Born in Scotland, Sampson J. Goodfellow emigrated to Toronto as a child. Like many young Canadian men, he returned to Europe to serve his new country in the First World War, first as a truck driver, then as a navigator on Handley Page bombers.
Over a span of just six years, Sam witnessed Canadaâs deadliest-ever tornado, sparred with world-champion lightweight boxers, survived seasickness and submarines, came under artillery fire at Vimy Ridge, was bombed by German aircraft while unloading shells at an ammunition dump at Passchendaele, joined the Royal Flying Corps, was top of his class in observer school, became a navigator, faced a court-martial for allegedly shooting up the Kingâs horse-breeding stables, survived being shot down by anti-aircraft fire, was captured at bayonet point and interrogated, became a prisoner of war in Germany...and, in the midst of all that, got engaged.
When Sam was listed as missing, the family of his fiancĂŠe went to a fortuneteller for news of his fate. âYou couldnât kill that devil,â she told them. âHe is alive and trying to escape.â She was right.
With a sharp eye, a keen mind, a strong body, and an acerbic tongue, Sam survived, as one RAF officer put it when he returned to England after the Armistice, âenough to be dead several times.â
âYou have been through hell,â a military doctor told him, âand you have been very lucky as a soldier and airman.â
Sampson J. Goodfellow really was âone lucky devil.â This is his story, in his own words.