The David Gordon Pettifer Family

Family story written by daughter Jane

David Gordon Pettifer, his wife Sheila Doreen (Bradwell) and three children: Jane (5), Anna (4) and Bob (3) took the train from Quebec City to Peterborough, Ontario to stay in a cottage in Bewdley on Rice Lake until we could buy a farm - my Dad's dream. My grandparents, William Alwyn Bradwell and Frances Helen (Clarke) Bradwell, followed us in January of 1954.

In May 1954 we moved to a farm near Selwyn in Lakefield/Bridgenorth area of the Kawarthas. My parents had both served in the British Army during WWII and never regretted the move here. They became proud Canadians and raised all their children to feel the same. The farm remains the family home which our youngest brother Dave still operates. A third sister, Nita, and Bob still live in the Peterborough area and our parents and grandparents are buried in the Lakefield cemetery there.

MEMORIES written by Sheila D. Bradwell (Pettifer) in 1994

The 50th anniversary of the landing on the Normandy beaches brought back memories to me. No, I did not take part in the actual landing, but my war effort helped.

Fifty-two years ago I was called up into the A.T.S. I asked to go as a nursing orderly, but after tests I was assigned to an Experimental Range as an experimental assistant in gunnery. We were a small camp stationed on the Welsh coast with the estuary of the River Dovey as part of our camp. All the ammunition tested was experimental, but the most interesting were the rockets. We knew the landing barges equipped with salvoes of rockets were needed for the landings in Europe, but of course, we did not know when. There were fifteen ATS responsible for plotting the height and distance of the rockets from points around with theodolites. Then, when the tide was out, the men would retrieve the rockets, and the "higher-ups" would see if they had done what was wanted.

We were all thrilled one day when Wing Commander Whittle came to have his rocket tested - it was a forerunner of the rockets used in the present Space program. He has since been knighted, and is presently living in the U.S.A. We also had a lot of civilian scientists visiting from several allied countries, so we were constantly reminded that "even the walls have ears."

Being a small camp, everyone knew everyone else. It was not easy on the cooks and orderlies, as the shoots depended on tides, so meal times were erratic, but they coped. After the landings in Europe, we had to concentrate on specialized rockets against Japanese bunkers, and the ammunition used in jungle warfare. Somehow, that part of the war never seemed so real to most of us, though several of the girls had boyfriends and brothers there.

My most satisfying "reward" for the 4 years I spent in the ATS was being chosen to march in the Victory Parade. We has three weeks practicing and drilling to get ready, along with the nations who had taken part in the war. There were Ghurkas - the fierce little fighters from India; Sikhs in their colourful turbans; Greeks in their national dress; free French, Poles, Canadians - army, navy and air force: a sight I will never forget.

I made so many friends from all walks of life, and have kept in touch for over 50 years with the girls I lived with. I would not have missed my time in the ATS for anything. I can well understand the veterans of the Normandy landing wanting to be at the 50th Anniversary - it is a chance to bring back their youth, and feel so near to the many friends they left there.