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My diary shows that, in December of 1943, the Royal Winnipeg Rifles had an important visitor. We were stationed in Wykehurst Park near Tunbridge Wells in England. The visitor was a civilian liaison officer whose name was Hendrik Larsen.

Larsen’s mission was to study battle drill tactics of the Canadian Army. The visit was top secret. He was to return to Sweden and run a special training school for Norwegian volunteers who were living illegally in Sweden. I found out (but only after the war) that he was an officer in the Swedish army.

During his time with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, we became close friends. You can imagine my surprise, though, when, a year or so after the war was over, I had another visit from the same former officer who came to see me in Ottawa. We began correspondence.

He wanted to spread the word that, although the Swedish government was neutral, the many Swedish people were on our side.

Some of the ways were as follows:

1. Swedish operatives managed to fly out Norwegian and Allied fliers who had been interned in Sweden.

2. The Swedish and Norwegian undergrounds worked closely together. The objective was to supply the Norwegians with guns, explosives and trained Norwegian troops.

3. One of the more daring methods of transportation was to put interned fliers who had escaped the Germans into tank cars on the Stockholm-Oslo railway. The Swedes had worked out a system where those escaping inside the tankers were placed in diving suits with the front of the helmet unscrewed. At Oslo, the train pulled into a siding. The travellers got out and went about their business. The operation was not without great danger for the Swedes, and they did indeed lose a considerable number of their own underground helpers.

4. As the war progressed, there were many British, American and Norwegians uniforms on Swedish planes. This was another way of arranging to get the internees back to Norway, and from Norway to the United Kingdom.

5. Some members of the Swedish Air Force reported German convoys along the Swedish and Norwegian coasts.

6. Hendrik told me about a special operation where police troops and two hospital units from northern Sweden had been sent to Kirkenes in Norway to participate in actions against Germans. He described this as a ‘full military operation.’ The planes came to Stockholm in Sweden with U.S. military markings. They landed at night and carried on their flights to Norway and even to Russia.

My friend Hendrik was very anxious to get his story out and had been interviewed by a number of American magazine writers. These interviews were in the late 1960s.

My radio interview yesterday about our Multiple Amputation Seminar brings to mind an appeal letter I am currently drafting.  It ties in with computers and the Olympics –

I had an e-mail from a mother who has a seven-year-old who lost the battle with the dreaded ‘flesh eating’ disease.

The attack cost the daughter the loss of two legs.

By the way, the mother was (as usual) upbeat. No self-pity in this family, just unabashed courage.

Now here’s where the story gets interesting. The mother is an ardent chess player. Taking The War Amps message to heart, she believes that the computer is the ‘great equalizer’ for youngsters with multiple amputations. She wanted to know if we would assist her to buy chess practising software because the daughter was beating her every time they had a match! We, of course, were happy to comply.

This request came to us in the middle of the Beijing Olympics. It has become very apparent that computers have entered the Olympic scene in almost every sport. For our world-renowned athletes, the message is clear. The computer is, for them also, the great equalizer.

During the past two years, the seriously disabled in our Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program have been able to attend our WEBMASTERS sessions. They feature the use of computers and point the way for these “Super Champs,” right up to the day they will need independence – meaning jobs, self-respect and all that the employment market offers. With the help of Canadians everywhere, we can offer advanced training for them.

I couldn’t help wondering whether it was the youngster or her mother who wanted the practise program. She says she was tired of her precocious daughter saying checkmate! She hopes the computer will represent more opposition for her chess partner.

Our programs are listed in the margin on this letter.

Thanks for everything.

Cliff Chadderton

This past weekend, The War Amps held a seminar for “Super Champs” – that is, children missing three or more limbs, or both upper limbs. It is a way to address the issues that these children with the most serious disabilities face in a more in-depth way than we can at our regular Child Amputee seminars, all with the goal of putting them on the road to independence.

I was delighted to be interviewed last night by Geoff Currier of CJOB Radio in Winnipeg about the seminar.  The transcript can be read here.

Embarked 4,963

Killed  907 (18%)

Wounded 2,460 (50%)

Taken prisoner 1,874 (30%) 

“The only thing more melancholy than a battle won is a battle lost.”

 Duke of Wellington