431-233-360
Royal Canadian Air Force
Pilot, Major
Born: January 25th 1939, London
Died: May 3rd 1993
Attended: Tavistock, London, Hamilton, Kitchener Collegiate
After School: Joined RCAF as a Private
Enlisted: September 26th 1957
Trained: Hamilton, St. John's, Clinton, Trenton, Centralia, Moose Jaw, Stationed at Gimli, Man., Saskatoon, Winnipeg
Served: Canada (18 years in Trenton); Egypt (EI Arisk); Tanzania (Dar es Salaam)
Medals or Awards: EI Arisk Medal, U.N. Africa, C.D.
Discharged: June 18th 1986
After the War: Flying Instructor with the Armed Forces, then was a commercial pilot with Worldways Airlines; Employed with Canada Trust Realty Inc. of Cambridge
Family: Parents - Wilhelmine (Matthies) and Brock Seigner (step father)
Brother - Clive; Sister - June
Married Dolores Reichert, August 18th 1962
Sons - Mark, Scott, Rodger, Neil
Comments: Hespeler Legion Member #272
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Grandson Returns to Canada After A Year at Gaza Strip with R.C.A.F.
from the Tavistock Gazette: October 30, 1963
Much has been written about the Gaza Strip, but not everyone realizes it is a place when a camel is a more valued member of society than a woman. Or a place where Arabs will slip past sentries in the dark of night to do their stealing right inside the camps of UN forces.
Those who do know these things are the members of the UN forces, such as FO. W. Wayne Siegner of Waterloo, who returned recently after being posted for a year by the RCAF near the city of Gaza at El Arish airfield.
"Apparently a camel is considered more important over there than a woman" FO: Siegner said. "A man who wants a wife has to bargain with the girl's father and will get her for 20 or 30 per cent less than it would cost him to buy a camel."
FO. Siegner is a grandson of Mr. and. Mrs. Conrad Matthies, Woodstock Street south. Now at Trenton, the flying officer who spent his tour of duty in the "Middie East with 115 Air Transport Unit, is a son of Mrs. Peter Zacharias, 88 Ellis Cres. South, Waterloo. He is now at Trenton, where he has been posted with the search and rescue squadron.
The impressions the Middle East left with him are not on the pleasant side. For one thing, the food was far less appetizing than what he had been used to in Canada. "The first thing I wanted when I got back was good old Canadian bacon and eggs. And I've been eating bacon and eggs twice a day," FO. Siegner said he did not encounter any personal danger at the hands of the hostile Arabs, but believes "trouble is building up over there." He said men from his camp had noticed considerable troop movement among the Arabs in recent months.
Filth and Disease
There was much filth and disease in the area, although the city of Gaza itself is improving, he said. His last two weeks in the Middle East was spent flying about Yemen to map new air routes and help set up communication with various tribes. On the lighter side, there were the camel races staged about once every three months by the airmen. "This is something that always gave the Arabs lots of laughs," he said. "Our men weren't used to camels and someone would always fall off, or get bitten. Then, there was always at least one camel that would disappear over the hill with someone who couldn't make it stop or turn or do anything else."
Accompanying FO. Siegner to Trenton is his wife, Delores of Gimli, Man., whom he married while stationed in Winnipeg.
