Bonus Features

Hamilton, ON -- Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

Valerie: Besides Dundurn Castle, one of the places to visit in Hamilton is the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum. Chad Martin is the curator, is here with just a small part of their collection. I guess it’s just a small part of your collection.

Curator: Well, very, very small part of the collection. We actually have over forty aircraft within the collection.

Valerie: So you didn’t bring in a Lancaster Bomber to show us?

Curator: Couldn’t do it, no, sorry – a little big. But maybe someday we’ll try.

Valerie: But this is very significant collection of prisoner of war memorabilia.

Curator: This collection actually goes, it’s the Kenwood collection as we refer to it. There’s well over two hundred pieces in the collection and this is just a small sampling of when he was actually in a POW camp.

Valerie: So this is the man we’re actually talking about.

Curator: This is Frank Kenwood here, William Frank Kenwood, preferred to go by Frank. This is him here when he was in Africa and before he was shot down. The sketch of him there is actually drawn in the POW camp. He was in Stalag 8B which was in Germany. And we actually also have his identity card which explains everything about him. It’s amazing the amount of information that they did have, even though he was the enemy – they shouldn’t have known about him. But the identity card as well as his dog tags, that he was given while he was in the Camp. We even have the original telegram that was sent to his family saying that he was liberated. So this collection is an amazing piece of history.

Valerie: And significant, particularly – why?

Curator: Well, not only because it’s so complete and because there are so many pieces to it, most people tend to throw things out. After the war, he actually kept everything. It’s amazing the amount of information he still has, he still has the text books that he took courses while in the POW camp, even sheet music for his saxophone, while he was in the Camp.

Valerie: And you’ve also got his…now, he was with the RCAF?

Curator: He was with the RCAF, he was a Spitfire pilot.

Valerie: My dad was a Spitfire pilot!

Curator: Perfect connection. This is his officer’s cap. And also his medals which indicate that he was stationed in Africa. As well he has a Caterpillar pin, which is very important. It’s a very rare club that means he actually used a parachute to bail out of his aircraft. And not many people have those and it’s just something that’s extremely rare, along with all the other artifacts within the collection, as well within Canadian Warplane Heritage.

Valerie: And he visited your museum.

Curator: He visited the museum on a regular basis before he passed away. He was an avid attendant in our air shows and always loved to see the Spitfire, from what his family told us.

Valerie: Thank you so much.

Curator: Thank you.

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