R.A.F. COMPASSION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 135, 10 June 1942, Page 6

R.A.F. COMPASSION

RELIEF FOR UNHAPPY CHILD

(Rec. 1 p.m.) LONDON, June 9. The R.A.F. rushed Leading Aircraftman Jim Challis, of Stratford, from Canada across the Atlantic to the bed- J side of. his three-year-old daughter] June, who was . dangerously ill in Britain with diphtheria. Challis was. undergoing staff, training at an isolated station on'the Canadian prairies. Mrs. Challis believed that her. daughter's one hope of recovery was to see her adored father; and the doctor assured the authorities that the case was desperate. ' ' •. Whitehall sent a message to Ottawa, and a few hours afterwards Challis was speeding eastwards aboard a Canadian Air Force plane. He covered 2000 miles that day. The moment he reached an eastern Canadian airfield he boarded a Liberator bomber, taking precedence over important officials who were awaiting passage. On arrival in Britain. Challis stepped into a waiting Service plane and was flown to his home. There was a moving scene at the hospital when June saw her; father, for whom she had been fretting and crying since she fell ill. The child is now improving and has a good chance of recovery.

Challis has received compassionate posting to Britain.