The following essay was written by Norman Peat from Ratho in the early 1930’s, as part of an essay contest for the County of Oxford. This winning essay was published in the Woodstock Newspaper. The essay is interesting in the fact that being written in the early 1930’s, Blenheim Township was less than a century old at the time, therefore the information contained in the essay was relatively recent news.
Norman was born on January 8th, 1916 to Wallace and Maggie Peat (nee Hogarth). Maggie passed away very shortly after Norman’s birth and was raised by his Father, as well as the Hogarth family, particularly his Maiden Aunts, Anna and Jean. Norman was the apple of his Aunt’s eyes and did very well in school. Norman enlisted in the 2nd World War and was reported missing on May 27th, 1943 while serving with an Air Sea Rescue Squadron. At the time of his demise he was trying to rescue another pilot near the Galite Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.