WOI Albert John Salkus (Ret'd)

We regret to advise of the death of Warrant Officer Class I Albert John Salkus (Ret'd) on 14 October 2004 in Nanaimo Hospital.

Al enlisted for in Halifax NS in 1937 and joined the 1^st Field Company of the Royal Canadian Engineers. A WW II veteran, Al served in both England and North West Europe during the Second World War. Pursuing an army career after the war, Al was an electronics instructor at the Royal Canadian School of Military Engineering in Camp Chilliwack, BC from 1946 to 1960 where he became the senior Mechanist Electrical Instructor. In 1960 he was posted to National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa  and, during the 1960s, he was the military electrical engineer overseeing construction of the first two Emergency Government Headquarters - the 'Diefenbunker' at Carp, ON and the provincial facility at Nanaimo, BC. He retired from the Armed Forces in 1967.

Al was an outstanding athlete known as "Butch" to his teammates. Prior to the Second World War, he played baseball and hockey for the Halifax Maroons. He was still catching for elite Armed Forces softball teams during his forties. Subsequently, he coached numerous youth baseball teams at Vedder Crossing, BC.

A funeral mass will be celebrated at the Church of the Ascension, 837 Wembley Rd., Parksville BC, on Thursday, 21 October at 11:00 a.m. followed by a reception in the church hall. In lieu of flowers, donations to B.C. Cancer Foundation are suggested. ^{{khAug2015} [zpp]}