'The losses were just phenomenal,' says Second World War veteran and artist (11 photos)

Ken Hanson, a St. Joseph Island resident, is a Second World War veteran who has preserved his memories of those years in sketches and watercolour paintings.

His collection of original art work, produced during his wartime experience overseas from 1940 to 1945, is a treasure trove of military art, depicting life at a Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) base in wartime England, mostly of Lancaster bombers (flown by British and Canadian crews in their aerial onslaught against Nazi Germany) and life in the barracks as exhausted flight crews and ground crews relaxed between bombing missions.

Monday marked a special occasion in which Hanson loaned his collection to the Sault Ste. Marie Museum for Veterans Week (Nov. 5 to Nov. 11).

The book containing his work is currently on display in the museum’s military gallery.

“It brings to life the soldiers, the aircraft, the places, the significant events during this time. The artwork that we have on display has really contributed to the sharing of this history to the local community, surrounding region and really promotes our proud Canadian military heritage. We would really like to extend a large thanks to Ken for sharing his work with us today. It’s truly an honour for us as staff at the museum to showcase this work to celebrate Ken,” said Will Hollingshead, Sault Ste. Marie Museum executive director and chief curator.

A group of current and former members of the 49th (Sault Ste. Marie) Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery (the museum operates under the 49th Field Regiment Historical Society) and the 432 (Algoma) Wing of the Air Force Association of Canada attended Monday’s event in honour of Hanson and Veterans Week.

Hanson, now 98, joined the RCAF in October 1940, intending to become a navigator with an air crew but instead serving as a ground crew member, maintaining and repairing aircraft at an RCAF base in North Yorkshire, England.

“The losses were just phenomenal,” said Hanson of the toll the dangerous and deadly air war took on Canadian and Allied pilots.

“We would see them coming back (from bombing missions), to see if they had been shot up or not. So often, they were. The wagons (ambulances) were all ready to grab the crew. So many of them didn’t get back. We had come to know some of the air crew. We would look to see if familiar faces had disappeared,” Hanson told SooToday, adding he has done his best to put those bad memories behind him.

Canada did not officially declare war on Germany until Sept. 10, 1939, seven days after Britain declared war over the Nazi invasion of Poland that started World War II.

The Canadian government did not introduce conscription until late 1944.

Regardless, there was little doubt Canada would join the Allied war effort in 1939, and many joined the Canadian Forces in a sense of moral obligation.

Hanson was one of many Canadians who voluntarily signed up for military service.

“My Mom and Dad had come from London, so I had relatives in England. You felt compelled to help.”

“And of course, at 18 years old, you felt invincible,” Hanson smiled.

“You’d be able to make it through (but) you had no idea what it was all about. ‘Wet behind the ears’ (naive) was the term.”

A draftsman by profession, Hanson said that led him to develop his skill as an artist.

“I didn’t realize that I could paint, really. I just fell into it. Ever since, when I came back from the war, I did a number of different jobs in the drafting line. I worked at painting half the time. My work was at galleries all around Ontario. Eaton’s, in Toronto, bought a dozen of those for their different stores. I was a landscape artist.”

Born in 1923 and raised in Toronto, Hanson met and married his wife Jean, an English woman (now deceased), while overseas.

The couple returned to Canada after the war, having a son and two daughters. His daughter Lesley married an Englishman who took her back to Britain to live, Lesley having sent Hanson articles relating to his former air base over the years.

His son-in-law, Larry Johnston, born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, retired to St. Joseph Island in 2007, Hanson joining him, his son, daughter and son-in-law in the move to northern Ontario,

Johnston died in 2019.

Hanson’s daughter, Ailsa Hanson, was in attendance at the museum Monday.

“He absolutely loves it (living on St. Joseph Island),” she said of her father.

“(Moving north) kick started his painting again, which is wonderful. He changed to acrylics in his 90s because he wanted to learn something new. It’s what’s kept him young.”

The National Air Force Museum of Canada near CFB Trenton has been in touch with Hanson in regard to displaying his work, the Royal Canadian Air Force Association in Ottawa also interested in featuring his work as cover art for its magazine.