Moyes, Ron

Ron Moyes was born February 11, 1926 in Vancouver, B.C.  His father was a veteran of the Great War who came back to Canada with a war bride and baby daughter, and who built a successful business in 1920s Vancouver before buying a farm.  Ron was only 13 when the war began, but as he saw the older boys go off to fight, he wanted in on the action too, and when he was able he joined the RCAF.  He went off to Mont Joli, Quebec for gunnery training, and not long after he was in Halifax, where he boarded the Empress of Scotland for the overseas journey to England – and the war.  Once in England the men were crewed up and went through the conversion process, learning their way around the Halifax 4-engine bomber.  Ron took on the tailgunner position and was assigned to 429 Squadron, where he began flying missions over occupied Europe.  Ron’s missions included dropping leaflets and anti-radar window, as well as sea mines and of course bombs, often in support of ground troops after D-day had taken place.  He faced flak and fighters – and isolation in his rear gunner position.  Ron went on to fly with the Pathfinders, an elite force within the RAF that would lead bomber missions, dropping flares on the intended targets.  Ron completed his 30 missions, with one of the last being flown to bomb the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s mountain top house in the Berchtesgaden area.  The end of the war came shortly after this, and 19-year old Ron returned home, finding his place in postwar Canada.  Ron Moyes was interviewed by Scott Masters in August 2022, at the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre in Ottawa.