Gentleman Jim at 101
Inspired by two fellow war veterans, retired RCAF fighter pilot Jim Ashworth takes on a Walk for Charity challenge
At the age of 101 years, Jim Ashworth has joined two of his fellow comrades-inarms to raise money for charity.
His goal is to raise $101,000 for the local Columbia Valley Food Bank in Invermere, B.C., by walking four blocks every day.
“The walking does me good,” said Jim, who uses his cane to help along the way. “If I feel like walking a little farther, I will.”
He was inspired by his fellow veteran, 100-year-old Tom Moore, sometimes called “Britain’s walking hero,” who raised 32 million pounds for COVID charities and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
And he was also inspired by John Hillman, another 101-yearold veteran in Victoria, B.C., who walked 101 laps around his retirement home and raised $150,000 for Canada’s Save the Children fund.
All three men are proud recipients of the Burma Star medal, awarded to veterans who fought in the Burma Campaign.
“There aren’t too many of us left now, so I decided to become the third guy to do the walk,” Jim said.
A courtly gentleman with a remarkable zest for life, Jim is a retired career Royal Canadian Air Force veteran who flew a Hurricane fighter in Burma during the war.
Born in Cranbrook, B.C., on April 13, 1919, Jim grew up in Invermere and worked for Kootenay National Park before enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1941.
After basic training, he was sent to England and ran into his first roadblock. The Royal
Air Force (RAF) wanted him to become an instructor, but Jim wanted to be a fighter pilot. So, Jim took his only option—he deliberately failed the instructor course, twice. At that point the RAF gave in and trained Jim to fly the Hawker Hurricane, a classic single-seat fighter aircraft.
He was then assigned to fly with RAF 20 Squadron, based in southern India. This was termed an “army co-op” squadron because it supported the Fourteenth Army. The army was engaged in vicious jungle warfare with the Japanese, who had occupied Burma.
Jim’s squadron attacked tanks, gun emplacements and transport vehicles located in the thick jungle, as well as Japanese steamers freighting supplies down the Kaladan River.
Surviving Japan
The squadron was also called upon to deliver food during the Japanese siege of Imphal in northeast India. For weeks the Allied forces at Imphal were surrounded and cut o. The battle of Imphal is considered to be the turning point on the Southeast Asian front.
Mostly, however, the pilots were
trying to eliminate the enemy.
“The Japanese were doing their best to shoot us down with their anti-aircraft guns and they often succeeded,” Jim said.
Living conditions were poor, and food rations were short. Jim contacted malaria, and then dengue fever. With more than 50 missions to his credit, he returned to Canada.
After the war, Jim served another 25 years with the RCAF and retired with the rank of Squadron Leader. His final assignment was at Air Force headquarters in Ottawa, where he met his wife, Gaetane.
In 1966, the Ashworths moved back to British Columbia and operated a campground near Fairmont Hot Springs. Ten years ago they moved into Invermere, where they still live in their own home and Jim still drives his own car to the grocery store. Although Gaetane is in a wheelchair and unable to walk with Jim, she cheers him on from the sidelines.
Thank you for your service to our country, Jim Ashworth, both then and now! ■