Manuel Raber (family)

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Type of entity

Family

Authorized form of name

Manuel Raber (family)

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Description area

Dates of existence

[ca.1922-2012]

History

Manny Raber (born Manuel Rabinovitch) was born December 1, 1922 in Burstall, Saskatchewan to Max and Lena Raber. His family moved to Medicine Hat two years later in 1924. Manny enlisted in November of 1939 and joined the South Alberta Regiment. In 1941 he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force as an aircrewman, and was sent to the No. 5 Bombing and Gunnery School in Defoe, Saskatchewan. After graduation, he was given the rank of Pilot Officer and sent to England. Upon arrival he found that all opperational training units were full, and so was sent to the 5th Bn. Grenadier Guards for an Army Operation Course. In September of 1942 he was posted to an operational training unit, and from there to his first operational squadrom at RCAF Station Eastmoor.

Manny completed thirty operational flights over various points in Europe, but on his thirty first, around the 25th or 26th of November in 1943, his Halifax airplane was shot down by a Junkers 88 over Belgium. Manny was wounded in the arm, but he and the other members of the crew managed to bail out, with the exception of the rear gunner, who was killed.
Thus begins Manny's experience on the run in Belgium and Brussels, and his eventual capture and placement in the P.O.W. camp Stalag Luft III and Stalag 3A before finally being repatriated back to Canada 1945. A more detailed history of Manny's wartime experiences is listed in his memoires, "Manny Goes to War: The War Time Memoires of Manuel Raber".

Upon his return to Medicine Hat in 1945, Manny went into a business partnership with his father with the store "Raber's Fabulous Fashions" a department store that sold women's clothes. Manny had five children; Surra Raber Vardi, Avy Raber, Nadine Raber, Brian Raber and Maxine Raber; and five step children Colin Weiss, Shelia Weiss, Dale Weiss, Susan Weiss, and Allan Weiss, with wife Muriel Raber (born: June 20, 1934 died: July 12, 2013).
Manny died October 15, 2012 at the age of 89 years.

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Authority record identifier

MED-778

Institution identifier

Esplanade Archives

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Status

Final

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Dates of creation, revision and deletion

2017-05-02 (ISO 8601)

Language(s)

  • English

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  • EAC

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