A Remembrance Day-style ceremony was held at the Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker VC Airport in Dauphin last Saturday.
The ceremony, which included dignitaries and members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, was hosted by Local Historian Al Gray.
Two granite monuments were erected to pay tribute to the forty-nine airmen who lost their lives while training at one of Dauphin's two former air schools as part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.
Both monuments have the history of the training plan etched on the front, with the names of the fallen airmen listed alongside their country of origin on the rear.
Janel Mann made her way to Dauphin from Battleford, Sask. to lay a wreath in front of the monument that honoured those who died at the No. 7 Bombing and Gunnery School.
"I was extremely honoured when Al asked me. I had met Al actually through some mutual-interest Facebook groups... about a year, maybe a year and a half, ago... Through that, Al and I exchanged some of this Dauphin information and memorabilia that I had... When he started putting this fundraising together, then he had asked if I would come... and he gave me the honour of actually laying a wreath in front of one of the memorials, which was a... real privilege actually... I'm very happy," Mann adds.
Mann says that she's the granddaughter of one airman and a great-niece to two other airmen.
She went on to say that her grandfather, Norman Folkersen, got his pilot wings from the No. 10 Service Flying Training School here in Dauphin.
According to Mann, Victor Folkersen, her great uncle and Norman Folkersen's older brother, was an observer navigator who got his observer wing from the No. 5 Air Observers School in Winnipeg. Throughout his training, he also did some bombing and gunnery training at the No. 7 Bombing and Gunnery School in the Dauphin area.
"[Norman and Victor's] younger brother was a mid-upper gunner with a crew called the Cradle Crew. They flew Halifaxes with 408 (Goose) Squadron," she adds.
Janel Mann went on to say that her great grandfather, Axel Folkersen, used to be the bank manager at the Bank of Montreal in Dauphin from 1935 to 1945 and that he helped support the victory loan through his work.
