STEPHEN J. THORNE

The Flanders legacy: Stijn Butaye and the iron harvest

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Stijn Butaye was 12 years old when he strutted into his mother’s Flanders farmhouse kitchen holding an unexploded First World War grenade in his hand like a cat proudly presenting its owner a mouse. Not unlike the proverbial cat owner, his mother promptly sent him back outside, where he was prudently disarmed and given a stern lecture about the realities of rural life in eastern Belgium.

A short time later, the boy recovered a mud-encrusted, near-century-old Lee-Enfield rifle. His mother’s reservations notwithstanding, Butaye was hooked.

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The Korean War’s only RCAF prisoner

STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR

Squadron Leader Andrew (Andy) MacKenzie described himself as an ordinary man caught up in an extraordinary situation—a recurring theme in his life. From piloting a Spitfire in the Second World War to ejecting out of a burning plane at 12,000 metres (40,000 feet), thrills and chills followed the happy-go-lucky flying ace in the Royal Canadian Air Force for 27 years.

But perhaps no experience was as chilling as being shot down by friendly fire on Dec. 5, 1952, and taken prisoner by Chinese authorities during the Korean War, making MacKenzie the only Canadian air force PoW during the conflict.

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