Baycrest war vets share stories with journalism graduate
Nov. 08, 2012
Toronto, ON – WWII vets Sydney Phillips, 90, and Albert Soren, 95, live at Baycrest’s Apotex Centre Jewish Home for the Aged. This week they shared their service stories with Centennial College Journalism graduate Tarah Bleier a few days prior to Remembrance Day on Sunday.
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For more information on this news item, please contact:
Kelly Connelly, Senior Media Officer
Baycrest Health Sciences
416-785-2432 kconnelly@baycrest.org
(left) Wireless operator mechanic Albert Soren during WWII, sporting a curly handlebar moustache that he still wears to this day.
(right) Albert Soren, 95, was an aircraft wireless operator mechanic, stationed with the RCAF Eastern Air Command in the Maritime Provinces and Newfoundland during WWII. He’s holding a photo of himself in uniform during the war, with his proud mother and brother. Part of his duties included flying off the coast of Nova Scotia, dragging a target drogue behind the plane for anti-aircraft practice. He took up painting as a hobby after the war, doing landscapes in oil and pastel, as well as stained glass. He lives at Baycrest’s Apotex Centre, Jewish Home for the Aged.
(left) A young Sydney Phillips in uniform in Montreal after the war ended. He would go on to marry his “sweetheart” Aida.
(right) Sydney Phillips, 90, was a wireless air gunner with the British RAF in WWII. He was about 20 years old when his light bomber was shot down in Palermo Harbour, Italy, during a bombing run of Italian war ships. His two crew members perished and he was the lone survivor. Sydney spent a year and a half in a prison camp in Italy before escaping with a group of fellow prisoners.
Toronto, ON – WWII vets Sydney Phillips, 90, and Albert Soren, 95, live at Baycrest’s Apotex Centre Jewish Home for the Aged. This week they shared their service stories with Centennial College Journalism graduate Tarah Bleier a few days prior to Remembrance Day on Sunday.
