In Flanders' Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders' Fields

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders' Fields.

Lewis W. ("Pat") Burns was born in Boissevain, Manitoba on September 13, 1894. He enlisted with the 222nd Canadian Infantry Battalion (Southern Manitoba) on 17 April 1916. The Battalion left Winnipeg by train on 1 November and arrived in Halifax, N.S. twelve days later. The next afternoon RMS Olympic (with approx. 7000 on board), with an escort of Royal Navy destroyers, slipped away and headed out into the North Atlantic. They arrived in Liverpool, England on 21 November 1916. The following months were filled with training.

In January 1917 the 222nd was disbanded and its officers and men were transferred to the 19th Reserve Battalion, to be used as replacements for existing fighting units already in action.

Pte. Burns was in a draft of replacements that was shipped over to France in May 1917 where he joined the 46th Battalion (South Saskatchewan) which had been in action since August 1916. The battalion spent the next three months taking turns with the 50th, 85th and 49th Battalions on the front lines at Arras. His first "over-the-top" combat experience was during the Canadian assault on Hill 70 and the French town of Lens in August 1917, where he became a casualty of German Mustard gas. After a short convalescence he returned to active duty and in October was at Passchendaele, where the Canadian Corps suffered 80% casualties. It was during the battle of Passchendaele that he was recommended by his commanding officer to receive the Military Medal for "bravery in battle". For reasons unknown, the medal request was denied. Of the 600 men in the 46th Battalion at Passchendaele that day, 403 became casualties. 

Promotion to Lance Corporal came in November 1917.

Following the battle of Passchendaele, the battalion spent the next two months out of the lines resting and training the new replacements. 

Rifle Section
No. 1 Platoon, C Company
46th Battalion (South Saskatchewan)
10th Infantry Brigade, 4th Infantry Division
Canadian Expeditionary Force
France 1917

The decision to leave the mud and trenches of France probably saved his life, as "...the 46th Battalion was practically annihilated at Cambrai" during the battle of Canal du Nord on 27 and 28 September 1918. In the month of September alone, the 46th suffered a total of 680 casualties. Breaking through the Hindenburg Line had cost the 46th Battalion more than Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele put together.

Upon completion of his training in November 1918, he received orders taking him to Aboukir, Egypt for his advanced flying training and when the Armistice was signed on November 11th, Flt. Cadet Burns was on a train travelling through Italy.

From April 1940 until March 1945, the BCATP supplied the Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, and the Royal New Zealand Air Force with 137,000 pilots, navigators, bombardiers, wireless operators, flight engineers, and air gunners. Aerodromes and training schools sprouted up all over Canada and by 1945, there were 360 schools on 231 sites across the country.

One such school was the #20 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) at RCAFS Oshawa, Ontario. An "Elementary Flying Training School" gave a recruit 50 hours of basic aviation instruction on a simple bi-plane trainer like the Tiger Moth or Fleet Finch. Pilots who showed promise went on to advanced training at a "Service Flying Training School". Others students went on to different specialties such as wireless, navigation, bombing or gunnery.

With his application for active service in the Royal Canadian Air Force rejected due to his age, L.W. (Pat) Burns "was taken on strength" at # 20 EFTS on 23 June, 1940 as a civilian instructor and served in that capacity until the station was disbanded on 15 November, 1944.

A review of his log books shows that he gave basic ground school lectures in such topics as "Theory of Flight" and "Airframes", and his first entry as a Link Trainer Instructor was on 3 July, 1940 with his last being on 20 October, 1944.

He logged a total of 4,234.25 hours as a Link Trainer Instructor, and each of his students would have received between 10 - 12 hours of of instruction.

The Link was mounted on a base which permitted the trainer to turn, tilt and bounce as the instructor (who sat at a desk outside the trainer) created rough air and put the pilot through simulated flight conditions. An operator sat at the desk and transmitted radio signals which the "pilot" in the link heard though his ear-phones.

The pilot "flew" the link through various turns, climbs, and descents, and the link's "course" was traced in red ink by the remote "bug" on a map on the table. After a flight was completed, the pilot could study the red-line course to determine what he might have done incorrectly.

There was no AIR CONDITIONING in these trainers...and on a summer day, it got pretty hot inside this "box". Many a young trainee almost crashed and burned--not from lack of flying skills, but from the heat!

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