Bruce Booth - Lieutenant (E)
Bruce F Booth was born in Wallaceburg, Ontario September 27, 1915. He attended high school there and graduated from the University of Toronto with a B.A. Science and Mechanical Engineering. Bruce joined the navy in May 1941. That summer Bruce and Gretchen van Nostrand were married Aug. 14, 1941, in St. Pauls Anglican Church, Halifax and he left the next day for Toronto. He had seven days off and headed for Vancouver, thence to Mombasa, Africa where he joined the HMS Emerald. He spent a year in the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal and in Singapore. The Emerald went from Africa to Plymouth, Eng., and dumped fifty million pounds sterling on the jetty (picked up in Smonstown). They proceeded to Pte Noir, French Equatorial Africa, got oil and across the Bay of Guineau to Freetown and then returned to England. This was the termination of his RN service. Bruce returned to Halifax and served on the Canadian ships HMCS Stratford, Ungava and Swift Current on the triangle run, finally joining the Nene. He was discharged in the fall of 1945. He worked for Price Co.( Pulp & Paper) and ended up as Chief Engineer. They have three children, Mary, Barbara and Eric and four grandchildren, Matthew, Christopher, Timothy and Elijah. Bruce and Gretchen lived in northern Quebec for thirty-five years and for four years in Vermont. They currently reside on the outskirts of Peterborough, Ontario.