Dusty Miller is a war veteran who flew on bombing missions during the Second World War in Britain. The deHavilland Fox Moth, on display at the Northern Heritage Centre, was built by the same company that built the plane he flew in -- a deHavilland Mosquito. (Dane Gibson/NNSL photo)

Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 10/99) - Dusty Miller's cracked leather aviator goggles, worn-out 1940s Air Force issue boots, and elbow-length gloves are sitting in a display case at the Northern Heritage Centre.

They'll be there for the next two weeks, part of a Remembrance Day tribute to honour those Canadians who served their country in war. Besides real war memorabilia, there are books and stories about Canadian war experiences on display at the museum.

Miller, now 80, has been in the North since 1949. He peers at his old gear through the glass and remembers his days fighting the Germans over British soil.

"It was almost 60 years ago today that I got involved in the war," said Miller. "I had just graduated high school and I decided I wanted to be Air Force -- I wanted to fly in the war."

After finishing an aircraft technology course at college, an Air Force recruiting team came in and recruited the whole class. Miller remembers that everyone wanted to be a fighter pilot. When he heard it would take months to get overseas as a pilot, Miller hopped a troop ship to Britain to do engineering and ground crew work.

After working on Bristol-Bowlingbroke light bombers and Beau Fighters, he was upgraded to the deHavilland Mosquito. The Mosquito was a fighter/bomber that had plywood wings and twin V-16 engines.

Miller was sent on attack missions in the Mosquito as an observer. His job was to watch for German fighters coming at them from out of the sun.

"The night fighters pretty much cleared the skies of German bombers. D-day came along so the squadron changed to daylight strafing missions," said Miller.

"We flew across the English Channel and fired on boats, trains, convoys and army depots. Anything that would support the German line was a target."

Miller managed to finish his tour of duty unscathed, except for the memories he still carries with him of those friends he lost. He came back to his home in southern Ontario in 1945. Four years later, he found himself in Yellowknife teaching construction training courses for the government.

Miller is still in Yellowknife and is currently trying to prepare a millennium project to seek out and identify those veterans of the First and Second World War, and the Korean War, who live in the NWT. Museum exhibit designer Terry Pamplin said they are assisting Miller with the project. Pamplin hopes the community display they have set up right now will help.

"We're trying to make more of an effort to support Remembrance Day than we have in the past," said Pamplin.

"What we've done here is not a museum quality display, it will only be up for about two weeks, but we hope it will raise public awareness and help promote Dusty's millennium project."

In years to come, Pamplin hopes to entice local youth to plan a Remembrance Day display of their own each year.

Miller nods his approval when he hears the plan.

"I think it's important to keep the memory of those who served alive. The veterans are getting old and soon they'll be extinct. Those veterans who died can't be repaid, so they should be remembered."