Leonard Brewer

Leonard Brewer, long time resident of the Tulameen Valley, passed away on August 24, 2006. Mr. Brewer was born in Olalla, BC on December 11, 1917. Len served in the Canadian Armed Forces in England during the 2nd World War and was recognized for his service. Upon his return to Canada he met and married Leona Rabbitt on April 26, 1945 and settled in Tulameen, where they raised their family of 10 children. Len provided for his family as a rancher, trapper, miner, logger and mill worker. A self taught musician, his music was enjoyed at home and many community events. As well, Len was an avid hunter and fisher and enjoyed nature. Community was important to Len, and he served on the Otter Valley Fish & Game Club and Tulameen Community Club. Leonard will be sorely missed by his wife, family and many friends.

Brewer was a high school student who's interest in the second world war weighed heavily on his mind during the two hour drive from Keremeos to Princeton in his family's Model T Ford.

"I got to thinking ' what if the Nazi's try to come over here and take over and I'm not doing anything about it?' That's what made me decide I had to get out there and do something," he says.

July of 1941 Brewer volunteered in the Royal Canadian Army and began basic training in Ontario. Brewer then began his journey to Europe aboard the Cameronian, a Canadian passenger carrier, as part of the largest ocean convoy the modern world has ever seen. Nearly 2,000 military vessels embarked on the 29 day journey between the Canadian Maritimes and Liverpool, England.

"You could wake up in the morning and look around and all you could see were ships from here to the horizon." he says, his eyes shining behind tinted prescription glasses.

In addition to the great view, the soldiers didn't have very far to go for breakfast, either. Brewer and hundreds of others had hooked hammocks over the mess hall's tables.

"Every time the ship lurched to one side everybody's hammock leaned way over, it was something to see," Brewer says, "sweeping his hand from right to left."

Every seven minutes throughout the entire journey the convoy began maneuvers, zigging and zagging across the great Atlantic Ocean to minimize the risk of an encounter with German U-Boats. One day Brewer and his fellow soldiers awoke to a startling surprise - there wasn't another ship in sight, except for two boats - each flanking one side of the Cameronian. It turned out that sometime during the night, a 14-inch gash had somehow ripped through the Cameronian's main propeller shaft, rendering the ship immobile half-way between continents. Maintenance workers and mechanics worked tirelessly throughout the night and the following day, slowly turning the shaft while welding its great gap shut. Soon Brewer and his friends were back in motion, chugging towards England and the second World War.

Training resumed once Brewer landed in the British Isles. Motorcycle riding, gas attack training and maneuvers practice took up the majority of his days. Then, in 1943, Brewer was leading a 50-mile convoy of trucks across Britain when tragedy struck. A motorcyclist had gone missing somewhere along the route and Brewer was racing between a quarter-mile gap in the precession when he drove blindly over a small hill. To this day he doesn't know who or why, but someone had strung five lines of wire across the road. It was a trap that no one could see coming. Brewer and the Harley Davidson he was riding hit the wire at tremendous speed and were sent tumbling end over end. The crash yielded a badly broken collarbone for the young soldier. After six months of recuperation, Leonard Brewer was sent home, without a chance at battle. "The next spring they said 'you're not much good to us'," he remembers.

In 1944 Brewer returned home and soon after he met his wife, Leona. They now live on their 100-year old ranch outside of Tulameen and they sleep in the same room Leona was born in. Five Brewer boys went in to the war and all five returned. Only one brother, Bernard, the youngest, stayed home with his parents. he was killed in a logging accident before the war was over.

When Nov. 11 rolls around Leonard takes a little time to reflect on the experience and effect a world war can have on a man.

"We need to remember what happened and we need to remember our friends that were fighting for us. We should never forget that," he says.