Reg Harrison was growing up as a farm boy in Melville Saskatchewan at the outbreak of WW2. After upgrading his education he soon found himself in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a pilot. He came to realize that he was named after two uncles who died in WW1. After taking pilot training, he was sent overseas and was placed in 431 Squadron.
His wartime experiences had him come close to death through a number of crashes and near calls on operations. He survived four plane crashes in 1944 and returned home to find love with the fiancée of his best friend, who had died in the war.
The original 431 Squadron is the same squadron that flies the Snowbirds at airshows today and he was recently made an honouary Snowbird by the squadron.
