Earl Harman

Born in rural Saskatchewan on January 5, 1923, Earl Harman grew up in Kapuskasing, northern Ontario. He and his brother enjoyed sports and hunting until there were old enough to sign up. He chose to follow his father’s wartime footsteps, enlisting in the RCAF in the fall of 1941. While he wanted to be a pilot, instead Earl was trained to be a bomb aimer, shipping overseas in August 1943, two years after signing up. For a while he trained with RAF, but eventually joined an aircrew to train on the four-engine Halifax bomber in Yorkshire. 

On June 22, 1944 they joined RCAF 432 Bomber Squadron out of Eastmoor. Attaining the rank of Warrant Officer Two, Earl and his crew flew a MK III Halifax they named "The Babe”, complete with a picture pop a baby in a bathtub, with a long clothesline decorated with painted diapers representing each mission they flew over industrial sites in France and Germany. On each mission, when approaching the target, Earl directed the pilot of the aircraft, looking through the bomb sight to be sure their payload was dropped on target. Their final mission was on Dec. 6, 1944. 

Earl was shipped back to Canada in February the following year, returning to Kapuskasing once demobilized. He and his father decided to move back to the family home (the old Harman House) in Uxbridge after the war. Earl returned to school graduating from University of Toronto with a BA. He started work with Household Finance Company in Belleville, where he met and married his wife Gwen, then worked for CPR Credit Union until retirement in 1988. Earl joined the local Legion Branch 170 in 1954, holding several posts including Pipe Major.