Tomorrow, in the north of France, the mayor of Saint-Thierry will place a memorial plaque near the entrance to the village’s church.
The plaque commemorates Major Don Beerbower who 70 years ago on Aug. 9, 1944 was killed while leading his fighter squadron in a strafing attack against 30 German aircraft at a former French airbase near Reims. Beerbower’s P-51 Mustang was hit by ground fire and crashed into a nearby vineyard.
The vineyard’s owner, M. Lemaire was first to the crash site.
Lemaire’s grandson Antione Lemaire is now the mayor of Saint-Thierry and fittingly, it will be he who recognizes Beerbower’s sacrifice to help liberate France from German occupation.
Besides military dignitaries, mayors from nearby towns, also on hand for the plaque’s unveiling will be Paul Sailer, author of “The Oranges are Sweet: Major Don M. Beerbower and the 353rd Fighter Squadron”.
The book tells the story of Beerbower from November 1942 to August 1944. The book is a result of Sailer’s father’s friendship with Beerbower and the stories his father would tell about his friend.
Sailer recalled that when he as a boy, he looked forward to winter nights when his dad would get out his World War II scrapbook.
“He had letters from Don and news clippings about Don. Dad would talk about his friend, that he lost his life,” Sailer said.
“I remember I caught a fever. I got quite fascinated with airplanes and fighter pilots,” Sailer said. This passion eventually had Sailer joining the U.S. Army . He became a pilot and flew helicopters in Vietnam.
To read more, please see the Sept. 8 edition of The Davidson Leader.

Members of the Junior Athletic Association (JAA) are exploring their financing options after the Town of Davidson recreation office raised the ice rental fees they charge the JAA for this upcoming season.

Leah Herback, treasurer of the JAA, said the association pays a flat rate per team to the town for ice rental and that is going up by $2,500 this year to bring the total amount charged to the association to around $14,500 for the year. She said members of the JAA now have to decide what plan of action they need to take this season to offset that added cost.

Herback said the JAA raises money to pay this ice rental charge through player registration fees, putting on tournaments and charging fans at the door who come to watch the games. All money that is raised through kitchen sales at the rink goes directly to the town.

She said this added $2,500 charge to the JAA doesn’t necessarily mean player fees are going up this season, as they will try to find ways with their other two money-raising options to make up the difference. Herback added the addition of a midget hockey team in Davidson this winter should also help bring in more funds to the association.

“Because we’re having a midget team that will be more hockey in Davidson, so hopefully the door and another tournament will make up for the increase,” said Herback. “Because there will be a lot more midget games going on there will be more revenue from the door.”

Trevor Ouellette, recreation director for the Town of Davidson, said increased ice usage and increased costs to run the ice plant as well as keeping the lights on longer as a result of having a new midget team is the reason for the increase in the JAA ice rental fees. He said the increase is not an attempt to reduce the town’s subsidy to the JAA and they are still paying “probably half” of what other associations in nearby towns such as Watrous are being charged.

Ouellette said ice rental rates charged to the Monday night recreational hockey league is also going up this season, while the Cyclones, Babes on Blades and Tractor Bellies fees are staying the same as last year. The amount charged to out-of-town teams for holding tournaments in Davidson is also going up due to the high demand the town has for their ice and the little time available during the season to rent it out.

To read more please see the September 1 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

An investigation is underway into the recent death of a Wee-Too Beach man found submerged in Last Mountain Lake.

Kam Hay, acting sergeant for the Craik detachment of the RCMP, said members of the local force assisted the RCMP Underwater Recovery Team (URT) and members of the Southey RCMP detachment in locating the remains of the 78-year-old male Aug. 22. The identity of the man is not being released at this time.

The Wee-Too Beach resident was found submerged in water on the west side of Last Mountain Lake near a dock where his belongings were found two days earlier. The Southey RCMP first received a complaint of a boat found adrift on Last Mountain Lake between Fox’s Point and Wee-Too Beach Aug 20 and it was subsequently towed to Rowan’s Ravine Marina.

The boat was identified as belonging to the man. He was not located at his residence and his truck and trailer were found at the boat launch at Wee-Too Beach. An initial search of the shoreline in the area yielded negative results and the URT was called in to continue the search.

“They came out the day before with sonar and attempted that because they have to have three people there…before they can actually go into the water searching,” said Hay. “They tried the sonar the first Thursday and were unsuccessful with the sonar, so then they brought in another diver and were able to go into the water the next day.”

Hay said the divers found the body close to the dock. He said the man was not wearing a life jacket and there is no suspicion of alcohol being involved in the death.

“We’re still trying to investigate what the cause of death was, whether it was accidental or a medical issue (being) probably the two leading suspects, but right now we don’t know exactly what happened,” he said. “There were no witnesses to the event.”