There was a rumour going around a week or two before the event that field day was going to be cancelled this year because of a lack of mosquitoes. This, as we all now know was not true, and for the third year in a row the valiant personel of Windsor's retirees' club sallied forth to show the flag.

A new site had been selected and was at the back of Holden Farms in what I thought was Windsor, somebody else thought was Amherstberg but according to a young fellow that lived there it was Tecumseh South. so much for the new boundaries. The location was great for our purpose although anybody with a low slung vehicle probably feared for their exhaust and oil-pan on the approach!

Rain had been forecast but did not materialize and by eleven hundred hours EST activity was at it's peak. Ted, HOS and Harold HDT having learned from last year, proved that they could put up a very functionable 40 meter cw vertical almost as quickly as the army personal put up the tents.... and they have had had plenty of practice!

Twenty, eighty, forty SSB and six meters followed suit in a quiet, efficient manner that would have done credit to professionals. There was no ten/fifteen meter this year but maybe next year we will have six stations going instead of five.

First contacts were made close to 1400 hrs. and continued at a pretty good pace. Saturday night brought torrential rain but no damage to equipment or personel was reported. Fair weather had returned by sunday morning and last minute contacts were made by tired and somewhat bedraggled operators.

At the time of writing I am still one log missing but this year's and last year's ARRL entry forms will be published later in the club newsletter.

"VE3WRC 4A ONTARIO"

To the best of my knowledge this is the first time that the Retirees' club has participated in field day so it is sort of a historic occasion.

For twenty four hours contacts continued to be made, many near, some far. The logging program took care of any possible duplicates with a warning that a station had been worked previously. I do not intend to mention everybody by name that took part, for fear of missing somebody and thus doing them an injustice. All those that participated were invaluable. While some slept, others kept watch, while some operated some logged, and so it went on the clock around.

Sunday's morning sky was overcast but shed no drops. The aroma of Barb's bacon and eggs pervaded the early air arousing appetites even where there had been none. The night watches in the 20 and 40 metre tents were about ready for relief and so, were relieved. We settled down for as many contacts as possible during the last remaining few hours. By now the "dupes" were many and contacts with the weaker stations had to be sort. That's easier said than done because just as you are trying to read the weak station's exchange and qth some adjacent giant that you have worked before opens up and blasts his signal into oblivion. Of course, that's all part of the challenge and a bit of persistence always pays off.

Too soon the army folks were back to reclaim their tents and the event was winding down. The involment of the army was initiated by Dick VE3GSU and tenaciously pursued by Ed VE3NGN. Many thanks to both of them. One of the army personell was Cpl.Fred Passer VE3FFP. Thanks to you too, Fred.

Spirits were high, everybody seemed to have enjoyed the experience and plans were already being proposed and discussed for next year. This year was great but next year it will be even better............... Maybe it's an old man's imagination, but I got the impression that the camaraderie and the co-operative spirit of the club was at a high point right about then.

Masts were lowered and antennae stowed. Farewells were said and we drove off.

I hope, and I think that we left our host's fields as well groomed as we found them.

The final count? 891 contacts and a lotta fun!

Kindly submitted by Reg VE3GKB

Ah yes, as the story goes, way back in 1919 came the birth of Cameron William Burrows. Like most young boys he was very inquisitive, especially when it came to electronics and when a radio was in sight, well now, nothing else was really very important. At the early age of 13 he built his first crystal set. From there on it was upwards and onwards.

Back in 1939 he talked two other guys in Chatham to join the military with him. You can just hear it now, "Ah come on, what's the matter with ya, a little chicken are we ?" Well, it wasn't much later down the page that they were in sunny England. You probably guessed it, in the Army Signal Corps, First Canadian Division was the station of choice. He finds himself working out of a red school house at Hammersmith in Eisenhower's H.Q..

Not far from there is where he met Phyllis, the love of his life, working at Harrods in London. They stayed in sunny England for two years until he was invited, hi hi, to join the first invasion of Sicily. That little jaunt got him his first class trip back home.

As the story goes, on his eighth day of basking in the sun, Cam and a couple of buddies stand up to get a closer look at the beautiful Spitfires flying over when all too late they realize it's those damned Messerschmitt's. While Cam's diving down for the hole, he catches a piece of shrapnel in the right leg. He always told Phyllis, "don't worry about me, we signal guys are always behind the lines." Well he really got behind the lines this time, in North Africa for a few months before gettin shipped off home to lovely Canada.

Phyllis followed with their daughter in a troop ship a year later. They stayed with Cam's parents for a year or so until they had enough set aside for their first house. That's where he built his first transmitter. If you were a neighbor, you'd have thought you were charmed, cause whenever he'd tune up, your porch lights would go on. He's been retired now for eighteen years from Customs and Excise. If you've ever been to his basement radio shack in south Windsor, you've seen the tremendous array of plaques and trophies for DX contacts, first contact of a new country, etc. etc.. The respected achievements in the field of amateur radio contacts around the world are tremendous. Even personally operating at Radio Peking in Beijing on their equipment. Quite an achievement wouldn't you say.

Cam and Phyllis have a boy and a girl, eight grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Speaking of grandchildren, have you ever heard the heavy metal band called The Tea Party? Well, that's Jeff and Company, one of the favorite grandchildren. You see, Cam played percussion's when he was a kid and had to pass it on to somebody.

Well there you have it, one of the best known, most accomplished, most traveled Morse code Amateur Radio operators in North America. Well done sir, and keep em clicken.

VE3BX - CAM BURROWS

This article submitted by VE3KUP of Kidd's Corner