILI, still according to Kamiel Mertens, they are guided by her in the company of Albert GEVERS (living in Mol) from Turnhout to Antwerp, then to Brussels, where the meeting was at the Place Communale in Laeken. There, the “packages” were handed over to Frédéric DE MEYER (living at 102 Rue de la Victoire, in Saint-Gilles-Bruxelles).

Around mid-July, Sweatman and Sgt Richard Irwin , shot on June 13, arrived one evening at 10:30 pm at the house of “Monique” Yvonne BIENFAIT at 35 Rue Guillaume Kennis in Schaerbeek where they met Charles Earnhartand Woodrow Tarleton . “Monique” told the airmen that a Gestapo agent would drop by the next morning around 7:30 am to drive them to Dinant, from where they would continue their route by bicycle towards a place near the French border. She reassures her interlocutors by saying that the Gestapo is also a British Secret Service agent effectively helping the resistance.

At 7:30 the next day, the man appears, then accompanies “Monique”, Gaston MATTHYS and the four airmen to a house in the southern part of Brussels where Yvonne BIENFAIT telephones to announce their arrival to the following guides to take charge of them. She joins the group and tells them that only three men can be on this trip and that Earnhart will have to wait for the transfer the following week.

After his passage through Dinant, Sweatman will find Earnhart and Tarleton later in a Catholic school between Bastogne and Libramont. He will arrive there in the company of Paul Kasza , Lloyd Hermanski , Ronald Dawson , James Sherwood and Eric Mallett, among others .

All will be liberated by American troops on September 8, 1944.



Articulet from the “Vancouver Sun”, July 5, 1944, announcing that Eric Mallett is missing 

Articulet from the “Vancouver Sun”, September 28, 1944, 
confirming that Eric Mallett and Kenneth Sweatman are safe.

Kenneth Sweatman rests at Horse Lake cemetery in West Bend, Saskatchewan, Canada

Inset photos are from http://alanskeoch.ca/?p=6465 (left) and http://alanskeoch.ca/?p=6448 (right)



© Philippe Connart, Michel Dricot, Edouard Renière, Victor Schutters


I WONDER if I can trace the book written by Eric Mallett in 1993?  “Eric Mallett’s Story: Through the German Lines with Forged Identity Papers”, edited by W. Ronald Conway and published by Conway Publishing, Victoria, BC, Canada in 1993.
Maybe I have already done my part by putting the diary of Victor Poppa in these earlier emails.  Time will tell.

alan

EPISODE 347 SNAKE TRAPPED IN A BAG…ON A BIG BIG MOVIE DAY MAY 20, 2021


EPISODE 347   SNAKE TRAPPED IN A  BAG…ON A BIG, BIG MOVIE DAY  MAY 20M 2021

alan skeoch
May 20 , 2021



“Snake got trapped in the green house, Alan.”
“Trapped?”
“Plastic tulip bag…snake got in but  could not get out.”
“what should we do?”
“Better get Marjorie…and a pair of scissors.””
“Marjorie will hold the snake while Grant cuts the tulip bag.”
“Why would the snake want to get in that bag?”
“Who knows?  Curiosity?”
“Must have been something worth eating…a big bug…a small frog”
“Or the bag was a good place to sleep.”
“Get the snake some water.”
“There, Mr. Snake…you have been rescued…courtesy of Grant and Marjorie”
“And two others looking on…masked but forgot  the separation.”
(Maybe someone could explain how to cut a snake from a tulip bag while
keeping six to 8 feet separation.)
“Everyone has had the covid 19 Vaccine…and the Covid test…regularly…compulsory
part of movie making these days.”
“Should we have let the snake strangle itself or should we have saved its life?
“Just  another moral dilemma in  the global pandemic.






This day, May 20, 2021, turned out to be an exhausting day for the set decoration
people and for Marjorie and me.   Woody , our dog, was smart.  He pushed open
the farm house basement door and got into a nice cool place.  He only came out
to check out the snake as you can see.

Below is a sample of things taken and things returned.

Everyone was masked….and tried to keep separation but that was not easy.









































































Towards the end of the day I noticed something strange on our front lawn.
Three of the crew were flat on the ground…writhing just like the snake.  

“What’s up folks?”
“Simon twisted his back…these exercises should make it better.”



You may wonder about the movie industry and its relation to the pandemic.
First…we need the movies, especially those trapped in tiny rooms
Second…the movie industry is very careful.  See the blue
arm bands above..  Coloured arm bands keep the movie sections separated.
One mistake…one exposure…and the movie shuts down.  No joke.













Then Andrew Skeoch arrived to load the Merry go Round.   Needed a special 
truck to get it delivered to the movie site.  No easy task.






I bet the only thing you remember is the snake in the tulip bag.

alan

EPISODE 346 FROM APRIL TO MAY…WHAT A DIFFERENCE A MONTH MAKES: GREEN LEAVES AND TULIPS AND APPLE BLOSSUMS

EPISODE 346    FROM APRIL TO MAY…WHAT A DIFFERENCE A MONTH MAKES: GREEN LEAVES, TULIPS, APPLE BLOSSOMS AND DANDELIONS


alan skeoch
May 20, 2021

This episode 346 is designed to be compared with episode 344 which shows  a landscape
without greenery.   The contrast is stunning.  And the contrast is necessary for it makes
us think more deeply about the world around us.  One without the other is unthinkable.

Not much need be said here.  The impact of the change from April to May is
something to behold.  If there is life anywhere else in the universe I doubt it could
be as beautiful as here on earth.  Certainly the prospect of living on Mars seems
grim indeed when compared with our changing seasons on earth.

So do not come knocking on our door with the offer of a free flight to Mars.

alan