Wed. Dec. 15^th., 1943 Eyewitness Account by Elsie (McDonald) Pateman

[Note: Elsie (McDonald) Pateman, a classmate of Russell McIntyre, was working in the Royal Bank in Dryden as a teller during the war years. She remembers the morning that Russell's parents received word of his death…]

"Back in those years there was no long distance telephone service. All communication was done either by mail or by telegraph. Most telegraph messages were delivered by a girl working for the CPR, but any important messages were delivered personally by the telegraph operator.

In the late morning, the telegraph operator came into the bank and went into Mr. McIntyre's office. In a minute or so, Mr. McIntyre, his face an ashen gray, came out of the office and went upstairs to their suite. In a few minutes time, everyone in the bank could hear Mrs. McIntyre crying and sobbing from upstairs - old buildings were not very soundproof. That afternoon, Mr. McIntyre told us that Russell had been killed overseas. He had no other details as to how it happened because of wartime censorship."

Spring - 1944 Later information by Elsie (McDonald) Pateman

"Because I had been a classmate of Russell's and a family friend, Mr. McIntyre several times called me into his office and talked about Russell. He would talk and talk and talk, sometimes for over an hour at a time.

Mr. & Mrs. McIntyre had received a letter from Russell's Squadron Leader in England providing some vague details about Russell's death, but because of wartime censorship, not much information could be included. An Officer from the RCAF headquarters in Winnipeg also visited the McIntyres, and was able to tell them what happened…

Apparently Russell was the co-pilot of a Wellington bomber flying a training mission in England. As they were returning to base, one of the engines stopped and the plane began losing altitude. Russell unstrapped himself from his seat and climbed down between the wings to manually crank down the landing gear. He was the only one not belted in, and he was the only one killed when the plane crashed in a farmer's field."