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In this entry, I conclude my “dictionary” about World War II.

Conscription: We struggle every day with unity in this country. Canada was called to the colours once again in 1939, and the buzzword was volunteerism. This failed to provide the reinforcements when the going got really tough, and Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s immortal phrase came to mind: “Conscription if necessary, but not necessarily conscription.” Only an astute politician could come up with this kind of wording.

War disabled: When it comes to handing out medals for courage, my vote goes to the seriously disabled by war. They volunteered… They fought valiantly… They came home to be cared for by their loved ones… Rehabilitation was difficult because, despite the sympathetic words of employers, the door was often barred when the personnel officer saw a wooden leg or facial burns or a wheelchair. Because Canadians are the kind of people that they are, most war disabled were readily accepted by their wives and sweethearts, who devoted their lives as caregivers. For them, the war ended only when their precious survivor went on to his last resting place.

In writing of Remembrance, I wanted to avoid all the old clichés (even though most of them are very true). The substance of these entries is to take a number of words which, collectively, spell World War II. Some place names didn’t make it. This was not intentional.

All is not lost. Those who read these entries and say, “What about the munitions worker, slaving away in a factory, making shells – or what about the war brides who came to Canada, giving up their homes, their families, and sometimes even their culture to a new life with a Canadian serviceman?” I wonder how many remember the ESWIC Club. It stood for England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Canada. When they got together, it was sometimes a little bit of the old country and tales of a new life with their Canadian war heroes.

I remember my bookkeeper uncle who used to put on his daily reports to his employer – E&O accepted. For the uninitiated, it meant ‘errors and omissions accepted.’ Now his nephew says to you: If I forgot something, write me care of The War Amps, Ottawa. My education on remembrance is far from complete, but I am still trying after more than 60 years.

In this entry, I will continue with my “dictionary” about World War II:

Malta: Buzz Beurling was a fighter pilot who had the best statistical record. He should be a household name, and we should remember Malta as the “entry point” of our war in the Mediterranean and North Africa.

Sicily and Italy: Mid-1943 – It was a war all on its own, but Canadians led the way, showing ingenuity and developing unusual ways to float vehicles across rivers, climb mountains, carry ammunition with pack mules, and drive the Italian fascists out of the war, and then chase the Germans into the marshes of northern Italy.

World War I battlefields: Passchendaele, Ypres, Vimy. World War II saw the Canadians fighting on ground made hallowed by their forefathers. Not enough is said about the tremendous battles through Belgium which paved the way to the Rhine.

Holland: The Dutch called the Canadians their liberators. The Germans had tormented them for four years, not only starving them but subjecting them to Teutonic rule. No wonder any Canadian is still very welcome in The Netherlands.

Taplow: Reminiscent of all the great Canadian hospitals to which the seriously wounded were flown, often in a vain attempt at lifesaving. Special mention must be made of East Grinstead, which took in the burn cases. The mind pictures the damage done to great-looking guys who were sought after at the high school proms as the prize for the beautiful young Canadian girls of the day.

Métis: Thoughts of Remembrance have failed miserably to focus on the Aboriginals. They came into the army from tar paper shacks. They were among the very best soldiers. When the war was over, Veterans Affairs officials asked them if they would like to be doctors, lawyers or even trades people. They stood little chance in civilian life, firstly because they had difficulty living in an environment populated only by ‘the whites,’ and an education that was light years behind the kids for whom schooling up to any level was available.

Suffield, Alberta: Very much of an afterthought and a story unknown in Canada. It took 60 years for the Government to own up to the fact that it exposed young Canadian soldiers to testing with poisonous gas and other toxic substances. Belatedly, a $24,000 grant was paid, but one cannot excuse the fact that the Government did its best to hide this story from the public for a long, long time, during which many died.

More in next post….

In this entry, I continue with my “dictionary” about World War II.

6 Group at Allerton Park in Yorkshire: By now, Canadians were manning at least 30 percent of the bombers and, by 1943, the Air Forces of the British Commonwealth were taking the war to Germany. Admittedly, some civilians had to be killed. Should anyone start to sympathize, think of what the Luftwaffe had done to Coventry, England in 1940.

Hong Kong: Meanwhile, the Japanese had captured the Canadian forces sent to Hong Kong on an ill-advised plan. Some say it was Prime Minister Mackenzie King’s way of showing his fellow Canadians that there was a sharp end to some of the war effort. Those young Canadians – every last one of them – paid a terrible price. About 290 were killed in the battle when the Japanese attacked; another 260 died because of inhuman prison conditions. The remainder who did get home faced the demon of reintegration – and had an unbelievably tough time in readjusting.

Juno Beach: Most Canadians know about Vimy – April 1917. If we want a rallying point for our thoughts about what Canadians can do and did, there are many combat areas that come to mind. Most veterans seem to settle on Juno Beach as our best reminder of death and sacrifice. The Juno Beach Centre, opened in 2003, is well worth a look. Personally, my thoughts of Juno Beach rest with Laurence Scaife of Mather, Manitoba. He had already lost a brother at Dieppe. I had promoted him to Corporal. I was never the same guy after I saw his dead body lying on the beach. I realized, maybe for the first time, that this bloody war was going to rob us of some very decent guys who were our best friends. When I wrote the mandatory letter to his mother, I realized that his death was a loss to all of Canada. This young man deserved the chance, and he would have succeeded. We all would have benefited.

Mothers: The mothers (and, yes, the fathers, sweethearts, family and friends) of the young servicemen who were in harm’s way showed almost inhuman courage. Ever present in their minds was: would that fateful telegram arrive - - “The Minister of National Defence regrets to advise you…” etc., etc. Recently, I took part in a television debate about the Silver Cross. It was inaugurated by an Order in Council in 1919, as an attempt to assuage the grief of a mother or a widow. Some say, “What about fathers?” I agree that they should have some visible sign that they, too, suffered. Maybe a lapel pin would not be enough, but then I think of the Order of Canada and how it is recognized throughout the world. Very few recipients venture out into public without putting that Order of Canada pin in their lapels. Let us think about a pin which would be worn by that special group – the fathers of the slain. (My dad wore his World War I pin every day of his life, and was buried with it).

Beny-sur-Mer: Canadians are buried in military cemeteries in 75 countries.  We can see the headstones. On some an inscription sent in by a mother or a widow. Example: “Gone but not forgotten.” Personally, I like the one that says, “I never thought our last goodbye would be forever.”  All Canadians should see the name and understand what took place.

Dieppe: A tragedy or a triumph? (Were lessons learned that saved lives later?)

Bedford Basin in Halifax: The place where thousands of merchant ships and their escorts left for voyages of high danger which often led to a horrible death in the icy waters of the mid-Atlantic.

The Canadian prairies: The home of thousands of airports on the flatlands of Canada, where again thousands of young men learned to fly, navigate, aim bombs and fend off enemy fighters from a tiny perplex death trap constructed in various places where enemy fighters might be shot down. Notwithstanding, the losses were great. Please remember this figure: more than 10,000 young men (some say the cream of the crop, because it was tough to get into the Air Force in early recruiting days unless the would-be airman could show an education certificate which would probably guarantee that they could master the intricacies of fighting in modern aircraft).

More in next post….

Some years ago, I was asked by the media to compile some thoughts about how best to make sure that Canadians remember. 

Pilgrimages and speeches help somewhat – but don’t get it done.

Documentaries are helpful – but don’t stand a chance when the tube is showing hysterical (or historical?) films (if you saw The Longest Day, you will remember John Wayne telling the troops to cut down the body of a paratrooper strung up on some overhead wires). Those producing documentaries about the real war find it tough going to get the message across. The feelings left behind by Rambo are shallow – cynical – Hollywood has co-opted this medium (exceptions: Saving Private Ryan and a few really gut-wrenching chronicles of war that tell it like it was, but they are not numerous – in fact, they’re darn well scarce!)

Okay, so as a veteran with a little combat service in one of Canada’s famous regiments (the Royal Winnipeg Rifles) suppose we reduce it to a PowerPoint presentation? Imagine the screen, the still photos and start scrolling.

Here is a dictionary for Canadians about World War II.

Luftwaffe: The well-prepared German air force that bombed the daylights out of Britain and was to be Hitler’s next agenda item after the fall of France. Then along came the men described in Churchill’s immortal words: “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” They were the fighter pilots who practically drove Air Marshal Goerring’s bombers out of the sky, and Hitler’s plans for expansion in our part of the free world were in the ashcan. That was 1941.

U-boats: The idea was to starve Britons and the millions of troops training in that embattled land who posed the threat of invasion across the English Channel. The countermeasures were Canadian corvettes, long-range bombers and defensive measures such as mines sown in the sea lanes. For Hitler, another crushing blow to his plans. That part of the war was in full sway in 1943.

The enlistment depots: Canada had lost 60,000 of her best in World War I. Now, scarcely more than 20 years later, would Canadians volunteer? If you had seen the lineups outside of the enlistment depots, enrolling the eager young Canadians who were willing to leave their jobs (some say they were unemployed and the Forces represented an alternative. Balderdash! Most were employed, albeit at low wages, or still in the educational stream.) Those who drove the German war machine would have been surprised. In fact, there weren’t enough Germans to fill the ranks, so they forced hundreds of foreign nationals into the Wehrmacht. The elite and the downright sub-humans went into the SS.

More in the next post…