Sixty million people perished in WWII... five times the entire population of Canada at the time and almost twice the present number – awesome to envisage. French, German, Czechoslovak, Russian, British, Canadian and eventually American and Japanese citizens all participated in the war.

One night I helped recover some of the bodies.

I was conscripted in 1943 at aged 19 into the Royal Air Force as a Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (W. A.A.F) transport driver. I drove the ration wagon, a 30-hundredweight used, primarily, to deliver food to airdrome (or drome) cookhouses. One night in 1944 my job was very different. Our drome was situated near the southeast coast of England and was equipped with Fog Installation Disposal Of or FIDO. A thick fog had rolled in from the English Channel coinciding with the return of a large bombing mission over Germany. Unexpectedly, not just planes stationed at our drome but from all over Britain were directed to land with the advantage of the FIDO unit, but not all of the pilots were trained for such landings and we all knew that disaster loomed.

Planes were not just attempting to land on the runways but tragically, damaged and low on fuel, they were landing everywhere and not all made it. Every vehicle possible, all medical help and available personnel were summoned to duty. The memory of the pandemonium that followed would live with me for a lifetime. Bodies were everywhere, even to be peeled off trees. There were lucky pilots and crew that survived and were rushed to all available sick bays and local hospitals. Not all completely recovered. One I specifi - cally remember, legless, later returned to his usual duty as a pilot and was publicized in print.

As for the rescuing teams, we were feted as heroes and taken to warm dormitories to sip hot rum and cry in the arms of the offi cers for whom we usually stood to attention and the sergeants and corporals we normally, respectfully feared. It was a strange, extremely unfamiliar and scary happening I remember clearly to this day, albeit with a poignant smile.

It was after this terrible war had ended and the soldiers, sailors, airmen, W.A.A.F and Wrens (Women’s Navel Service) who served returned home that the seeds were sown for the Boomer Generation to begin.