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The Airmen's Stories - AC2 J W Compton

 

John William Compton enlisted in the RAF for the duration of hostilities in June 1940 as an Aircrafthand. He went on a radar course at Yatesbury after which he was posted to 25 Squadron at North Weald about 10th October 1940.

He flew his first operational sortie on the 21st and been promoted to Sergeant by 7th November 1940.

His subsequent service is currently undocumented but he does not appear in the casualty records so it may be assumed that he survived the war.

 

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November 2019 - this email was received from Steven Frame in Canada.

I ran across your site this evening and thought I would look up an old friend of mine Jack 'Dizzy' Compton. I had met Jack when he moved to Toronto from Montreal in the mid 70s. He was a sales rep for the company I worked for which was owned by Colonel Ray Lawson, commander of Royal Canadian Regiment.

I knew Jack for about 6 years, when I knew him he would have been around 55-56. I recall that around 1984, after the death of his wife from cancer, he told me he was returning to England, possibly to Brighton, to buy a pub. He had a son who was deaf and intended to leave it to him.

About two years before Jack's wife succumbed to cancer she was mis-diagnosed and Jack on hearing she was not at risk insisted he and I go out midweek to celebrate. We started with dinner at the Royal Military Club in Toronto and ended up still drinking as the sun rose in Chinatown. He was looked upon at the RMC as an icon and treated with the utmost respect.

We returned to my apartment in Toronto to grab a few winks and I had a fully detailed Spitfire on my mantlepiece. When I awoke in the morning, I found Jack sound asleep holding that model tightly to his chest.

I recall us talking about it and him being in awe of being able to fly and fight on virtually a handful of hours training and surviving the entire war. The quote Jack 'We were invincible, it was the greatest time of my life'.

I vaguely recall him saying he spent time in Africa and the south of France at the end of the war. He joked about how he was mixed up with another John Compton and ended up in a job he knew nothing about in the south of France.

 

 

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