Veterans’ Week 2006

Air Force veteran to honour fallen friends

By Holly Bridges

This Remembrance Day, while many Canadian veterans will be at home watching ceremonies on TV, or attending services in their own communities, 86-year-old Charley Fox will be driving down Highway 401 heading for Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto.

The Guelph, Ontario native, and Second World War Distinguished Flying Cross with bar recipient, is going to visit his old friend and fellow veteran, Steve Randall, who lives in the veterans’ wing at Sunnybrook Hospital.

412 (T) Sqn Honorary Colonel Charley Fox chats with Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General, in front of a wartime Spitfire at the Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa during a recent ceremony to consecrate his wartime squadron’s new colours. Credit: Corporal Issa Paré

His visit will be rather unusual, though.  Instead of sitting and chatting with his friend, “Flight Lieutenant” Fox will be doing ground control, radio in hand, for a flypast over Sunnybrook by the Canadian Harvard Aircraft Association (CHAA).  The association performs a flypast every year on Remembrance Day, usually over Toronto City Hall and then over Sunnybrook Hospital.

“I didn’t talk about my experiences in the war for over 40 years,” says F/L Fox, also the Honorary Colonel for 412 Transport Squadron in Ottawa, his old wartime squadron.  “A lot of us felt so guilty when we came home from the war because we survived and so many of our friends didn’t.  We didn’t want to talk about it.  But then when I got involved doing ground control for these flypasts and doing colour commentaries at air shows across the country, I wanted to honour the “fellas” I flew with.  I started to tell their stories.”

HCol Fox says he flew with half of the 42 412 Sqn pilots who were killed during the Second World War and it’s their sacrifices and heroism he is determined to share every chance he gets, whether it’s on Remembrance Day or throughout the year.

HCol Fox is perhaps best known for strafing Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s staff car from his Spitfire at 300 feet, fatally wounding the driver and severely injuring Rommel who was in charge of all German forces in Normandy. Credit: Lance Russwurm, spitcrazy.com

“I have a passion for passing on the story of what our men and women  did overseas and the sacrifices they made, particularly to our young people,” says HCol Fox.  “I want them to hear and to study and to learn about our great, strong military history and about Canada standing up to be counted.  My father served in the Boer war, my wife’s father died from First World War injuries three weeks after my wife was born, I served in the Second World War and a lot of Canadians just don’t know about our military history.”

Aside from travelling the country, speaking to schools, helping with air shows and Remembrance Day, HCol Fox is also working on a more lasting tribute to his wartime friends and their service to Canada.  He has teamed up with CBC broadcaster and author Ted Barris to write a book called, “Why not me?” 

The book is based on HCol Fox’s wartime logbook, diary and interviews he did with Mr. Barris this past fall.  The name of the book was inspired by an incident in December 1945 after HCol Fox returned home to Canada.  While working in a store in Guelph, HCol Fox had a woman approach him grab his shoulders crying while she shook him.  She knew he had served in the war with her late son, Andy Howden, she continued crying and pounding on his chest, saying “Why my Andy and not you?  Why my Andy and not you?”

The guilt he felt was tremendous and served to push his memories even further down, where they stayed for more than 40 years.  He began to talk about the war about 20 years ago when he became involved with the CHAA and hasn’t stopped since.

“Why not me?” is still in production and there is no word yet as to when it will be published or distributed.

HCol Fox is perhaps best known for strafing Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s staff car from his Spitfire at 300 feet, fatally wounding the driver and severely injuring Rommel who was in charge of all German forces in Normandy.  Although Rommel recovered, the injuries he sustained affected his ability to operate effectively and he did not return to active duty.

HCol Fox has been the Honorary Colonel of 412 Squadron since May of 2004.