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Earlier this month, a new headstone was dedicated in Riverside Cemetery in Thunder Bay to mark the final resting place of World War I artist Mary Riter Hamilton.

As noted in this article, her paintings of Europe’s postwar battlefields have been compared to the Group of Seven.

Copied below is a letter to the editor that I submitted to the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, which appears in today’s edition.

A REMARKABLE STORY

Monday, September 29, 2008

We would like to our extend our congratulations to all of those involved with the dedication of a headstone for First World War artist Mary Riter Hamilton at Riverside Cemetery (”Marking her place/Local groups dedicate headstone for artist,” Sept. 14).

As noted in the article, she was commissioned by The War Amps in 1919 to travel to Belgium and France to record the devastation of the battlefields on canvas. She donated her paintings in 1926 to what was then the Public Archives of Canada in memory of the Canadians killed in the First World War, and to be used for the benefit of veterans, their families and future generations.

Since 1989, The War Amps has collaborated with Library and Archives Canada to have showings of the paintings across Canada, including an exhibit at the Thunder Bay Historical Museum in 2001. 

The remarkable story of Mary Riter Hamilton is told in our internationally award-winning documentary “No Man‘s Land,” which is available at a cost-recovery price of $11 by calling toll-free 1 800-250-3030, faxing toll-free at 1 800-219-8988 or visiting waramps.ca.

Cliff Chadderton
Chief Executive Officer
The War Amps
Ottawa

It seems to me, the first serious reading the school kids of the 1930’s did about the First World War was John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields.” Then, bit by bit, we heard stories from men who had been at the Front and had served in major campaigns such as:

· the Battle of Ypres (1915)

· the Battle of the Somme (1916)

· Vimy Ridge (1917)

Unfortunately (up until now) there has been an abject shortage of reading and film material on Passchendaele. Fortunately, this coming October will see the release of a new Passchendaele feature film by Paul Gross.

Paul has written about the film for the official Web site which can be found here.

Just a few highlights about Passchendaele follow:

· The battle for Passchendaele claimed 1,000,000 casualties on both sides. One soldier said: “If hell is anything like Passchendaele, I would not wish it on my worst enemy.”

· Passchendaele has become synonymous with the horrors of the First World War.

· On November 6, 1917, the Canadians took the village of Passchendaele and, on November 10, they reached Hill 52 where they dug in, bringing victory to the Allied Cause.

· Canada sent more than 600,000 men to the crucible of the Western Front. In fact, of all the Allied armies, the Canadians were most feared by the enemy, so feared the Germans coined the word ‘storm-trooper’ to refer to us.

· British Prime Minister Lloyd George summed it up when he said, “Whenever the Germans found the Canadian Corps coming into the line, they prepared for the worst.”

· The Fighting 10th from Calgary was commanded by General Dan Ormond. He said of them: “There may have been equally good fighting units, but there was never one any better.”

In this blog, I proudly point to the forthcoming release of the Passchendaele film. It is a MUST-SEE for students, and those who study and revere Canadian military history. In fact, it is a must-see for all Canadians.

In June, I noted that we were working on a case regarding Kenneth Barwise, a decorated Korean War veteran and a celebrated hero of the Battle of Kapyong.

Peter Worthington of The Toronto Sun wrote a column detailing how Mr. Barwise’s step-daughter, who cared for him until his death, was left with funeral expenses she couldn’t afford. She applied to the Last Post Fund, which operates under Veterans Affairs Canada. Their Penticton representative turned the case down on the grounds that the funeral expenses could be paid from his estate. Unfortunately there was no estate, and his step-daughter then signed a contract with the funeral director to meet the costs of nearly $7,000. Barwise was a double-leg amputee. Accordingly, The War Amps paid these outstanding costs in this case as a humanitarian gesture.

Mr. Worthington has written an update column this week regarding an appeal that we filed through the National Council of Veteran Associations with the Veterans Affairs Minister in July.

TELUS, one of Canada’s leading telecommunications companies, maintains as an important part of its mission and culture a long-standing tradition to give where they live and be actively involved in each of the many communities it serves.

Recently, TELUS presented The War Amps with a cheque for $11,000 to go toward our Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program. This was as a result of its employee giving program, in which funds raised and charitable time given by TELUS employees is matched by the company through its annual Dollars for Dollars program.

Three-year-old Dante, a left leg amputee, helped me accept the cheque at our National Headquarters in Ottawa.