Wednesday, February 12th, 2025

“It was going to be a big adventure. We couldn’t wait to get out of school when we turned 17 and could enlist,” said Stan Nixon of Stayner, who grew up in Creemore. “It didn’t register that being in the war could result in our death.”

Stan turned 17 in 1941. World War Two began in 1939 and finally ended in 1945.

The Nixon name in this area is well known. Stan Nixon ran Nixon Motors in Stayner but before that his father, George Nixon ran a thriving business in Creemore across the road from The Creemore Echo office.

Mr. and Mrs. George Nixon had both come from Northern Ireland. At first they lived in Toronto but in about 1931 they moved to Creemore with sons Harold and Stan. George first set up an egg and poultry business. A June 1931 Creemore Star article tells us that this business “has been a real boon to the farmers of this district. He has a large market to supply eggs. Fowl purchased alive will be killed and dressed in Creemore. Mr. Nixon supervises all the work and sees that every bird is thoroughly picked, feet and heads thoroughly washed and made as attractive as possible.”

As time went on George Nixon established a locker business (this was before the time of home freezers), where local people could store frozen meat and other produce. He also established a business to buy and sell clover seed. The seed was stored in a shed to the west side of The Creemore Echo office. It has been renovated and a connection has been built between the two buildings.

But to return to the topic of enlisting in World War Two, Stan went first to Manning Depot for ITS (initial training school). This military station was held in the Horse Palace in the Canadian National Exhibition grounds. An internet web page contains some interesting comments on the depot. “For those sent to the Toronto depot (there were others) it would provide them with many great places to see and visit – if you could get a pass for the night which were not too freely given out. And of course there were lavish accommodations provided at No. 1 Manning Depot. Four to a stall. The horse had a better deal, they at least had their own stall. Manning Depot took the civilians and ever so gently awakened them to the pleasure of military life. It was a place where you were given uniforms that didn’t fit and were given needles you didn’t want in places that were already aching from the last needle. The new recruits were taught marching, saluting, personal grooming and hygiene.”

It was here that the recruits were asked what branch of the military they would like. Stan chose pilot. From Toronto he went to Windsor to train. Stan remembers that the summer heat was so great the men were allowed to sleep outdoors. Training complete, exams and solo flight passed, the men training as pilots graduated. They were called together and told that at that particular time they had all the pilots they needed and that they would have to remuster or train for something else.

Stan decided to be a navigator and after a time doing joe jobs and having a good time at Trenton, he was finally allowed to take the navigator course at St. Jean, Quebec. By the time he graduated from this course, it was 1945 and the war was almost over. He was sent home on full pay. The war in Europe was over in May 1945 and in Japan in August 1945.

Although Stan Nixon did not see action in Europe we should always reflect on November 11 about those who gave their time to see the end of conflict that was threatening the world at that time.

At Creemore Public School I was in Grade 3 in May 1945 when the war concluded. My teacher, Mrs. Gillard, had a husband who was fighting in Europe. She brought a small radio to school and for two or three days we did very little work while she listened to the news broadcasts. When war was finally declared over one lovely May morning, school was let out that day and we all hurried down Caroline Street to the main corner where there was a great deal of cheering and general happiness. I was sure the end of the war should be celebrated by having no more school, maybe for a year. But it didn’t happen that way. School was on again at 9 a.m. the next morning.

Helen Blackburn is a retired teacher, avid gardener and a long-time contributor to the Creemore Echo. She writes about local history.

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