Ray Turner was born in Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) in 1925, one of eight children born to immigrant parents from Britain. He and his brothers Bill and Syd joined the war effort as soon as they were old enough to get past the recruitment officer. Syd joined the Navy and Bill was determined to be a pilot, but Ray wanted to get into the fight as soon as possible. Air gunner training was the shortest route to the action, so that’s what he chose. Assigned as a tail gunner on Halifaxes, Ray had flown a number of missions by March of 1945. On the night of March 5 he was part of a raid on Chemnitz, Germany. At the time, air gunners were issued electric suits to keep them warm, although these suits had a reputation for being terribly unreliable. Ray had suffered a suit failure on a previous mission and had nearly frozen to death. Not willing to risk a repeat of that episode, Ray was in the habit of wearing multiple flight suits, to the point where his comrades had to help stuff him into his turret. Climbing out after takeoff on the fateful night, the aircraft encountered unforecast icing. The aircraft iced up and the order was given to bail out. Only one crewmember survived.
Images honoring the brave men & women who served in the armed forces, and photos of wars & conflicts from around the world.
These photos capture moments in military history. They show past events, battles, military campaigns, and images of those who served, providing a unique perspective of their sacrifices and triumph.
T...
I'm a Founder of AncientFaces and support the community answering questions & helping members make connections to the past (thus my official title of Founder & Content and Community Support ). For me, it's been a labor of love for over 20 years. I truly believe with all of my heart that everyone should be remembered for generations to come.
I am 2nd generation San Jose and have seen a lot of changes in the area while growing up. We used to be known as the "Valley of Heart's Delight" (because the Valley was covered with orchards and there were many canneries to process the food grown here, which shipped all over the US) - now we have adopted the nickname "Capital of Silicon Valley" and Apple, Ebay, Adobe, Netflix, Facebook, and many more tech companies are within a few miles of my current home in San Jose (including AncientFaces). From a small town of 25,000, we have grown to 1 million plus. And when you add in all of the communities surrounding us (for instance, Saratoga, where I attended high school, living a block from our previous Mayor), we are truly one of the big cities in the US. I am so very proud of my hometown. For more information see Kathy - Founder & Content and Community Director My family began AncientFaces because we believe that unique photos and stories that show who people are/were should be shared with the world.