C DouGc OLLINS KIM ABBOTT is a great Canadian. He is a former director of immigration who quit when the politicians started selling out. And although I have known him for many years, it was only recently that I learned his great-grandfather was John Joseph Abdott, prime minister of this country in 1891. Kim also never mentioned his war experiences, which have now been published. Kim was a pilot in the RCAF’s 407 Squadron, dubbed ‘‘the Demon Squadron” on account of its great uight-attack work against the German shipping lanes off the coast of Europe. You might think that bombing enemy ships at night was easy. It wasn’t. It was low level stuff in light bombers against heavily defended targets that were within German fighter range. In one nine-month period the squadron made 669 sorties involv- ing 129 attacks, and lost 96 crew members. Kim himself went out 43 times. Not that he’s boasting about it. His book Gathering of Demons is far from being a piece of self- glorification. It’s a fine piece of original research into Canadian, British and German records, anda tribute to. be: the kids from Canada did. Kim was a crew captain at 20 and a veteran at 21. Nearly all of the fliers were that young, and it is clear that only the young could have stood the strain. A few didn’t, of course. There were also some who, knowing they were cracking up, went out anyway and died rather than admit to “‘weakness.”” There are many stories in this story. In 1942, the world was astonish- ed when the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the cruiser Prinz Eugen broke out from Brest and sailed safely through the narrow Straits of Dover to their home ports. The dash was made on direct orders from Hitler. When his commanders objected, he told them he knew the English. They “would not be able to respond quickly enough to the unexpected, he said. On that occasion, at least, he was dead right, for the counter-operation was a royal screw-up. The Times of London said that nothing more mortifying had occurred in 300 years of Brit- ish sea power. Kim has 2 fascinating chapter on the episode, his squadron having been involved in the action against the German ships, which ran up the Channel under massive air and COLLINGWOOD SCHOOL PARENT COUNCIL Wishes to thank all those who have given so generously in so many ways during our first five — years of operation. It is you who have helped to make our school the success it is today. Two Demon planes went down in a hopeless attack against the. battlecruiser Prinz Eugen. Kim was lucky because he was part of a diversionary assault and was ordered to return to base after be- ing shot up. He wrote this about the two Canadian crew captains who were lost: “They had one in a million chance of doing any damage with their little general purpose bombs and they must have known it, but Andy (Anderson) and Dale (Cowperthwaite) represented the epitome of the Demon Squadron and could act in no other way.” The German Luftwaffe lost 17 aircraft and 11 pilots. Our side lost 48 aircraft and crews, and at least 22 other aircraft were damaged. It was some battle, but the Germans won because they dared, planned, and had the devil’s own luck. Example: a British submarine that had been on constant watch off Brest for just such a breakout went out to sea during those very hours to recharge its batteries. So no alarm was sounded. And a French spy who knew the ships were going out was prevented from leaving the dockyard. Gathering of Demonsis a unique record of one squadron's war. The squadron still exists and is stationed at Comox. Recently, Kim addressed them, and told me later he couldn’t get over how young the new kids are! He is still fighting for his coun- try, being the guiding light of the Immigration Association of Canada, which seeks to bring some sense into our stupid immigration system. He is also a frequent visitor to West Vancouver, his son living there. It amuses me that the IAC, and therefore Abbott, are seen by some as being ‘‘racist.’’ The fault of Kim’s generation was that it was patriotic. The fault of too many of this one is that they think patriotism is multicult. Gathering of Demons costs $15.95, including postage, and can be obtained from Inkerman House, Box 704, Perth, Ont. 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