THOMAS HARRY SALTER. 1925-1999 

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My Dad was born in Honiton on the 11th May 1925.

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He enjoyed his time as a Scout with the First Scout Troop of  Honiton and obtained many badges for carrying out various  activities.

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His first job was as a delivery boy for a butcher all on a pedal cycle of course. 

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It wasn’t long before Dad and his close friend Frank Cordey wanted  to help with the war effort and I believe they forged their date of  birth to get accepted. Frank emigrated to Canada and continued to live there until two years before his death when he returned to the  UK and settled near to my Mum and Dad. 

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Training was taken at a station in Hereford in the UK and he was then accepted into the Empire Air Training Scheme in Manitoba and stationed at the training school in Portage - La- Prairie,  Manitoba. The Governor General of Canada inspected the men there on the 21.08.45.

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Dad attended his Graduation Banquet on the 13th July 1945 at the St Charles Hotel in Winnipeg. At the age of 20 he became a trained Navigator in the Royal Air Force. He spent a couple of years  stationed in Canada and I remember him telling me about the  number of days it took him on a train to travel from the East to the West coast. 

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After Canada Dad was stationed in India for a couple of years. After leaving the Air Force he went into the Police Service finishing his career as a Sergeant although he passed his Inspector exams  early on in his career. I suspect he choose not to peruse this avenue as it would have meant moving again and my brothers and I had already attended three primary schools by that time. Not  something I realised until I went through some of his papers. 

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Dad loved Canada and himself and my Mum had a couple of lovely  holidays there which they thoroughly enjoyed.

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Dad was a keen bowler and played for a local club here in Brixham, Devon, but his main hobby was stamp collecting and he would spend many hours researching and writing up the history of every  page that he added to his albums. Everything was written in his beautiful hand writing and this collection has been a life time of  devotion to his hobby. 

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Thank you for reading 

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Sue Salter (Daughter)