Lynda Krupp of Watch Lake had two Second World War veterans in her family – her father, whom she never met, and her “dad,” who raised her.
These two men were also best friends before the war drastically intervened.
When Ross Macklen married Margaret “Dimples” Brownlee in June 1942, Fred Wilkinson stood up as his best man. All three were in a closely-knit group of young friends in West Toronto.
After enlisting in the Royal Canadian Army, Pte. (Phillip) Ross Macklen shipped out to serve oversees in July 1943.
Lynda Brownlee (Krupp) was born two months later, in September.
Ross was en route to Italy when his ship sank, but he was rescued by an Irish escort ship. Once safely aboard, he inadvertently met and befriended his young wife’s uncle.
While working in hospital service as a cook and orderly in Italy, disaster struck again, this time with tragic results. Ross stepped on a land mine that ended his life on May 27, 1944, in a field that was supposed, and believed, to be safe.
Meanwhile, Capt. Fred Wilkinson was with Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Squadron #106 working flight missions with the Royal Air Force (RAF), where he eventually flew the infamous Lancaster bombers.
Lynda says when an unfortunate crash landing left Fred badly injured, he was sent to Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital.
Fred later reported the medical staff was so convinced he would not make it, it was three days after his arrival before the nurses removed his flight suit, she adds.
While recovering, Fred heard the sad news about his best friend’s demise.
As soon as he was released, he went to console his best friend’s widow, and ensure Margaret was managing all right, which led to a regular correspondence.
Romance eventually bloomed, and these young friends were married two years later.
They went on to have four more children, Laura, Greg, Stephen and Randall Wilkinson.
Noting Laura (Wilkinson) Dewar is well-known in the South Cariboo as its former coroner, she says her stepsister is now pursuing a PhD in the molecular cardiac physiology group at the University of British Columbia.
Fred lived to age 90, and was awarded a RCAF medal along with the other Lancaster bomber pilots.
Sadly, it arrived just 24 hours before he died in 2013, and Fred never knew he had received it, she explains.
Lynda adds the family cherishes the medal, as well as his Squadron #106 veteran licence plates.
Margaret lives in Ontario, and has visited the wartime grave where Ross was laid to rest in Cassino, Italy. Lynda joined her mother on on trip in the 1980s, and brought her own daughters, Jennifer and Jill Krupp.
Lynda has read all of the letters her father, Ross, sent to her mother during his time serving oversees.
“I saw in what he wrote where he had been a very shy man – who never had a girlfriend until my mom, and was a gentle spirit and full of fun.
“By the time he got to Italy, he had changed somewhat. He was a bit discouraged that [the war] was taking so long, and he was seeing some things that hurt him terribly, with the loss of all these young men….”
She says a wartime nurse, very upset about Ross’s death, wrote to Margaret afterward about what a gentle, kind man he was, and how very thrilled he was when he got the news that Lynda was born.
