Newspaper Article

Determined to serve

Ma, Suzanne

2006

Overview

[Sam Estwick] emigrated to Canada from Barbados at the age of four and his family settled in Glace Bay, N.S. When war broke out, Estwick heard the Air Force was looking for fighter pilots. But when he showed up in Halifax to enlist, the officers at the recruiting office wouldn't take him. \"What do you mean? There's a war,\" Estwick said. \"We can't trust a black pilot,\" they told him. Estwick will never forget what his church minister said to him when he won a school award the age of 14. \"He said to me, 'That goes to prove that a young lad of your colour can be as good as any other colour.'\" Estwick also remembers meeting members of the Second Construction Battalion from the First World War. \"My family was from Barbados so we had a very strong allegiance to the British,\" Estwick said. \"Everyone would say how handsome they all looked in uniform.\" Despite the red maple leaf sewn onto his uniform, Estwick was continuously denied entry into local restaurants. One night when he and a group of his radar buddies went into a bar, a beefy bartender ordered Estwick out. Estwick was only 5-foot-7 but he had a reputation as a feisty boxer with an attitude.

• Publisher: Postmedia Network Inc
• Subject: Dhillon, Karam Singh / Estwick, Sam / Moses, Russ / Nakamoto, Jack / Polowin, Alex