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Canadian seeking Second World War veteran’s family to deliver recorded message
Deborah van der Linde- **UPDATE** Thank you to our incredible readers for tracking down the W.E. McIntyre's family! We have connected Tara with the family. Stay tuned for the follow up story!
Twenty years ago, in Burnaby, BC, Tara MacLeod made a fascinating discovery.
Beside an apartment building, lying next to a dumpster was a very old package. In one corner, the envelope was labelled “Through Courtesy of Pepsi-Cola,” and below it was printed in bold “This is a Recorded Message from your Man In Service.”
The record inside looks to have never been played. MacLeod took the record, but it then lay forgotten for over 20 years.
Recently she rediscovered the recording and curiosity overcame her. “We need to do something about this,” MacLeod said, “it would be fantastic to have the ending. If we could find the grandchildren and they could have it. It’s a piece of history.”
The record was sent from Chatham, NB by W.E. McIntyre, to Miss K. Byers of Hamilton Ontario. Though this name seems, through faded ink, to have been scratched out and below it, in even more faded ink there appears to be another name, possibly Mrs. W.E. McIntyre.
Needless to say, MacLeod was curious. “I just want to know,” she said.
The sending address refers to what appears to be either “#10 ADS” or “#10 AOS.” From mid-1941 through the end of the Second World War, Chatham, NB was home to the No. 10 Air Observer School. Could this address refer to the Air Observer School? Was this service member possibly stationed there during the war?
Lending support to this is the postage stamp on the package. Based on the stamp, we believe the record was sent in 1943.
An example of what the messages sounded like.
MacLeod has been unable to identify the sender or his family, and cannot play the recording. She would love to be able to help McIntyre’s family get the record, and have them be able to play it. “This is a message from a man in service,” she said, “It makes my heart happy when I see it.”
If anybody knows who the sender or the recipient may have been, they can help solve this mystery and put together a lost piece of history. Please reach out to us at the Canadian Military Family Magazine.
