Bruce Willard Prange

1922 - 2013  (90 years)

• Name	Bruce Willard Prange
  Born	18 Nov 1922  [1]
  Gender	Male
  Honors	Distinguished Flying Cross
  Military	WW2 - R. C. A. F.
  Eby ID Number	Waterloo-159332
  Died	22 Jan 2013	Freeport (Kitchener), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Buried	Memory Gardens Cemetery, Breslau, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada   [1]
  Person ID	I159332	Generations
  Last Modified	6 Apr 2024

  
  

  Father	Arthur Prange,   b. 13 Sep 1892, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. 9 Apr 1958  (Age 65 years)
  Mother	Lillian May Sharpe,   b. 12 Nov 1897, , Ontario, Canada ,   d. 17 Jul 1999  (Age 101 years)
  Family ID	F32738	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Ruth Marie Woinoski,   b. 6 Jun 1923,   d. 1959  (Age 35 years)
  Last Modified	7 Apr 2024
  Family ID	F59202	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  Bruce Willard Prange FindAGrave

  
  

• Notes

  PRANGE, Bruce Willard, D.F.C. After a brief illness, Bruce passed peacefully on Tuesday, January 22, 2013, at Freeport Hospital. He was 90 years old. Father to Eric and his wife Marilyn of Kitchener, Terry and his wife Carolyn of Waterloo and Susan and her husband Jim Johnstone of Nanaimo, B.C. Grandfather to Charles, Christine, Elizabeth, Valerie, Jim, Leigh, Shelley, Mark and Scott and great- grandfather to Michael, James, Lauren, Madison, Katie, Evelyn, Jacob and Mason. Predeceased by his wife Ruth Marie, nee Woinoski, his parents Arthur and Lillian Prange, nee Sharpe, his two brothers, Gordon and James and his sister Dorothy Dick. Bruce joined the RCAF in 1942. He was a pilot officer with the 614 Pathfinder RAF Squadron. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. He returned home to Kitchener in 1945, A HERO. Bruce spent his working career at the Arrow Shirt Company in Kitchener, where he worked his way up to the position of Controller. He retired in 1983. Bruce enjoyed his cottage in Port Elgin. He was an avid skier and golfer. He particularly enjoyed his trips to Europe to ski and to revisit the places he had seen during World War II. Friends may call at the Ratz-Bechtel Funeral Home , 621 King St. W., Kitchener on Saturday, January 26th, from 12:00 noon until 1:00 p.m. where a funeral service will be held in the Chapel at 1:00 p.m. with Rev. Mark Lewis officiating. Reception to follow in the Ratz-Bechtel Family Centre. Expressions of sympathy may be made to St. Mary's Hospital Foundation, through the funeral home. The family would like to extend our grateful appreciation to the nurses and doctors at St. Mary's Hospital. We would like to thank our Aunt Cathy for all of her help and support. Bruce will be dearly missed by his family and his many friends. ________________________ Bruce Prange, humble war hero Valerie Hill Waterloo Region Record, March 25, 2013 Bruce Prange of Kitchener; Born: Nov. 18, 1922, in Kitchener; Died: Jan. 22, 2013, of age-related illness At only 21 years old, fresh from what was then small-town Kitchener, Bruce Prange knew little about conflict except for the occasional skirmish with his two brothers. But on one black night in 1944, piloting a badly damaged Halifax bomber during a mission, Bruce reached into his depths and discovered a hero. Bruce's story was never something he spoke about despite the fact he received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery that night. It wasn't even known by his colleagues at the Arrow Shirt Company, until Bruce was ready to retire. Company historians looking for background for his retirement party, poked around the archives and found front page headlines on Bruce's incredible adventure. But the local flying ace Bruce was too humble to tell anyone about it. "He was quiet, just a nice guy, everybody liked him," said sister-in-law Cathy Prange, who married Bruce's brother, Jim, in 1952. She knew Bruce a long time and never heard him mention his war experiences. She certainly didn't realize he had been labelled a hero. To his friends, he was just a kind-hearted accountant type. Bruce, born one of four children in Kitchener, started his first job at the Arrow Shirt Company as a $9 a week office boy, but he was quickly promoted. In 1942, Bruce left the company to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force. He was sent overseas in 1943 and promoted to flying officer. The air force would provide this young man with rich opportunities for many adventures. In 1983, he told a Record reporter how he once flew a Halifax bomber carrying additional fuel tanks from England to North Africa. "It was quite an experience to be handed a plane and a crew of six at the age of 21," he said, recounting the generosity of the air force, even when the mission was just to have fun on furlough. There was the time they gave him a plane to fly from Italy to North Africa to pick up barrels of beer. "They always gave us a bomber to go anywhere," he said at the time. During the war, Bruce flew 42 bombing missions over Romania, Yugoslavia, Austria, Hungary, Northern Italy, Greece and the Middle East. Although he escaped from each mission unscathed, he nearly lost his life on the one that would later honour him. It was August 1944, a few months from his 22nd birthday and Bruce was flying a Halifax bomber over Romania, where his crew's job was to drop flares in the oilfields, allowing oncoming bombers to identify targets in the dark. Mission accomplished, on their way back to base, the Halifax was suddenly hit twice by anti-aircraft fire from the ground. The bomber's nose was blown off, the fuselage ripped open, instruments, hydraulic and intercom systems knocked out and the bomb doors were jammed open. To make matters worse, the plane was on fire. Bruce didn't panic. He told the six-man crew to prepare for possible bailout but the men couldn't hear him properly without the intercom system and thought he had said to bail. Only warrant officer Allan Fox remained on board and with an injured arm, he had difficulty dousing the fire. For four hours, the young pilot and the injured warrant officer cruised slowly but steadily, with the bomber doors open. "It was bitter cold at 10,000 feet," Bruce said later. Despite the plane's damage and lack of instruments, Bruce somehow managed to bring the Halifax back to the Italian base safely. Warrant officer Fox, who also received the Distinguished Flying Cross, later told a reporter that "It was a miraculous piece of flying … Bruce is a wizard pilot. I don't know how he did it." Bruce admitted he didn't feel the fear until after he'd brought the plane safely home. Then he started shaking and couldn't sleep for 24 hours. He later learned that of the eight Halifax bombers on that mission, only four returned. His bomber had been so badly damaged that it was scrapped. The five crewmen who inadvertently bailed over Romania were captured by enemy forces, but were released three weeks later. Bruce's story was a remarkable one, but it put it all behind him in 1945, settling back into civilian life in Kitchener and rejoining Arrow Shirt. He also immediately married his longtime sweetheart, Ruth Woinoski, and together they raised three children: Terry, Susan and Eric. Ruth died of cancer in 1959, leaving Bruce to raise the children on his own. While he never remarried, Bruce's mother provided a great deal of help with child care and cooking. He would later return the kindness, caring for his mother and older sister when they needed his support. Bruce's keen intellect led to many promotions at Arrow Shirt. When he retired at age 60, he was the company controller. Longtime friend and golf buddy Herb McKegney said Bruce often lamented that he didn't take advantage of the free education program offered by the federal government to returning service men. "Nevertheless, he was very successful," McKegney said. The pair were both employed at Arrow and became not just friends but travel buddies, touring England and France. "He knew the regions, where to go," said Herb. "We had a lot of fun together. He was a good guy, a really good guy." In his retirement, Bruce had more time to putter around his beloved Port Elgin cottage, to ski in Europe and spend a few hours on the golf course. He did continue flying for a few years after returning from the war but the thrill was gone. He once told a reporter, "In those days it was fun to fly. We did aerobatics and felt like a bird. Civilian flying felt more like driving a taxi." vhill@therecord.com "Bruce Prange, Humble War Hero". 2013. Therecord.Com. https://www.therecord.com/life/2013/03/25/bruce-prange-humble-war-hero.html.

  
  

• Sources

  [S3231] Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104076602/bruce-willard-prange.

  
  

• Event Map

  Died - 22 Jan 2013 - Freeport (Kitchener), Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada Buried - - Memory Gardens Cemetery, Breslau, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada  = Link to Google Earth