Flt/Sgt. Manuel "Tinker" Sharko
Royal Canadian Air Force 432 Squadron
from:Nisku, Alberta
My father is Manuel Sharko. He enlisted with the RCAF at age 19 and completed 36 operational flights as a mid-upper gunner on Halifax bombers with RCAF 432 Squadron.
He completed a tour of duty at 30 “ops” but continued on through six more. All 36 ops were completed with a crew of NCOs and pilot F/S (later P/O) Robert Campbell DFC, who were all RCAF members except for the flight engineer. Another member of the crew was also decorated. F/S Stewart Cassels, the navigator, was awarded the DFM.
Manuel was born in a log house on the family farm near Nisku, Alberta, just south of Edmonton, on February 21, 1925, and lived there until he enlisted in the air force at age 17 in 1943. After qualifying as an Air Gunner at No. 3 Bombing and Gunnery School at MacDonald, Manitoba, when he was shipped overseas, Manuel was based with his squadron in England at East Moor, Yorkshire.
Despite odds, Sgt. Sharko and all in his crew survived the war. He says his scariest and longest flight was a bombing run to Stuttgart when his Halifax was shot up and losing fuel but was able to land safely at an American base in England where the bomber was repaired, then flown back to East Moor.
