Humble background to Hero.

Andrew Charles Mynarski was born in Winnipeg on October 14, 1916 the son of recent Polish immigrants. He had five other siblings, two brothers and three sisters.
He was educated at King Edward and Isacc Newton Elementary Schools and at the St John's Technical School. To help support his family after his father's death when he was 16, he worked as a chamois cutter for a furrier in Winnipeg. Andrew was good withhis hands and later built furniture and modles in a basement workshop.
In 1940 he joined the Royal Winnipeg Rifles that were a militia unit but served for only a short time. In September 1941 he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was posted to No3 Manning Depot in Edmonton. After initiation he went to No2 Wireless School in Calgary but had trouble learning morse code.
He was then posted to No3 Bomb and Gunnery School at MacDonald, Manitoba, graduating just before Christmas as an air-gunner earning his AG "Wing". He was promoted to temporay Sergeant in Halifax just prior to going overseas in January 1942.