Keep it in the sky: Sask. grandson writes song to honour his grandfather's military service

Regina singer-songwriter James Gates has created a Remembrance Day song and music video about one of his grandfather's harrowing experiences as a bomber pilot in the Second World War.

The story behind the song Keep it in the Sky comes from the entries in Roy Gates's pilot logbooks, which were given to James Gates sometime after his grandfather died in 2011.

The song tells the story of the Roy and his navigator, Lt. Tom Rice, trying to safely make it back to their air base on England's famed Dover coast with a broken oil line and an empty tank.

"His logbooks didn't have a lot of detail, but there sure were a lot of entries," James said.

Sixty-two of the entries were underlined in red, with numbers and notations, he said.

"These marked the close calls they experienced."

James said his grandfather didn't talk about the war — at least not to him. But in the years since Roy's death, James has become more curious about his grandfather's time with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

James said he only knows of one time his grandfather spoke of the war. It became family lore.

"It was when he was teaching someone to drive a grain truck during harvest on the family farm. My grandfather is alleged to have said, 'If I can fly a plane wingtip-to-wingtip through enemy fire, then you can drive this truck at slow speeds alongside the combine.'"

When he started his research, James realized he actually had a lot of access to his grandad's past, including his war records, those pilot logbooks and an account of his time in war that Roy wrote for a Saskatchewan school's Remembrance Day service in 2003.

There wasn't a lot of detail, but even that small bit of information gave James a much better picture of his grandfather during those years.

Roy Gates joined the war effort in late 1941. He trained to be a pilot in Brandon. After he earned his wings he was assigned to the Coastal Command.

Before going overseas, he spent time in Prince Edward Island and British Columbia learning coastal navigation. His navigator Lt. Tom Rice was an American paired with him in training. The two stayed friends for life.

James said he became fascinated with the plane his grandfather flew. The Albacore was a single-engine biplane bomber. The Albacore could target, dive, lay smokescreens and torpedo bomb.

According to the account that Roy wrote in 2003, the Albacore carried six 250 lb (115 kg) bombs under the wings.

Roy also told the students that most of their missions took place at night. They were searching for enemy ships near the Dutch coast, at the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay.

Despite the close calls outlined in his logbooks, Roy made it home in 1944. Waiting for him was his wife Mona and his first child, who had been born while Roy was in training.

The couple farmed near Milden, Sask., about 110 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon. They raised four children.

James said his project has made him feel like he knows his grandfather a little more.

"I knew him as a farmer, as someone who liked to watch the Blue Jays, and a guy who used to shoot pool in his basement. Now I realize those war years were a big part of his life," said James.  "But he just didn't share it."

James added that he's particularly proud of the music video, which uses photos from Roy's private collection along with his logbooks, uniform and medals. 

CBC will have live coverage of the Remembrance Day ceremony held at the War Memorial in Ottawa today as we honour those who served and who continue to serve.

Watch our Remembrance Day special on CBC TV, CBC News Network or stream it on CBC Gem or our CBC News app.