‘He was ready to fly’
Second World War veteran James ‘Jim’ McRae passes away at age 106
YARMOUTH, N.S. – In recent years at Remembrance Day ceremonies in Yarmouth, it became a tradition to sing Happy Birthday.
With profound respect and admiration, the assembled crowd would serenade and honour Second World War veteran James ‘Jim' McRae who by the end of those November months would be marking significant birthday milestones, including his 104th and 105th.
On April 9, at the age of 106, McRae was “honourably discharged from life,” his daughter Susan Amon said in a Facebook post, sharing news of her father's death. "He was ready to fly," she said.
McRae was the oldest Second World War veteran in Yarmouth. His final years were spent at Veterans Place.
Many used the word ‘gentleman' in describing him.
The veteran was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross – the prestigious medal awarded for acts of heroism, courage, bravery and valor.
During one of his missions in the Second World War, McRae and his crew – members of the 162 Squadron who missions were to patrol and protect the Atlantic from German u-boats – were successful in sinking an enemy German submarine.
But success came at a cost. That same submarine was still able to shoot down the plane McRae and his crew were in. The plane plummeted into the north Atlantic Ocean off Iceland. McRae and the others spent eight hours in the frigid cold before being rescued. Three crew members did not survive.
“One of our dinghies burst and the other got a hole in it, so we didn't have enough support to keep us out of the water,” McRae once described to the Vanguard newspaper. “The deaths were because of exposure. We were all in pretty hard shape by the time the rescue got to us.”
For a very long time, McRae never spoke to others, including his family, about what had happened those numerous decades ago.
When he did tell them, one thing that stood out for McRae's son Jim was his father's composure as he spoke.
“I was impressed that he could talk about it,” he once told Saltwire. “It was such a traumatic experience.”
He described his father as a man of great integrity.
When people had gathered at the Yarmouth Legion Branch 61 hall on Nov. 28, 2022, to celebrate McRae's 105th birthday milestone, the Yarmouth Legion said to its knowledge McRae was the only living veteran still wearing the Distinguished Flying Cross medal.
HIS SERVICE
Jim McRae was the second of three sons in his family.
Born and raised in Huxley, Alberta, his fascination with airplanes started at a young age when as a kid, he'd make model airplanes.
During the Second World War, McRae's youngest brother Earl enlisted. Jim followed a few weeks later. The brothers did their basic training in Brandon, Manitoba, in 1942.
They got their wings together, before the war separated them.
Earl was sent overseas to join a bomber squadron.
Jim was sent to the RCAF
162 Squadron in Yarmouth, a place he would return to again for civilian life after the war ended.
It was in Yarmouth where he would meet a woman, fall in love and raise a family. A handwritten note about his May 1943 arrival in Yarmouth read, in part: "Little did I realize then that Yarmouth was to become ‘home' for many years to come.” In fact, his forever home. And while McRae survived his harrowing experience in the frigid North Atlantic, the war took a heavy toll on his family. McRae's brother Earl, 23, went missing in action during the war when a plane he was in was shot down. His body was never recovered. The plane never found.
BIRTHDAY MILESTONES
It was Rev. Bill Newell who had made it a tradition to lead attendees at the Yarmouth Legion's Remembrance Day ceremonies at the Mariners Centre in the singing of Happy Birthday to McRae. Newell had great admiration for McRae.
Newell once reminisced with Saltwire about delivering meals to McRae, through Meals on Wheels, when the veteran was over 100 years old and still living at home.
And yet even with all of their conversations, Newell was unaware of much of what McRae had personally experienced during the war. The more he learned, the more his admiration grew.
“One … serviceman said to me, most of the time you see the Distinguished Flying Cross in a museum, not on someone's chest,” Newell had said. “That impacted me.”
McRae's impact was farreaching, evident by the fact that at his 105th birthday – when his family hoped he'd receive 105 birthday cards – he instead received around 1,000 of them.
HIS FLYING PASSION
McRae's life included much more than his war experience, of course. He went on to do many things.
He served as a paid firefighter in Yarmouth with the NAIAD Company. In honour of his 106th birthday this past November, as the Yarmouth Fire Department's oldest living fire department veteran he was presented with a lap blanket as a show of thanks and appreciation.
After the war, McRae also drove a bus for MacKenzie Bus Lines. He rejoined the military in 1951, working as an air traffic controller. With the Royal Canadian
Air Force he also became involved in UN peacekeeping.
Back in Yarmouth, he also had a job with Canada Customs, retiring in 1982.
McRae had an athletic side too, and was also an avid curler. He was still curling and playing golf the year before he turned 100.
McRae's love and passion for flying continued after the war. His experience of being shot down never diminished his lifelong interest in flying, nor his passion to share it with others when he cofounded and operated a flying school in Yarmouth.
At the age of 99, his eyes were still on the sky when he and a few other veterans traveled to Fairview, Alberta, as honourary guests. There they saw an old Canso plane – one McRae had flown during the war – take flight after being restored.
“It was quite an experience to see this airplane flying again,” McRae had said. “I spent so many hours on the Canso. You get quite attached to those particular aircraft.”
In fact, the Canso was still going to be a part of McRae's future.
On June 21, the non-profit Fairview Aircraft Restoration Society had plans to reunite Flight Lieutenant McRae with the flying heritage Canso he flew during the war. The society is bringing this very last plane that McRae flew at the end of the war in 1945 to the Yarmouth Airport.
In a Facebook post, McRae's daughter Susan notes this restored Canso that her dad flew is the Canso 11094.
McRae's April 9 death came at 11 a.m. on the 9th day of the 4th month – in other words, 11094. “Coincidence?” she posted. Seemingly not. McRae's passion for flight and his Canso aircraft remained with him until his very last breath.
The Canso will still come to Yarmouth on June 21 to honour McRae and his service.