This is Dad when he was doing some training with dogs for service in the war. He said he loved this part of his training - although he spoke very very little about his military service. "Oh yeah, the heavy ack-ack training was interesting..." he'd toss off and change the topic. Heavy ack-ack - Heavy anti-aircraft artillery guns. Here's a very interesting link about training in Canada on these guns, on the Memory Project.
After this time, he was trained in reading the new invention - RADAR - in Halifax, tracking the convoys coming into Halifax from the open seas. I must - MUST - get his military record. Apparently they did some testing of him (IQ test, perhaps?); and as a result of the findings, he was put on the RADAR after specialized. training.
The joke between him and mom was that he went in with lots of curly hair and no glasses, and came out with bald spots (although I see a bit of receded hairline) and needing glasses all the time - from the effects of watching the RADAR.
This photo was part of a Christmas card which has my name as well as my older sister's name, and since I was born in 1943, I'm assuming that the photo might have been taken that year as well. Of course, it could have been taken at an earlier time as well.
Dad: Johnny Gillespie, b.7 April 1907, Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire, Scotland; Immigrated 1914 to Canada with family; d.19 Sep 1975, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.
