World War 2: Connecting w a Veteran

I don't know where this story will go. I know how it starts and what I'd like to see happen. But it's up to Lloyd Evans now. That being said, I have high hopes.

["I'd really like to link up w Lloyd"]

How it starts:

I'm not an expert concerning World War 2 but, in some small way, I am a student. My father joined the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) in the summer of 1941 and volunteered shortly thereafter to join Combined Operations, an organization about which I'm learning at this time - a wee bit here and there - along with my father's role in it and where he went and what he did under its auspices.

One source of information is the website Combined Operations, operated under the watchful eye of Geoff Slee from Edinburgh. While visiting the site I discovered a story by Lloyd Evans, also a member of RCNVR and Comb. Ops. His lengthy, informative, eye-opening story (Memories of a WW2 Landing Craft Operator) is similar in may respects to my father's Navy memoirs, written in 1975.

For example, my father did much of his initial training during the fall of 1941 in Halifax. So did Lloyd.

To travel to Europe Dad boarded "a large passenger liner, Queen of Bermuda, which went aground going astern" before leaving Halifax harbour. And the ship couldn't be moved. "We bailed water all night with pails..." He was transferred to "a Dutch ship called the Volendam." Lloyd describes the same scene, almost word for word, except for the bailing.

And they both mention E. P. Murphy and his pet monkey. (See photo @ Memories of a WW2 Landing Craft Operator.)

After reading about several other events the two men experienced in almost the same way at the same time or location, I asked Mr. Slee for information about Lloyd. I thought, how could Lloyd not have known my father?

["From the collection of a WW2 veteran in London"]

Slee responded one week ago, as follows:  

Hi Gord,

     This morning I sent Lloyd a copy of the press article

     (you sent me) with your e-mail. He’s 90 years old

     now and has been in declining health for some years.

     My last e-mail from him was in April 2013 so I’ll wait

     a week or 10 days to see if he responds. If not, I’ll tell

     him of you, and if he wishes to see you or contact you,

     I’ll let you know. I’m afraid I’m not allowed to divulge

     contact details without the permission of

     the person concerned.

What I'd like to see happen:

I sit here hoping Lloyd is alive and well and will write. I have a few questions for him and hope he will answer them. 

But, I just don't know where this will go. 

Photo by GH

More World War 2