WWII Veteran

Feature

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At 85, World War II veteran, Fern McFadden, has no gray hair and her face is unlined. "I guess I have good genes," she laughs.

McFadden was one of the Paisley Legion Auxiliary members to be honoured Saturday, May 23rd, at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the Auxiliary.

She joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1942 and was stationed in Trenton, where she began training as an Equipment Assistant. "They (military) sent around a memo asking if anyone knew how to play a musical instrument because they were starting an all-girl band. I knew how to play the clarinet so I signed up."

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23/05/2009 10:11 PM

 McFadden started out with the RCAF and then transferred to the Army. "In the RCAF, we were called the RCAF Women's Band but, in the army, we were known as the Canadian Women's Auxiliary Army," says McFadden.

The band ended up with approximately 48 musicians from across Canada. "We were sent overseas in 1945," explains McFadden. "We landed in Greenwich, England on July 1, 1945. My grandmother was still living and so I went to visit her. I was only there one night when we got word that we (the band) were moving out. We were sent to Holland, Paris and Germany, playing for the troops and in small villages ... anywhere they were stationed. It was actually fantastic!"

When McFadden returned from the war, she married and had four sons and then adopted two daughters. She and her husband ran a dairy farm just outside of Paisley, Ontario in Bradley. "Once I married and farmed," she says, "I hardly ever travelled outside of Ontario again. Dairy farming is a seven-day-a-week business."

McFadden would have been married 60 years this year but her husband passed away in 2000 and none of her children wanted to take over the dairy enterprise.

Along with her farm life, McFadden worked continually with the Canadian Legion and, on Saturday, was honoured with a 46-year service recognition with the Legion Auxiliary.
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