The Story, The Song
     - The Wall at Nanton

Nanton News - Former gunner Father Harry Schmuck shared his personal account in Bomber Command and how the Bomber Memorial Wall effected him Aug. 20.
Schmuck was one of 100 young men posted in a gunnery school in Prince Edward Island in 1943.
Everything was done in alphabetical order said Schmuck.
So he and his two new pals Shulka and Siewert did everything together - including being stationed together when sent to serve overseas.
"One morning after a heavy night raid," said Schmuck, "Shulka approached me and said 'Did you hear about Siewert?'"
That powerful raid took the life of Schmuck's good friend.
"I stood before the Memorial Wall and I saw his name," said Schmuck, "Siewert - Robert Lloyd - from Alberta. His young face of 60 years ago passed before my eyes, and I remember." Schmuck's story inspired Ontario-based singer/songwriter Jim Blondeau to compose a song dedicated to the wall, the lives it honours and the lives it will touch. Blondeau performed the song at the ceremony.

The Wall at Nanton When I was a young man I flew with my best friends We took to the blue skies And followed our captains The times called for fighting But we knew that our missions Were standing for freedom Again and again There's a wall in the town of Nanton, Alberta There's a wall in the town with the names Of the men who have fallen while fighting For freedom In our memories, they'll always remain If they could look back In a time travel moment They'd be sitting again in the planes Dancing like eagles in the winds of the starlight Flying again and again.    Jim Blondeau

Jim Blondeau performed the song he wrote dedicated to Canada's Bomber Command Memorial Wall.

Jim Blondeau performing at the Bomber Command Museum's twentieth anniversary celebration August 26, 2006.