Clarence Carter sits at his dining room table, his wife, Elsie, at his side. They are looking at an old scrapbook, filled with photos and news articles about the Second World War.
Elsie looks up and says, “I waited five years for him to come back.”
Clarence chuckles, then goes back to reading the scrapbook.
The couple have been married for 73 years. Clarence was born in Mission on July 4, 1920. He is now 97 years old. Elsie is 90.
Clarence has many memories of the war and of Mission and recently he was asked to share those war memories for a special project.
A local group in Abbotsford called the Veterans Memorial Restoration Society recently contacted Clarence asking if they could create a video about his memories.
He agreed and soon, his home was filled with lights and video cameras as he told his most famous tale.
It was Feb. 14, 1944 and Clarence was a Liberator Wireless Airgunner. While flying over the Atlantic Ocean, Carter intercepted a signal coming from German U-Boat 845.
“It was a normal day and we were doing a sweep of the area in preparation for a convoy,” explained Clarence.
Just before dusk, he heard a sound on the wireless. As he began to write down what he was hearing, Clarence realized that he didn’t understand it.
“It was either a foreign language or a coded language.”
But the sound was strong, he knew the source was close by. Even though they couldn’t see anything, Clarence informed the pilot that something was nearby – likely a submarine.
It didn’t take long before they discovered a fully surfaced submarine about six miles away. A few seconds later, and the sub opened fire. The Liberator returned fire.
Knowing the plane was too far away for its guns to do any damage, the decision was made to get closer and drop depth charges.
“We had to get down there to fight them. All these guns, their guns coming towards us, our guns going towards them, the whole sky was just lit up with light,” said Clarence.
He added it is impossible to explain what it was like, unless you have been in combat before.
It took three runs before they could effectively drop the depth charges.
“On the third run, their guns all stopped and we put the plane right over the target.”
Clarence said the sub lifted completely up out of the water, then within 10 seconds, it disappeared.
All he could see was a big oil stain on the ocean surface.
From there, the navy took over as about eight ships arrived, thanks to Clarence sending out their coordinates.
The crew of the sub eventually surrendered. The top crew, about eight men Clarence estimates, about eight of them, died in the battle while 44 inside crew members were taken as prisoners of war.
When the Liberator returned to its air base, crews quickly examined the plane.
“There wasn’t a scratch on it. Not a bullet hole, not a mark on it… it was as if something had put a shield around the plane. Maybe there was an angel with us that day.”
The video that was created, and can be seen on Youtube, also features Clarence’s memories about the two deadly crashes at the Abbotsford Airport, during its time as a training area during the Second World War.
Clarence said he may do other videos, and even speak to Mission secondary students.
It’s all about preserving the memories of the past.