Sudbury, Ont. man shares his father's story of survival during the Second World War

Remembrance Day takes on a special meaning for Philip May as he remembers what his father went through during the Second World War.

May's father Alex enlisted in the war effort in 1942 and was a crew member aboard a Handley Page Halifax bomber aircraft.

"If you completed 30 missions, you were done with your tour. you were able to go," May said.

But on his father's 30th mission some flak struck the plane as it was headed back to the base after a bombing run.

"The plane started spiraling out of control and the pilot, a fellow by the name of William Patzer, told the crew to get out and to bail out," May said.

May said the plane had a small emergency exit for crew members. Because his father was a large man, he had to remove his parachute to squeeze his way out.

"He held on to his parachute and bailed out into that cold winter night and he was able to get it on," he said. "In doing so he injured himself, though, in his lower back."

The plane crashed in the small German city of Oberhausen, just outside a farmhouse.

You marched all day and if you didn't keep up, you were summarily executed.​​​​- Philip May

"The mother was at home and heard this tremendous noise," May said.

"She went and looked out her window and saw flaming wreckage everywhere. And that was the remnants of my father's plane."

The pilot and two other crew members were killed in the crash.

But May's father survived. The German army captured him and took him to a prisoner of war camp.

"You marched all day and if you didn't keep up, you were summarily executed," May said. "It was one of the coldest winters in Germany ever recorded. It must have been horrific."

But May said if civilians had found his father first, they probably would have killed him on sight.

"The German populace hated Allied airmen," he said.

His father survived the rest of the war, but his experience as a prisoner of war affected the rest of his life.

"He became a very, very heavy drinker," May said.

"Back then, we didn't know about PTSD. We didn't have those sorts of mental supports in place. It was basically suck it up and get on with your life."

Visiting the crash site

May learned there was a plaque at the farmhouse where his father's plane crashed, so in 2019 he flew to Europe with his wife to see it in person.

When he knocked on the door, he learned from the Brüggen family that lived there that it was the local community that had the plaque made, not the Canadian government.

"At that point, I'm absolutely gobsmacked," May said.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing to think that even after those decades that people can be so kind-hearted and so respectful of others."

May said the Brüggens welcomed him and his wife into their home. They became friends, and this year invited them to their home in Sudbury, Ont.

"One of the highlights was being able to go to the Royal Canadian Air Force Museum located in Trenton where they have a completely reconstituted Halifax bomber," he said.

Just a generation earlier the Brüggens would have been Canada's enemies.

May said his friendship with the family has made him think a lot.

"We seem to have a tough time learning from our mistakes," he said.

"Most people are good people and trying to do the best they can. And you look at the ability of the Brüggen family and that entire community to pay homage to men whose basic intent was to annihilate them. You think that is absolutely remarkable."