This picture takes us back in time.
Theo wrote 1947, but the date is 1941.
Theo set foot in Toronto as part of No. 5 I.T.W.
I had to find the meaning of No. 5 I.T.W.
No. 5 I.T.W. is No. 5 Initial Training Wing. So I guess Theo was going to Americus, Georgia for his initial training as a pilot.
Rich sent me some postcards from that period that Theo had kept as mementoes.
Rich thinks they were for Theo’s wife, but they were never sent since there are no written messages at all.
Rich also sent part of Theo’s training logbook for February and March 1942.
This is the plane he was training on.
Footnote
Theo’s grandson added this comment…
Theo never really liked to talk about the war but it was always a family story that he went to Canada before crossing over into the USA on foot for his training as at that time the USA was not involved in the war and so they had to do their training in secret.
Hi Pierre,
Many thanks for posting all the stuff that Rich Cooper (my father is sending to you). It is great to see someone paying so much attention to this subject.
Theo never really liked to talk about the war but it was always a family story that he went to Canada before crossing over into the USA on foot for his training as at that time the USA was not involved in the war and so they had to do their training in secret.
Toby Cooper
Hi Toby,
This blog all started with the story of a former Mosquito pilot killed in 1947 before I was born.
63 years later someone contacted me. He wanted to know more about his hero when he was only 18.
This man is now 85 and he still remembers Eugene Gagnon.
He had little to go on. Only his discharge papers.
With this I was able to find almost everything about Eugene or Gene as he was called by fellow airmen.
This blog is a tribute to all of them, dead or still living like Theo.
I started writing this blog in 2010. One day, I will tell this story to my grandson whose name is… Théo.
If my grandson can enjoy his life, it’s because of men like your grandfather Theodore Griffiths DFC.
You should be proud of him.
I know you are immensely proud.
Lest we forget
Pierre
P.S. Take the time to read this blog from the start. Not in one day because there are 140 posts.
Fabulous photos, you’ve done it again. You are reaching so many people and keeping history clear and up front for the next generations to come – great work.
Have you read Toby’s comment? and my reply?
Now can you imagine when someone will find all about his grandfather who was also a Pacific paratrooper in the Philippines in 1945?
No, I can’t imagine it, but I’ll keep waiting for it.
It will happen… Trust me.