The Last of the Legion

Mossbank veterans remember
by Creeson Agecoutay

Ninety-one-year-old Walter Woite walks sure and steady up to the doors of the Mossbank Legion to unlock it. Tucked beside the old hockey rink, the Legion stands on the northeast side of town. The sign above the door reads, “Mossbank Branch No. 11, Meeting First Thur.” A cannon sits outside the building, a reminder of the legion’s ties to its military history. Inside, the air is as chilled as the air outside; the only life hangs on the walls. Hundreds of pictures, keepsakes and memories stare at an empty space. The walls are adorned with pieces of history commemorating the people of Mossbank and their lives during the many wars that took place. There are faces of soldiers, pilots, and other service men and woman who have served Canada. Woite’s picture sits among them.

Woite served during World War II in his early 20s, training all over Canada. He was finally shipped overseas in January 1945. He vividly recalls his nights in Horsham, England, at a base where he slept among 20 soldiers in small huts made of steel. Planes could be heard all night and day.

“It was a hell of a roar and noise. Wondered what the heck it was. Here it was an airbase about a mile from there. At that time the Canadians were doing the night bombings and the Americans were doing day bombings,” he said.

Battle training was an everyday occurrence for Woite. He remembers crawling through wet, muddy trenches, hundreds of feet long, with bullets flying over his head. “It was quite a thing. Our shoes were double-soled and then they were hob-nailed to boot. They had a machine gun sitting across from you on a pile of earth. You made damn sure you kept your butt and head down.”

Woite marched from camp to camp, always preparing himself for the frontlines and the inevitable task ahead of him. Then one day, a visit by two higher ranking officers changed everything. Two lieutenants addressed Walter’s camp. Keeping to themselves they whispered to each other, then they would say to the soldiers, ‘you guys ready?’ Everyone calmed down to a hush. The one lieutenant says again, ‘you guys ready?’ Finally, the other shouts, “For christ's sake, tell them!’

‘Boys, it’s all over.’ Holding back tears, Woite recalls one of the happiest days of his life. “The war was over that day… I was trained to kill and I could have killed and that’s quite a thing to break yourself away from that.” Today, Walter stands firm inside the legion hall. He says this Legion use to be one of the old buildings from the No. 2 Bombing and Gunnery School and they moved it four miles into town. He points to the metal canister behind the locked glass shelf. “They say that`s one of the oldest pieces of sealed butter in Canada,” he laughs.

Woite is proud to be a part of Mossbank`s Legion and he is proud to showcase all it has to offer. His voice softens. “We had 50 some (legion members) at one time. Assiniboia had quite a legion, they had 60 or 70. We use to have what they call a 49^th parallel day. We would celebrate it here,” he recalls.  

Over time, Woite says the number of Mossbank Legion members grew thin with each passing year. People grow older. Many moved to care homes in Moose Jaw or further away.

“Albert Maloney just moved to Moose Jaw. There`s just the neighbour across the street, Bill Mackenzie and I. I think we`re the only two veterans left here in town,” he said. Walter Woite and Bill Mackenzie just live up the street from the Legion. Eighty-seven-year-old William “Bill” Mackenzie is Mossbank’s former mayor and handyman. He is retired now and his pleasures in life are simple; dishing out a bowl of butterscotch ice cream is less demanding these days.

In the early 1940s Mackenzie trained with the Canadian army before becoming an aero engine mechanic, working at the airbase near Mossbank. He said he knew a thing or two about tractor motors, so it wasn’t a huge jump to work on airplane motors. He recalls a fast-paced life on the airbase.

“There was quite a few that trained here in Mossbank. They really shoved (the pilots) through. When they got other aircraft in and they use to fly clover leafs and bombardiers would get a chance to drop their bombs. The air crew would get a chance to shoot at the drogues during practice,” he recalled those days as overwhelming. “When you were born on a farm, we were a pretty simple bunch compared to what was going on,” he said.

One of those who knew what was going on was the late Arni Olafson. He joined the Mossbank airbase in 1941 and was a skilled pilot who flew a Bolingbroke. He and other pilots trained students, many of whom came from Australia, Britain and New Zealand.

Woite recalls stories of Olafson and other pilots. One of the highlights to everyone would be hearing the roar of the plane engines flying towards Old Wives Lake for practice bombings.

“Arni got his wings and was a trainer and took the guys out to do practice bombings out there. My dad’s farm was only two miles over and he circled over that many, many times,” Woite said.

Olafson and his students would often fly over the many farms and villages in the area that dotted the landscape. After the closing of the airbase, Olafson dedicated 45 years as a dealer at the International Harvester Company in Mossbank. He passed away two years ago in February, 2009.

"… I was trained to kill and I could have killed and that’s quite a thing to break yourself away from that.” Walter Woite

Woite remembers the funeral service for Olafson, “They just loved him. There was a lot of sad people when he passed away. I guess it was a heart attack. A lot of grown men cried at his funeral. He was loved by everybody,” he said.

Today, the Mossbank Legion is a quiet place. Crowds of veterans sharing stories of days gone by are no longer. The number of legion members is dwindling. If the pictures on walls could speak, the stories would never die and in a way they won’t because the community will ensure they live on.

There is a saying, “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.” As long as there are people to tell stories, the spirit of Arni Olafson and dozens of others will continue to soar over the golden fields of Mossbank.