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In remembrance Poppies placed by attendees after the 2019 Remembrance Day ceremony begin to blanket the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. This tradition started spontaneously on the first Remembrance Day following the tombâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s installation in 2000. See page 52

Marc Fowler and Lindsay Chamaillard/Metropolis Studio

Features 20 THE PHONEY WAR Very little ighting took place on the Western Front in the irst eight months of the Second World War By J.L. Granatstein

28 LETTERS TO MOM Radio operator Allan Wallace Coburn faithfully wrote to his mother in Manitoba through almost four years of war By Allan Wallace Coburn and Sharon Adams

36 INDIGENOUS WAR HEROES, PART 2 Code talkers, gunners, oicers, rangers— thousands of First Nations, Métis and Inuit people enlisted in the Second World War and served in every theatre and branch of the armed forces By Sharon Adams

44 THE CHILDREN’S INVASION Thousands of schoolchildren were brought to Canada between 1939 and 1941 to escape the bombing and possible invasion of Britain By Valerie Knowles

THIS PHOTO Dusk falls on the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Nov. 11, 2019. Marc Fowler and Lindsay Chamaillard/Metropolis Studio

ON THE COVER A girl waits with her luggage before leaving London for Canada in May 1940. David Savill/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images/3355787

52 PRIDE AND DIGNITY Remembrance Day in Ottawa By Stephen J. Thorne

55 FOUR VETERANS AND A CEREMONY Remembrance Day in North Battleford, Sask. By Jennifer Morse

COLUMNS 12

MILITARY HEALTH MATTERS Ten years of research yields results By Sharon Adams

FRONT LINES Assault pioneers make a comeback By Stephen J. Thorne

EYE ON DEFENCE Growing use of submarines By David J. Bercuson

FACE TO FACE Is the North Warning System obsolete? By Andrea Charron and Ernie Regehr

CANADA AND THE NEW COLD WAR The Arctic and us By J.L. Granatstein

HUMOUR HUNT More bang for the buck By John Ward

HEROES AND VILLAINS Elsie MacGill and Willy Messerschmitt By Mark Zuehlke

ARTIFACTS The winged ship By Sharon Adams

O CANADA The RCMP turns 100 By Don Gillmor

DEPARTMENTS 4 7 10 59 74 87 87

EDITORIAL LETTERS ON THIS DATE IN THE NEWS SNAPSHOTS MARKETPLACE LOST TRAILS

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

EDITORIAL

Cutting through the paperwork S peaking to representatives of veterans’ groups in November, Veterans Ombudsman Craig Dalton admitted his oice has had a low proile since his appointment in November 2018. That was partly his getting to know the job, but also because there was an election; he had to hold of until there was a new government in place. While he has a number of reports in draft stages, which will be released in the coming year, he spoke in general terms of the complexity of forms and paperwork veterans or their representatives have to sift through in order to get the veterans the beneits to which they are entitled. Veterans Afairs Canada serves thousands of older veterans under the Pension Act, while those who applied for beneits after 2006 are served under the New Veterans Charter, which has evolved into the Veterans Well-being IT IS TIME FOR THE Act. Then in April Pension for Life NEW GOVERNMENT 2019, was introduced. This TO LOOK AT has left diferent vetTHESE PROBLEMS erans under diferent AS A WHOLE. regimes, each with diferent beneits. Frustration with the process and the paperwork was certainly evident in Legion Magazine’s recent Veterans Beneits Survey (see page 64). “There are too many forms to ill,” wrote one survey respondent. “There is duplication of services between civilian doctors and VAC doctors, who always reduce the severity of the medical condition…. Every two years, civilian doctors must ill in paperwork repeating that a chronic medical condition has not miraculously disappeared.” The amount of paperwork required for

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

veterans’ beneits leads to long delays. The turnaround time to process a claim only starts with the Service Standard Start Date (SSSD), which is the date that all required information has been received by the department. Depending on the claim type, this may include a completed application, validation of identity and documentation indicating the diagnosis of the condition. Once the SSSD is reached, it is not unusual for a claim to take months to be processed. “The timeline for everything is excruciating long,” wrote one respondent. “A basic disability award can take two years to be accepted after denials and appeals. The medical system in the military is atrocious and documentation is not always the best. It is hell to prove some things occurred during service, especially if misdiagnosed.” “It takes months to process claims,” wrote another. “The application requires a high degree of literacy in order to answer thoughtfully.” And frustration is heightened when one veteran compares what he receives under one program to what another veteran receives in a diferent program. There is no obvious solution to these problems, but it is time for the new government to look at them as a whole. This has been done before, with commissions headed by James Ralston in 1924 and by Mervyn Woods in 1968. It is time to do it again. Dalton said the focus should be more on outcome than on process. A new group should examine all the veterans’ beneits programs and make recommendations for a new approach that will treat all veterans under one system which can be adapted to the needs of each individual. We urge Dalton to press Veterans Afairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay to resolve this issue. L

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United States: Legion Magazine, USPS 000-117, ISSN 1209-4331, published six times per year (January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, November/December). Published by Canvet Publications, 866 Humboldt Pkwy., Bufalo, NY 14211-1218. Periodicals postage paid at Bufalo, NY. The annual subscription rate is $9.49 Cdn. The single copy price is $5.95 Cdn. plus shipping and handling. Circulation records are maintained at Adrienne and Associates, 866 Humboldt Pkwy., Bufalo, NY 14211-1218. U.S. Postmasters send covers only and address changes to Legion Magazine, PO Box 55, Niagara Falls, NY 14304.

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We acknowledge the inancial support of the Government of Canada. Version française disponible. On occasion, we make our direct subscriber list available to carefully screened companies whose product or services we feel would be of interest to our subscribers. If you would rather not receive such ofers, please state this request, along with your full name and address, and e-mail magazine@legion.ca or write to Legion Magazine, 86 Aird Place, Kanata ON K2L 0A1 or phone 613-591-0116.

LETTERS

Comments can be sent to: Letters, Legion Magazine, 86 Aird Place, Kanata, ON K2L 0A1 or e-mailed to: magazine@ legion.ca

Chopper article

appreciated MY

thanks to Legion Magazine, Marc Milner and Stephen Thorne for the excellent article, “Chopper Mission” (November/December). As a former light commander, chief instructor and commanding oicer of 403 Squadron in the 1970s, my interest in this article would not be surprising. I was proud to serve in 403 and proud to read about the squadron’s record in combat operations, and the obvious state of operational readiness today. I was particularly interested in the comment about 40 maintainers working day and night to keep eight Grifons lying in Afghanistan. Often the work of our maintainers is overlooked. This was a great article and I am grateful for it. FRED ZEGGIL, STITTSVILLE, ONT.

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Using the troops as guinea pigs Regarding “Efects of meloquine use still questioned” (November/ December), the drug was being used on these troops before it was approved and without their consent. They were ordered to do so. Side efects now are rampant throughout the military because they continued to use the drug on our troops in Afghanistan, Rwanda, etc. This is typical military BS: Use the troops as guinea pigs and damn the consequences. My son never came home from Somalia, but in reading his letters home, I could tell there was something wrong. Now I am beginning to understand what. Please note the Somalia mission was December 1992 to June 1993, not 1993-94. DIANA ABEL, BRAMPTON, ONT.

No mention of HMCS Kootenay On Oct. 23, 1969, as a young ordinary seaman or “sparker” on board HMCS Bonaventure, I had the misfortune to witness the horriic damage caused to HMCS Kootenay after the engine room explosion, which killed nine sailors.

I was disappointed to see that there was no mention of this in the latest issue of Legion Magazine, to remember this event of 50 years ago. Even “On this date” which lists events for the month of October had no mention of this incident. I know that I will never forget. DAVE GALLANT, WELLINGTON, P.E.I.

Wrong to rewrite history I was quite surprised to see Tom MacGregor’s article on Chief Poundmaker (“Cree chief exonerated after 1885 conviction,” September/October). History is being rewritten all across our country to suit the new agenda that is driven by activist groups in our so-called enlightened era. If you research this properly, you will see that there is not a clear consensus at all about this incident but it is typical of this current government’s rush at so-called reconciliation. We have a prime minister who runs across our country looking for things to apologize for, distorting and trying to rewrite our history. This is very political and I feel as a longtime member of the Legion and reader of Legion Magazine that this should not be supported in any way. NEIL MATHESON, CRANBROOK, B.C.

HMCS Kootenay (DDE258) was a Restigouche-class destroyer which had an explosion in its gearbox on Oct. 23, 1969, while on exercises of the coast of England. Nine sailors died in what is the Royal Canadian Navy’s worst peacetime accident.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

Athenia survivors I was 12 years old when the Second World War started in September 1939. We lived next door to Bob and Rennie Gray in what was then Swansea, now part of western Toronto. My parents were immigrants and the Grays had also come from England to start a new life. While Rennie and my mother became close friends, both had trouble adapting to the Canadian way of life and returned quite regularly to spend the summer months with family. Rennie was in England when war was declared. Returning to Canada, Rennie was on SS Athenia when it was sunk (“The sinking of SS Athenia,” September/ October). She was a survivor but as I remember, Rennie was not the same person. Withdrawn and not willing to talk about her experiences, she became housebound. ROBERT PATRICK ONIONS, HANOVER, ONT.

The sinking of SS Athenia was very interesting to me. I was raised on a ranch southwest of Calgary and our family was good friends of the Gadsby family who lived in Calgary. Elizabeth and Bill Gadsby and their young son Bill would often visit our ranch in the 1930s. Elizabeth went back to England to visit her sister in the later months of 1938 and took young Bill with her. Their return was on the Athenia and both became survivors of the famous sinking. Son Bill became a professional hockey player with the Chicago Black Hawks, New York Rangers

Royal Canadian Navy

SOCIAL SIGNALS What’s trending for Legion Magazine and Detroit Red Wings. He made his home in Detroit after retiring from the National Hockey League. ROY FOSTER, WETASKIWIN, ALTA.

Remembering like the Dutch As a Legion member, I look forward to receiving Legion Magazine. The articles are always well written and informative. “Opening the estuary” by Mark Zuehlke (September/October) was an example. My wife was born in the postwar Netherlands. She often heard stories from her mother about the suferings of the Dutch during the wartime German occupation. She learned from her father about his fearful experiences having been sent to Germany as forced labour. A few years ago, I was able to accompany my wife on her return to the Netherlands. We visited Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery, where I observed a couple of young men tenderly caring for the cemetery and each of the graves. I went to one of them and told him that as a Canadian, I was thankful for what they did to maintain the memories of those brave young Canadians. “We have to,” he said, “We owe them for our freedom.” We all should remember them proudly, as do the Dutch. BRAD SELTZER, STRATFORD, ONT.

Correction The article “Rainbow veterans seeking recognition” (November/ December) should have noted the Rainbow Veterans of Canada is a non-proit volunteer-run organization for CAF veterans who identify as LGBTQ2S. The group does not include former members of the RCMP or the public service.

Jean Halstead Those pictures tell the whole story! It makes us Canadians so proud of our men and women who went to Europe and gave up their lives for us. They will never be forgotten. We will remember them every day for the freedom we have. Comment on: “A tour to remember” (November/December) Paige Runolfson Thank you all for your service. You all are the best of some incredible Indigenous brothers and sisters. Comment on: “Indigenous war heroes” (November/December) Heather MacPherson I’m sorry but while parliamentarians keep bickering about what they should do for those afected by meloquine or quinism, people will continue to die by suicide. There are possible treatments for those who were afected by meloquine but trying to get help from Veterans Afairs Canada is like pulling teeth! Not everyone who took meloquine will have a severe reaction or long-lasting mentalhealth issues but for those who do, there needs to be immediate solutions now, not when government gets around to it. Comment on: “Efects of meloquine use still questioned” (November/December)

Joseph Burke As Chief Poundmaker’s action was part of the Northwest Rebellion, should military units that were there take this battle honour of their colours? I know some say that would be revising history, I think, in this case, it is the right thing to do. In museums, the units afected could change it from a battle honour to a police action, which do not get honoured on lags and standards. Comment on: “Cree chief exonerated after 1885 conviction” (September/October) War In Pieces @Legion_Magazine released a sombre video looking back at D-Day and Juno Beach. As we turn our attention to Nov. 11, this video is a good reminder of what our soldiers faced on June 6, 1944. Comment on: “Military Moments: D-Day” narrated by Barry Pepper

Lise Quirt I had the honour of visiting the Netherlands in September for the 75th anniversary of the liberation along with our Algonquin Regiment and veterans. The Dutch people are gracious and kind. These war cemeteries are so touching and humbling. #wewillrememberthem. Comment on: “Opening the estuary” (September/October)

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legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

ON THIS DATE

January

2 January 1942 Cabinet approves a $1-billion gift of war supplies from Canada to Britain. 3 January 1947 Prime Minister Mackenzie King becomes Canada’s irst citizen in the initial citizenship ceremony after passage of the Canadian Citizenship Act. 4 January 1951 Communists occupy Seoul, South Korea, and a new UN front line is established south of the city. 5 January 1945 Flying Oicer Norman Pearce of Portage la Prairie, Man., destroys six enemy vehicles while serving with 73 Squadron, RAF. 7 January 2009 Trooper Brian Richard Good is killed and three other Canadian soldiers wounded by an IED blast north of Kandahar, Afghanistan. 9 January 1889 The Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge dislodges during a storm and collapses into the river.

23 January 1953 Flight Lieutenant Ernie Glover receives the irst peacetime Distinguished Flying Cross awarded to RCAF personnel. 13 January 1943 Canadian corvette HMCS Ville de Québec sinks U-224 in the western Mediterranean. 14 January 1952 HMCS Uganda, the only Canadian warship to ight the Japanese, is reactivated for the Korean War and recommissioned as HMCS Quebec. 16 January 1961 The Canada-India nuclear plant goes online, provided to India under the Colombo Plan, the Asia-Paciic human resources development program.

Operation Desert Storm is launched against Iraqi forces occupying Kuwait. 18 January 2015 RCAF CF-18s bomb ISIS ighters northwest of Mosul, Iraq.

20 January 1899 10 January 1920

26-31 January 1945 In just six days, three regiments (the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada and South Alberta Regiment) sufer 291 casualties in the wintry Battle of Kapelsche Veer in the Netherlands.

17 January 1991

19 January 1989 Heather Erxleben passes the 16-week Regular Force infantry trades training course at CFB Wainwright in Alberta, making her Canada’s irst female combat soldier.

Drafted in 1919, the Treaty of Versailles takes efect, formally ending the First World War. It redraws the map of Europe and imposes punitive economic reparations on Germany.

24 January 1932 During a rebellion in El Salvador, HMCS Skeena and HMCS Vancouver send armed landing parties ashore at Acajutla to protect British subjects.

The irst of 7,500 paciist Doukhobors arrive from Russia to settle on free homesteads in Saskatchewan, part of a federal plan to populate the Prairies.

27 January 2004 Corporal Jamie Brendan Murphy is killed and three other soldiers wounded by a suicide bomber in Kabul, Afghanistan. 29 January 1856 Queen Victoria issues a warrant establishing the Victoria Cross.

February 1 February 1911 Royal Canadian Naval Service recruitment posters go up in post oices across Canada. 2 February 2003 HMCS Regina joins the Canadian Naval Task Group, part of the international anti-terrorism campaign in the Persian Gulf. 3 February 1942 The Canadian Women’s Auxiliary Air Force is renamed the RCAF Women’s Division. 5 February 1980 Second World War spymaster Sir William Stephenson, who was born in Winnipeg, is invested in the Order of Canada. 6 February 1952 King George VI dies. His daughter Elizabeth ascends to the British throne. 7 February 1945

Visit legionmagazine.com for a full list of monthly On This Date events.

9-11 February 1915 First Canadian Division crosses to France from England. 10 February 1946 Four hundred war brides arrive in Halifax on the ocean liner RMS Mauritania. By 1948, more than 44,000 women and nearly 21,000 children came to Canada, mostly from Britain. 11 February 1869 Patrick James Whelan (LEFT) is hanged for the assassination of Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the Fathers of Confederation. 13 February 1969 The Front de libération du Québec bombs the Montreal Stock Exchange, injuring 27. 16 February 1944 In Burma, a wounded Major Charles Hoey leads his company under heavy machine-gun ire to capture a vital position; he is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

22 February 1943 Canadian corvette HMCS Weyburn hits a mine and sinks near Gibraltar. 23 February 2012 Sergeant Joseph Poulin is awarded a Medal of Military Valour for bravery by placing his tank in dangerous positions to protect civilians, coalition comrades and Afghan security forces during road construction in Afghanistan.

25 February 1942 RMS Queen Elizabeth is reitted as a troopship capable of carrying 15,000.

17 February 1932 The Mad Trapper of Rat River, Albert Johnson, is killed in a shootout with RCMP following a 240-kilometre, 48-day manhunt in the Yukon. 18 February 1942 Newfoundlanders rescue 185 from U.S. warships driven onto the rocks in a storm; 203 perish. British, American and Russian leaders meet at an undisclosed location near the Black Sea to decide on the inal phase of the war against Germany.

20 February 2004 Canada pledges $5 million in aid and joins a multinational mission to stabilize growing violence in Haiti.

8 February 1948 The RCAF Flyers win Olympic gold and are declared world amateur ice hockey champions at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

CWM; Wikimedia; LAC; Sharif Tarabay; George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

28 February 1991 Following Iraqi defeat and retreat from Kuwait, U.S. President George H.W. Bush announces a ceaseire and Operation Desert Storm, the combat phase of the Persian Gulf War, ends.

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

MILITARY HEALTH MATTERS

By Sharon Adams

Ten years of research

yields results T

he 10th anniversary of the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research forum provides an opportunity to look back— and to look forward. A decade ago, nobody had yet counted the number of homeless veterans or veterans’ suicides in Canada; today there are robust programs tackling both—and involving the whole of society, including government departments, civilian agencies and veterans’ advocacy organizations such as The Royal Canadian Legion. Similar leaps in knowledge have been made on every front, from diagnosis to treatment to prevention, for serving members of the military, veterans, RCMP and their families. CIMVHR has grown into a network of 1,700 researchers at dozens of universities, research institutes and government departments, tackling subjects massive and mundane, which individually and cumulatively have had an impact on military and veterans’ health. Research makes it possible to determine how many people are afected by a particular health concern. Study of large groups of subjects has shown which treatments are proven to deliver the best overall treatment results. Finer and iner dicing of data has brought us to the point where it will soon be possible to know which treatment or medication works best for a subgroup of people with a particular set of genes or a particular set of symptoms. In future it may be possible to bring

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

that down to the individual level— truly personalized medicine. Progress is being made even on problems that have so far deied solution, including one project funded in part by the Legion. Blood loss is a leading cause of preventable death on the battleield. Even with prompt care, wounded soldiers may bleed to death before reaching surgery or die of hemorrhagic shock, a cascade of organ and system failure due to loss of blood volume and lack of oxygen. Applying pressure and repairing damaged vessels is the solution, but it may not be possible on the battleield to staunch blood loss from large or complex wounds—to the abdomen, for example, where pressure cannot be applied. And when is there time, on a battleield, for surgery?

Now in development are three mechanical devices for use while a soldier is rushed from battleield to surgery: tiny balloons that can be inserted into arteries to stop bleeding from vessels downstream; expandable foam that can be administered on large abdominal wounds to exert pressure to stop bleeds; and an abdominal tourniquet to stop blood low to the pelvis and lower extremities to slow or stop massive bleeding from complex wounds from, for example, improvised explosive devices. Parallel research is looking at ways to stop the bleeding right where the blood vessel is damaged, including that of a team at the University of British Columbia which includes Massimo Cau, who was awarded the 2018 Legion Masters Scholarship. A number of agents have been

Cpl. Ken Beliwicz/Combat Camera/TM01-2018-0151-26

Members of a CAF force protection team assist a simulated casualty during an exercise in Mali in December 2018.

developed to speed blood clotting, but severe blood low can wash away coagulating agents, and in large wounds it’s diicult to reach all the damaged blood vessels, said Christian Kastrup, an assistant professor of biochemistry. The UBC team has developed porous micro-particles that bind with a clotting agent. The particles also contain carbon carbonate, which produces carbon dioxide on contact with blood—similar to the familiar izz of an antacid tablet plopped into water—and propels the particles where needed. Experiments showed the selfpropelled particles are efective, increasing the survival rate of animals with a femoral artery hemorrhage to 100 per cent, from just 40 per cent when the particles were merely embedded in gauze applied to the surface of the wound. The substance is yet to be tested on humans. Cau is working on a way to incorporate the micro-particles into uniforms of combat soldiers, perhaps by spray-coating the inside of clothing, or through a network of tiny tubes. Large amounts of the substance can be embedded without risk to the wearer, he said in his presentation, and it does not need a medic to begin to work. If embedded in uniforms, the substance automatically begins working when it comes into contact with blood. Alternately, it could be triggered by soldiers themselves or battle buddies—or medics at a remote location. In 2012, Canada was awarded the Dominique-Jean Larrey Award for the remarkable 98 per cent survival rate of NATO casualties in Afghanistan who made it to the hospital under Canadian command, a feat attributable in part to such innovative research, said CAF epidemiologist Robert Hawes. But research shows that 60 per cent of medical cases in Afghanistan were not caused by the enemy, but by collisions, falls and occupational

injuries. This not only underscores “the need to deploy multidisciplinary and specialty (medical) teams into combat zones—general-duty medical oicers and nurses, social workers and psychiatrists, occupational therapists and others,” but reveals targets for future research that can

result in improvements to screening methods, hygiene regimes and safety protocols that can reduce the number of evacuations from theatre for non-battleield injuries. The CIMVHR network is not going to run short of subjects to research any time soon. L

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FRONT LINES

By Stephen J.Thorne

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Assault pioneers make a comeback in Canada AN

age-old military tradition has returned to the Canadian Army just a few years after it was abandoned. Assault pioneers—long-known as the bearded, leather-aproned, axe-bearing innovators whose jobs originated with the Roman legions—are making a comeback, albeit with some modern twists. Attached to infantry units, they have typically been responsible for manual labour and light engineering work such as road-clearing (hence, the axe) and specialized explosives work, making way for assault troops to proceed with their lethal tasks. Usually about 10 men strong, they are the MacGyvers of the infantry units, coming up with novel solutions to unique problems or obstructions that usually impede the progress of the main body of troops.

The British army’s Royal Pioneer Corps deines the pioneer as a skilled worker who “leads the way, embraces a purpose, tough of spirit, far-sighted, and adventurous; the person who will prepare the way for an advancing army.” Imbued with their own special esprit de corps, assault pioneers typically trace their roots to ancient Rome, before full-ledged combat engineers, when the Roman legions needed parties to venture ahead to secure and clear the army’s advance, often under hairy conditions. Pioneers appear in the pay and muster rolls of the British Garrison at Calais in 1346. By the 1600s,

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

Two Canadian assault pioneers with the NATO force in Kosovo in 1999.

pioneer contingents under their own command were attached to the artillery and, later, the 7th of Foot (Royal Fusiliers). By 1739, the Foot Guards had organized and maintained a detachment. The Black Watch and other infantry regiments followed. By the 18th century, British infantry battalions were detailing sections or squads of pioneers under the command of a corporal or sergeant. Their main tasks were to perform or supervise heavy construction work. Canadian forces ighting the First World War in Europe had at least a half-dozen pioneer battalions, including the 2nd Canadian Pioneer Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, which distributed more than 1,000 men among infantry units. The 3rd Canadian Pioneer Battalion (48th Canadians) was

DND

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IT WAS ASSAULT PIONEERS WHO DID THE SO-CALLED “MOUSE-HOLING” IN ORTONA, ITALY. attached to the 3rd Canadian Division; the 67th Western Scots (Pioneer Battalion) joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in 1916 and the 123rd Infantry Battalion was repurposed as a pioneer battalion in January 1917. It replaced the 3rd the following May as the pioneer battalion of the 3rd Canadian Division. The 124th Infantry Battalion was also repurposed and became the pioneer battalion of the 4th Canadian Division. During the Second World War, it was assault pioneers who did the so-called “mouse-holing” in Ortona, Italy, blasting through the interior walls connecting Italian houses so combat troops could

make their way up streets out of sight of waiting German snipers. There are numerous stories of how the tradition of facial hair among combat pioneers came to be, prominent among them the assertion that their Roman commanders excused them from shaving because they had to be up and on their way in darkness, well ahead of the traditional infantryman. “In theory at least, the principal distinction of the pioneer was his axe, apron and his beard, the only soldiers allowed to be unshaven in the otherwise clean-shaven army,” wrote Roland Wardle, a re-enactor pioneer in a War of 1812-era

regiment. “The wearing of the beard was a privilege, because their task was considered so arduous in warfare. Away from the regiment and the niceties of formal camp life, they were permitted facial hair. “However, it may have relected the simple fact that because they formed the advance party, usually setting of before dawn, shaving in the dark was hardly a practical proposition. Like so many other privileges in the army, it soon became a requirement and even today, it is expected of the regimental pioneer sergeant that he will grow a suitably impressive beard. “In practice, however, beards were probably much more widely worn on active service than contemporary illustrations suggest.” In British army tradition, units on parade are led by a bushybearded pioneer sergeant wearing his leather apron and carrying an axe over his shoulder.

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Bearded assault pioneers served with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan, but in the post-Cold War era, army planners eventually deemed the job redundant and not cost-eicient, so the pioneers were disbanded and their tasks handed of to combat engineer regiments. Captain Colton Morris, an instructor at the Canadian Army’s infantry school in Oromocto, N.B., helped design a new assault pioneer course. He told The Maple Leaf, the CAF’s newspaper, that senior leaders have since come back to the idea that pioneers are a good investment for the evolving army. “Engineers have a huge envelope of things that they’re

responsible for,” Morris said. “And without the assault pioneers, they’ve been saying, ‘we have many tasks and in order for us to maintain all those skills, we’re running ourselves ragged.’ “Engineers and assault pioneers complement each other.” The pioneers’ role in Afghanistan actually reairmed their value as the military shifted its emphasis to lighter, more mobile, nimble and agile forces. The former army chief, Lieutenant-General Paul Wynnyk said the “new version of the assault pioneers will assist in maintaining mobility in complex terrain. “So that means in mountains and, particularly now, in urban

environments where skills like breaching come into play,” he said. “Right now, that task is solely held by the engineers. They have to do things like fortify buildings, clear roadways, move obstructions and all sorts of other stuf. They don’t have the personnel to augment the infantry.” The army is ofering an assault pioneer course to infantry soldiers in both the regular and reserve forces. “The intention is to increase retention,” Morris said. “By bringing the assault pioneers back, we open up other options for privates, corporals, junior leaders—and even oicers—to expand their breadth of experience.” L

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EYE ON DEFENCE

By David J. Bercuson

Growing use of submarines W hether we like it or not, many maritime countries are currently engaged in a submarine arms race that has ramped up considerably since the return of Russia to an ofensive military posture at least a decade ago, the expansion and modernization of the Chinese navy, and the acquisition of modern dieselelectric submarines by nations as diverse as Australia and Chile. Some 40 nations currently operate more than 500 submarines; 141 of these are nuclear powered, the rest are conventional dieselelectric. North Korea is believed to have 72 subs, all conventionally powered. China has 58, with 18 nuclear powered. The United States has 70, all of which are nuclear powered and many are of the large “boomer” class that can launch missiles with ranges of at least 3,000 kilometres. Russia is believed to have 61,

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

with 39 nuclear-powered and the rest diesel-electric. Some of the Russian submarine leet is approaching obsolescence, dating back to the Cold War, but Russia is also building new vessels supposedly armed with new super-fast torpedoes and hypersonic cruise missiles. Canada has four conventionally powered submarines—the Victoria class—designed and built in Britain in the 1980s as the Upholder class and acquired by Canada in the late 1990s. After their acquisition, these submarines had considerable teething problems, including a ire aboard one that killed a Canadian sailor in 2004. Other problems included damaged hulls, problems with electrical systems and torpedo ire-control issues. Ottawa has spent hundreds of millions of dollars repairing and upgrading these vessels on top of the so-called bargain purchase price of $750 million.

In the past few years, these submarines have inally achieved operational readiness. In 2018, HMCS Chicoutimi spent 197 days patrolling in Paciic and Asian waters, while HMCS Windsor was deployed to the Mediterranean Sea. These boats do give Canada a minimal submarine capability. Early in 2019, the government announced a multi-billion-dollar upgrade to extend the life of the four submarines. Without the upgrades, the subs would be due to retire over a span from 2022 to 2027. The story of Canada’s submarines parallels the story of Canada’s CF-18 ighter jets. These were originally acquired in the 1980s but vast amounts of money have kept them lying well beyond their “best before” date. Canada has begun a new ighter acquisition program, but the CF-18s will have to keep lying, possibly to the end of the next decade.

LS Dan Bard/Formation Imaging Services Halifax

HMCS Windsor returns to Halifax after taking part in NATO exercises in December 2015.

The Victoria-class submarines are adequate for the minimal tasks the Royal Canadian Navy has assigned them. They can accompany Canada’s Halifax-class frigates on long-range deployments, they can patrol Canadian coastal waters, and they can perform reconnaissance duties inshore or wherever the navy requires. One important task is to exercise with U.S. anti-submarine forces, because diesel-electric subs are generally quieter than nuclearpowered subs and the Canadian vessels give the Americans valuable training in tracking conventionally powered submarines. One thing these submarines cannot do is patrol under the Arctic ice. Their underwater staying power is too limited. Nuclear subs can, of course, and submarines with Air-Independent-Propulsion

(AIP) systems—a variety of these exist—can stay submerged for up to three weeks. The Victoriaclass are not nuclear and do not have AIP systems and cannot be adapted to carry them. Thus, their underwater capability is limited to days not weeks.

THE STORY OF CANADA’S SUBMARINES PARALLELS THE STORY OF CANADA’S CF-18 FIGHTER JETS. Nuclear submarines are not cheap. The latest U.S. nuclear attack submarines cost close to US$3 billion each. This is roughly the same as the C$4 billion the

new Canadian surface combatant ships are expected to cost. A case could be made to buy several of these alongside a reduced number of surface combatants, but no Canadian government is likely to make such a move anytime in the irst half of this century. The reason is as simple as it is simplistic—the word “nuclear” sends some Canadians into paroxysms! That was the case in the last years of Brian Mulroney’s government, when then-defence minister Perrin Beatty proposed the acquisition of a leet of Canadian nuclear submarines to patrol Arctic waters and for other uses. His White Paper died with the end of the Cold War and no similar proposal was ever made again. So Canada will upgrade an existing and almost obsolete system again. It is a typical Canadian defence story. L

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The Phoney

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

VERY LITTLE FIGHTING TOOK PLACE ON THE WESTERN FRONT IN THE FIRST EIGHT MONTHS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR

By J.L. Granatstein

The 1st Division of the Canadian Active Service Force departs Halifax for overseas in December 1939. Ten thousand Canadian Militia members had been mobilized in August.

F.C. Tyrell/DND/LAC/PA-163405

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Winston Churchill returned from the political wilderness in London, joined Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s cabinet and became First Lord of the Admiralty. A few days later, Britain implemented merchant ship convoys. For a while, the only war waged by France and Britain was an economic one, consisting mainly of naval blockades and the purchase of war materiel from neutral countries to prevent Germany from stocking up.

T Two days after Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, Britain and France declared war on the Nazi regime. On the evening of Sept. 3, a German U-boat torpedoed the British passenger liner SS Athenia, a sign that Hitler intended to wage a ruthless war at sea. The sinking triggered ample public outrage, but little immediate Allied military action took place. Over the next eight months, the only military land operation on the Western Front was France’s Saar Ofensive, a short-lived incursion across Germany’s western border. This ominously quiet period came to be called the “Phoney War”—a term believed to have been coined by American senator William Borah. The invasion of Poland happened a week after Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression pact. By the middle of September, the Wehrmacht had crushed most Polish resistance and met up with the Red Army in eastern Poland. London and Paris began to move their armies toward the German border but took no signiicant action to assist the Poles.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

In Canada, the Liberal government of Prime Minister Mackenzie King had ordered the precautionary mobilization of some 10,000 Canadian Militia members on Aug. 24. Their mission was to provide port defence on both coasts and to guard “vulnerable points” inland. After learning of the Nazi invasion of Poland, the government invoked the War Measures Act on Sept. 3, placed the regular forces on active service and authorized the call-up of reserves. King dreaded the approach of war, fearing real division between French- and English-speaking Canadians, but his policy of obfuscation and delay and his promises that there would be no conscription for overseas service and that “Parliament will decide” produced a near-unanimous decision in the House of Commons on Sept. 9 that Canada should go to war. On Sept. 10, King George VI declared war on Germany on behalf of Canada. A year earlier that had seemed an impossibility. The prime minister soon made the government’s priorities clear. This was to be a war of limited liability. Canada would not tear itself apart, as it had in the Great War,

by implementing conscription for overseas service. The nation’s irst priority was to be the defence of Canada. Initially, King hoped that Canada might not even send troops overseas, and he had slapped down the chiefs of staf who presented plans to deploy a 60,000man expeditionary force to Europe. He also ordered the inance department to reject any defence department request for funding for anything other than the defence of Canada. Defence minister Ian Mackenzie directed his oicials not to stimulate recruiting, but men still looded the recruiting stations, and by the end of September, the army had enlisted almost 55,000. That must have surprised the prime minister. Even before the Canadian declaration of war, King was surprised to ind that his cabinet wanted the country to raise and dispatch one infantry division overseas and have another in Canada. King reluctantly agreed. The defence minister announced this decision on Sept. 19, in his last act in that portfolio. He was then shuled of to be minister of pensions and national health and replaced by minister of labour Norman Rogers. There was no money in Depression-wracked Canada, and to send even one division overseas and raise another for possible service might be more than the country could do. “[A] third division could not be thought of at this time,” King wrote in his diary, “if we were not to occasion protest across the country itself and even more impair the credit of Canada.”

U.S. National Archives; Donald MacKay/CWM/19710261-4211

King’s reluctance to ight was relected in the public mood. On the University of Toronto campus, for example, “there was no relexive outburst of patriotic enthusiasm, no rush to get overseas, no repetition of the scenes that had made the fall of 1914 so memorable,” noted the historian of the university’s contingent of the Canadian Oicers’ Training Corps. Certainly, there was strong neutralist sentiment in academe and the churches, and many Canadians who remembered the horrors of 1914-18 wondered if this was Canada’s war. Why should Canada be the only Western Hemisphere nation to voluntarily go to war at a time when the Great Depression still held the nation in its clutches? Wasn’t this only another war of rival imperialisms? It wasn’t, but it would take time for Canadians to realize this.

THE NATION’S FIRST PRIORITY WAS TO BE THE DEFENCE OF CANADA.

Canada’s armed forces were desperately underfunded at the outbreak of the war. Appropriations for the Department of National Defence had been $26.7 million in 1934-35 and had risen only to $36.3 million by 1938-39. The army was desperately weak. The militia had some 50,000 oicers

German troops parade through Warsaw, Poland, following the Nazi invasion of Sept. 1, 1939.

Crew on the open bridge of HMCS Galt scan for German U-boats while escorting a convoy of merchant ships. Wartime supply lines to Britain started with the outbreak of war.

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

and men on its rolls, but it was almost completely untrained and ill-equipped, without modern weapons or vehicles. In 1939, the army had four anti-aircraft guns, ive mortars, 82 Vickers machine guns and 10 Bren guns. The Permanent Active Militia, only marginally better trained than the Non-Permanent Active Militia, numbered only 4,169, including 446 oicers, many too old or unit for overseas service. (The two forces were reorganized into the Canadian Army in November 1940.) If the army was weak, the Royal Canadian Navy was even less prepared. The irst contracts for the construction of 10 corvettes were issued in February 1940. Until they were ready, the RCN’s major leet units consisted of six destroyers and four minesweepers, and the service’s complement at the outset of the war was 1,850 ratings, 131 oicers and approximately 1,500 reservists. Two destroyers on the West Coast received orders to proceed at speed to Halifax. The irst convoy, HX-1, left Canada in the afternoon of Sept. 16, protected by two Royal Navy cruisers and two RCN destroyers. Overhead, two Royal Canadian Air Force Supermarine Stranraer lying boats from RCAF Station Dartmouth ofered daylight protection. The Athenia sinking had made it clear that U-boats were at sea, and there also were rumours of German pocket battleships hunting merchantmen. One of those, Germany’s armoured cruiser Admiral Graf Spee, was scuttled in shallow water of the port of Montevideo, Uruguay, on Dec. 18 after being badly damaged in the irst major sea battle with the RN. The RCAF had only 195 aircraft. Most were obsolete, although there were some modern Hawker Hurricane ighters. Personnel in the regular force numbered 4,000, including 235 pilots, some two dozen staf oicers and 1,500 reservists organized in auxiliary squadrons. Several hundred Canadians were serving in the RAF, but no Canadian squadrons were in operations overseas during the Phoney War. If ever a nation was unready for war, Canada was it.

WASN’T THIS ONLY ANOTHER WAR OF RIVAL IMPERIALISMS?

A Tiger Moth flies from No. 1 Elementary Flight Training School at RCAF Malton in Ontario. Most pilot trainees in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan started out in the legendary biplane.

Public opinion in Quebec had reluctantly acquiesced to war only so long as recruitment was to be voluntary. Premier Maurice

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

Duplessis and his Union Nationale party decided to seize the opportunity of war to seek a renewed mandate. Dissolving the legislature on Sept. 25, the premier declared that the war had given Ottawa the excuse it needed to centralize power and assimilate francophone Quebec. Essentially, Duplessis was challenging Ottawa’s decision to ight, and his election provoked near-panic in the Liberal government. Despite King’s pleas that they not do this, his ministers in Quebec decided to tackle Duplessis head-on and threaten to resign if he won. That, the ministers said, would guarantee conscription, and the only way to stop this was to install a Liberal government in Quebec City and keep the federal ministers in the Cabinet. The ministers’ appeals and strong campaign worked, and Duplessis’ party was crushed by the provincial Liberals. The King government had survived the irst challenge to the federal government’s policy. At the same time, Ottawa was in dificult negotiations with Britain on the creation of a massive pilot-training program. London had been trying for some years to persuade the King government to permit the RAF to run a recruitment and training scheme for Canadians in Canada. Fearing that Canadian autonomy might be jeopardized, the government had refused. But war with Germany changed that. Ottawa became interested in, indeed very keen on, such a plan, especially if the British would state that it would be Canada’s greatest contribution to the war efort. Prioritizing the air force would be a guarantee that conscription would be unnecessary, or so King hoped. In September 1939, no one could conceive of air force casualties ever being very high. Still, the negotiations on what became the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan were contentious. London wanted Canada to pay most of the estimated $888.5-million cost to produce 20,000 pilots and 30,000 aircrew a year from across the British Commonwealth, a project that required 90 lying schools. Given that Canada’s contemplated defence expenditure was only $300 million a year, this colossal sum seemed impossible for the government to contemplate. Negotiations dragged on into midDecember, almost foundering on Canadian eforts to have separate RCAF squadrons overseas with much of the cost paid by Britain.

The end result was that Canada agreed to pay $353.4 million, Britain $185 million, Australia $39.9 million and New Zealand $28.6 million. Now the tiny RCAF would run the pilot-training program, a gigantic task. The announcement of the plan on Dec. 17—King’s 65th birthday—was the most signiicant event of the Phoney War in Canada. While the air-training negotiations dragged on, the army was remobilizing, according to a plan prepared by Brigadier Harry Crerar at headquarters in Ottawa. First Canadian Infantry Division was to include the three permanent force infantry battalions, one for each brigade, along with militia units with good records. The brigades were geographically based, one each from Ontario, the West, and Quebec

DND/PL-3582; John M. Horton/DND

and the Maritimes. (When Britain declared war, Newfoundland, still a Crown colony, went to war too, forming a defensive home guard. To ight overseas, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians enlisted in British and Canadian forces.) Two of the Canadian brigades were commanded by militia oicers and the third was led by George Pearkes, VC, of the permanent force. Most of the remaining key staf appointments were illed by permanent force oicers. To command the division, the government chose Major-General Andrew McNaughton, 52, a distinguished and charismatic Great War artilleryman, former chief of the general staf and, at the time, head of the National Research Council. McNaughton was thought to be a Tory and this appointment, proving partisan politics weren’t at play, pleased the prime minister. McNaughton’s task was to get the division equipped and trained. Neither was easy. The units were scattered across the country and would not be concentrated. Equipment, ranging from uniforms to weapons, was in short supply. When the commanding oicer of the Royal Montreal Regiment had Eaton’s department store provide boots, he discovered that Ottawa refused to pay, until McNaughton, on a visit to the unit, approved the purchase

Halifax Harbour bustles with wartime naval activity in “The Springboard,” a painting by John M. Horton. Thanks to its proximity to the transatlantic route, the harbour was an important staging area for Britishbound convoys.

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

French General Maurice Gamelin inspects oicers of the Royal 22nd Regiment on the grounds of the British army camp at Aldershot, England, on March 28, 1940.

Pictured in 1942, Lieutenant-General Andrew G.L. McNaughton was the dominant Canadian personality of the Phoney War in 1939-40.

on the spot. This proved to the soldiers that he would always do the sensible thing. But McNaughton could not do the same with the division’s heavy weapons, all of which were to be provided in England. Canada could have supplied its own trucks, but the War Oice insisted British manufacturers get the contract to supply them. Evidently, the idea of a limited liability war was not conined to Canada. Early in December, the oicers and men of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division boarded trains for Halifax and embarked for Britain. As in 1914, they were largely raw troops. “We didn’t know a damned thing,” recalled one Royal Canadian Engineer oicer. Once again, Canada sent its soldiers overseas with nothing but uniforms and small arms. The Canadians started training in earnest at the long-established British Army camp at Aldershot, Hampshire, in January 1940. This was followed by unit collective training in March and brigade and division exercises in April. That schedule suited the War Oice, which hoped to use the division at the front in May. Some units trained hard, others did not, and there was little

direction from division headquarters. The Canadians were not ready for battle. At this time, Canada was in the midst of a general election. King had promised that there would be a session of Parliament before the writ dropped, but when the House met on Jan. 25, he informed startled members that he was calling an election at once. Mitchell Hepburn, the Liberal premier of Ontario and one of King’s bitter foes, was furious at what he considered the federal government’s desultory war efort. On Jan. 18, he had forced a motion through the Ontario legislature denouncing the King government. The prime minister seized on this to renege on his promise of a session, and he caught the Opposition short. The election campaign was two months long, and the Liberals had it all their way. Hepburn notwithstanding, most Canadians seemed to believe the war efort was just ine, no one was calling for conscription, and the war in Europe was quiet—except for the three-month Winter War in Finland, where Soviet invasion forces faced ierce defenders in the bitter cold. The election on March 26 resulted in a

NO BETTER MAN The dominant Canadian personality of the Phoney War was Major-General Andrew G.L. McNaughton. McNaughton studied electrical engineering at McGill University, graduating in 1910. He joined the Canadian Militia in 1909 and led an artillery battery overseas in 1914 as a 27-year-old major. Wounded twice in early ighting, McNaughton recovered and rose rapidly, in 1917 becoming the Canadian Corps’ Counter Battery Staff Oficer. He pioneered a sound-detection technique to

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

locate enemy guns, helped make the Corps’ artillery a formidable force, and was a brigadiergeneral commanding the Corps’ heavy artillery at the war’s end. He remained in the Permanent Force, attending the British Army Staff College and the Imperial Defence College and receiving glowing reports. In 1929, now 42, he became Chief of the General Staff, conceiving and organizing the army’s role in running relief camps for the unemployed during the Depression. In 1935, he went to the National Research Council as its president. When war broke out in 1939, McNaughton quickly offered his services to the government and

was soon named to command the First Canadian Division. “I thought no better man could be selected,” said Prime Minister Mackenzie King. McNaughton toured the country, visiting the troops, dealing with equipment shortages. His concern for his soldiers and his “red tape be damned” approach drew massive praise in the media. And when he went overseas, he impressed senior British oficers with his intellect and drive. “Every oficer and everyone in the ranks worship him and trust him implicitly,” said one Canadian oficer. That was certainly true in 1939-40, and McNaughton seemed destined for ever better things.

Liberal landslide. King won 181 of 245 seats and a majority of the popular vote. In Quebec, the party won an astonishing 63.3 per cent of the vote. King had been shrewd—and lucky—to get his election done and won before the spring. On April 9, the Nazis attacked and occupied Denmark and launched assaults on Norway, ostensibly to stop the British and French from occupying the country. In fact, there had been Allied plans to intervene in Norway to get aid to Finland, but the plans ended with Helsinki’s surrender in March. Once the Germans occupied Norway’s capital Oslo and major ports, London and Paris were caught wrong-footed, and the subsequent expedition to Norway was grotesquely mismanaged. On April 16, the War Oice requested that McNaughton provide troops for an attack on Trondheim, Norway. Two days later, 1,300 men from the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade moved north to Scotland to await embarkation. Major Guy Simonds quickly prepared the orders. The German hold on Norway was already so entrenched that Anglo-French eforts to drive them out failed with heavy losses. The still unready Canadians, their orders to embark soon cancelled, were fortunate to avoid the morass. There was still heavy snow on the ground in Norway in mid-April and the divisional staf had scrambled to ind winter clothing. One junior oicer, Desmond Smith, discovered that British Army stocks were already depleted, so he called Lillywhites, a London sports

LAC/3205306; LAC/PA-034165

PRIORITIZING THE AIR FORCE WOULD BE A GUARANTEE THAT CONSCRIPTION WOULD BE UNNECESSARY, OR SO KING HOPED. clothing store, and purchased their entire stock of leece-lined jackets at a high price. When the Canadian mission was scrapped, the bills came in, and McNaughton summoned Smith to explain himself. The general gave the young staf oicer a bollocking, but then said, “To hell with rules, get it done, that’s the kind of young oicer we want.” The men loved McNaughton. The Germans, however, were just beginning. On May 10, the very day that Churchill became prime minister of Great Britain, the Wehrmacht attacked Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium and began to move armour around the Maginot Line defences and through the supposedly impassable Ardennes forests. The Phoney War was over. The real war was about to begin. L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

MEMOIR

By Allan Wallace Coburn and Sharon Adams

Wearing the cap badge of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals, Allan Wallace Coburn (RIGHT) posed for a studio portrait in 1945. He photographed a shell-cratered field near Caen (BACKGROUND) and sat (BELOW, at centre) with buddies identified only as Coleman and Cooke in Surrey during the summer of 1943. Wireless Set No. 58 (BELOW RIGHT), built by Addison Industries of Toronto, was used by the Canadian Army for short-range communications.

LETTE RS T O MOM D

oburn Radio operator Allan Wallace C itoba faithfully wrote to his mother in Man through almost four years of war

uring the Second World War, 21-year-old Allan Coburn was one of a million young men and women whose sense of duty and hankering for adventure drew them to serve in the Canadian Army. He was “the second son of a farmer, with no passion for farming,” said his son Douglas Coburn of Winnipeg. “So, what to do?” Join the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. Allan Coburn enlisted on Jan. 9, 1942, leaving his parents Dwight and Isabel, older brother Ted, younger brother Glen and little sister Kitty on the family farm near Carman, Man. After basic training, he joined the tank brigade signals, which was reorganized into the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade Signals on July 26, 1943, after he got to England. He served just shy of four years in England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. His mother Isabel wrote to him every Sunday and he wrote back, though not always weekly. His mother saved 89 letters, more than 100 postcards and 125 pictures. These mementoes ofer a glimpse into the experiences of a typical soldier and his duties as a wireless operator.

Courtesy of Douglas Allan Coburn; CWM/20020045-037

Coburn faced a big obstacle in writing his letters home: he could not tell his mother where he was or what his unit was doing. Letters were censored and parcels home were searched. “Our irst security problem,” reads the unit’s history booklet, RCCS: Second Canadian Armoured Brigade Signals, “was when some of our members were discussing our trip over. Needless to say, we were all soon put on the right road about what not to say.” “Really Mom,” Coburn wrote on May 28, 1944, “writing letters is the worst job I have to do. You have no idea what it is like when you have to be so hush-hush about everything…. I’m going to narrow my correspondence down to as few as possible. I’m well, so don’t worry, I may not write again for a while.” Two weeks later, shortly after D-Day, Coburn went over to France, a newly minted lance-corporal. The headlines on the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press on June 7, 1944, were all war-related: germans cleared from beachheads; allied troops fighting inland;

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fierce resistance met. Coburn’s parents could

hardly have escaped news of the invasion. “I’m in France with the boys,” said Coburn’s letter of June 23, 1944. “We had an uneventful crossing…. Jerry [the Germans] didn’t know we were there…. Don’t worry about me. I’m safe and am enjoying the ‘parlez-vous.’” Over and over again, he reassured his family that he was safe and in no danger. That was hardly the truth. The signals brigade moved with the armoured brigade, which provided tanks and other equipment to support various infantry units as they fought through northwestern France, Belgium and the Netherlands to Germany. “As soon as a foothold [is] secured, telephone lines [are] laid and dispatch riders [start] regular runs,” wrote Colonel C.P. Stacey in The Victory Campaign, the inal volume of the Canadian Army’s oicial Second World War history. “The intricate network of rapid communications would be the basis of efective command in battle.” Signallers set up and maintained communications between command and all units in the ield. They laid wire and operated radios, telegraph and teletype machines in headquarters and from mobile units in trucks. Pay was $1.50 a day for signalmen, $2.65 for sergeants. Coburn admitted several times to accompanying dispatch riders to the front “just for something to do when I’m of duty,” keeping to himself the dangers signallers routinely faced: shellire, straing, snipers and V-1 lying bombs.

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If communications broke down, signallers had to ind out why and restore service. If a radio unit went out in a tank, a signaller was sent to repair or replace it. They often travelled by truck through countryside not yet cleared of enemy soldiers. They travelled as surreptitiously as possible, frequently by night. With no road signs and a ban on headlights, they often got lost. “Life here is quite uneventful, although we have some excitement at times,” he wrote on July 9, 1944. An understatement indeed. The Canadians had just emerged from the battle for Carpiquet airport, defended by machine guns, mortars, anti-tank traps, anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns. Canadian tanks were itted with lails to set of mines before they drove over them. “The hardest part of all is to hear of fellows you know being killed, but we have to get used to that. All my close chums are OK so far and I haven’t had any occasion myself to even be scared.” In many letters, Coburn thanked people back home for parcels containing handkerchiefs, gloves, a comb, socks and soap. He shared jam, honey and cakes with comrades; traded cigarettes and sardines with locals for fresh eggs; and gave candy and chewing gum to children. He described where he was housed: billets in people’s homes, barracks, schoolhouses, churches and tents. In a “new camp, I immediately look for some straw. I put it on the ground under a big tree if one is handy and put my tent over the whole thing. It’s quite snug and with my straw ‘mattress’ I’m quite comfortable.” A mobile bath unit came once a week and the troops were issued clean clothes and given time to do their laundry. “My weekly wash consists of a shirt, summer drawers, and a couple of pairs of socks. We have a square tin can with some holes punched in the side [for draft], and ill it half full of

earth. Then we pour some gasoline into it till the earth is soaked and set a match to it. A fourgallon petrol tin is placed on top of this with water in it. It doesn’t take long to boil, either.” The war continued in the background. Leading up to Operation Exercise, the Allied assault on Verrières Ridge, on July 25, 1944, “we were under heavy air attacks with bombs dropping all around the area,” reads the unit history. “This day was very noisy… hard ighting on the entire Corps front.” Two days later, “German bombers made life in the area of main HQ very uncomfortable by dropping anti-personnel bombs in our vicinity.” Several signallers were wounded, but Coburn was not among them. On Aug. 8, the irst day of Operation Totalize, the attack to cut of the German retreat through the Falaise Pocket, two signallers were killed, eight wounded and many vehicles damaged. “Members of the unit carried out a minesweeping detail…and approximately 120 mines were found,” says the unit history. “With the enemy on the run, September moves took place rapidly,” with rear and main headquarters each moving ive times. Communication with tank corps was diicult, and the weather was wet and cold. “Branches were used to make a roadway…and tanks were often required to tow the wheeled vehicles out of the mud.” “I am seeing quite a lot of France,” Coburn wrote on Sept. 6. While most of his wireless work was conducted back from the front line, he did witness the war at close quarters: “I went…visiting the forward area and saw quite a bit of the scrapping that’s going on,” he wrote on Oct. 10. “Lots of gun lashes and shells landing. We passed lots of Jerry prisoners being marched down the road.” As they passed, French civilians hurled abuse. Coburn’s letters are sprinkled with observations about local people and customs. He described French farming and Belgian baking: “They don’t use much binder twine here [during threshing]. Mostly the sheaves are tied with a long braid of straw. You should see the size of the stooks [sheaves stood on end to keep the heads drier].” “I spent an afternoon in Antwerp. Bread costs so much and is so scarce that they make their own lour,” crushing grain in a hand mill then sifting it. On Oct. 22, Coburn answers some questions from his mother. “Yes, we see the same stars here as you do and I often

Courtesy of Douglas Allan Coburn

“Don’t worry

hot. about me geting s would it , n e p p a h to g in o If that was g .” o g a e m ti g n o l a have happened look up at the Big Dipper and wish I was standing in our backyard watching it. “Our food isn’t bad but not much variety. Mostly canned stew and beans, but we get fresh white bread most of the time. If supplies don’t reach us in time, the cook opens a big can of hardtack instead. I’ve long since lost all enjoyment in eating. “We have lots of radios…. We get all the latest songs and news. “I inally got a Jerry pistol. It’s known as a P-37 and is a real weapon. I tried it out today. Glen will be quite interested when I bring it home.” “Don’t worry about me getting shot. If that was going to happen, it would have happened a long time ago.” In November 1944, the Battle of the Scheldt drew to an end, opening Antwerp to Allied shipping. The front moved quickly, and main and rear signals headquarters were constantly relocated, once with such little notice that men given a pass to go to town returned to ind their unit had relocated, and themselves in a game of hide and seek. Coburn wrote home from Holland on Nov. 1. “They sure welcomed us here and almost everybody has a home to visit in the evenings. They have been existing on the barest of food and clothes. We saw a man digging a hole…and bringing out suitcases of clothes. Everyone hid their bicycles as the Germans took them too…. [Most people understand] English and don’t feel backward about talking to us. They are full of questions about Canada. They all want to know how the war is going, as few have radios because the Germans collected them all.” He again reassures his worried mother: “About the only time I have a chance to visit the front lines is when I go up with one of our dispatch riders in his scout car. I hope the censor doesn’t think this information has any military value.” And on Nov. 6: “I met a real nice Dutch family [and visit most evenings]. The daughter has a girlfriend from Rotterdam living

Coburn carried a camera through the war, photographing his troop train (OPPOSITE TOP) leaving for Kingston, Ont., in 1942, and friend Joe Primeau with two French girls (OPPOSITE BOTTOM) in 1944.

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s t o l d e s s a p e “W Jerry prisoners of

being marched down the road.”

The badge of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals carries the motto Velox, Versutus, Vigilans (Swift, Skilled, Alert).

Coburn practically lived in his wireless truck (OPPOSITE BOTTOM) which, as with all Allied vehicles going into Northwest Europe after June 1944, had an American star painted on to identify it to friendly forces. Coburn’s friend Welsh washes socks in a basin attached to the side of the truck. Coburn and comrades team up to cut irewood in 1943.

with her so you can see what the attraction is. They treat us just like one of the family. It makes you feel more like a human being when you have a ‘home’ to go to, instead of hanging around the barracks. “There isn’t much doing and we are having a rest. Tomorrow night the Signals…are having a dance downtown. It promises to be a lively afair, but we are not having any strong drinks so it won’t be rowdy. We mustn’t leave a bad impression.” The unit history on Nov. 7 reports that “HQ moved to Breda. That night a most successful unit dance was held. Over 100 turned out for the dance and some 70 girls from homes in the Breda area kept them occupied.” On Nov. 25, the brigade headquarters settled in Niftrik, near Nijmegen, for nearly three months, using this downtime to get equipment ready for action in the spring. Facing his third Christmas away from home, Coburn wrote on Dec. 7: “We went to a large town near here to see a show…. Why can’t they give us other pictures besides ilms about war? It’s hard enough to see it every day without going to a theatre and seeing it too. Most of us have had our ill of this sort of thing and would appreciate a ilm of life in Canada or America or any picture at all as long as it didn’t have anything about war in it. Most of us come out of the theatre feeling worse than when we went in [having to live] through the hell of it again.” The unit’s war heated up in mid-December, says its history. “V-1s—19 were counted in a 12-hour period, some exploding nearby.” By Dec. 18, one was falling every hour. “Our air action was noted most days. Dec. 22, we were alerted to enemy airborne landings and were turned out to patrol the area.” Homesickness is a theme in Coburn’s December letters. On Dec. 11: “I’ve got good news. Every man…is to get seven days leave in England. I expect to be

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going on leave sometime in February. Of course, I wouldn’t mind if the war was over and I can go all the way home instead.” Dec. 17: “This will be my third Christmas away from home, and Jan. 8 will end my third year in the army. I often wonder how much longer it will be till I can come home for good. Even if the war ends now, how long will it be till conditions in Europe are stable enough for us to leave? I can’t grumble. I’ve had a good job over here and not much danger attached to it. All in all, I’ve had a peach of a time compared to some of the boys. [But] I’d give $100 for a soft bed and a comfortable night’s sleep.” “New Year’s Day 1945 came in with a bang,” reads the unit history. “There was great enemy activity. Six FW190s lew around the general area, straing roads and buildings.” “I saw one of our planes shoot down two of them,” Coburn wrote. “It’s the most thrilling thing to see the way our boys handle their planes. The Jerries haven’t a chance from the start. They never attempt to put up a good ight. They just try to run away and that’s the end of them. “Glen will soon be 17, won’t he? Tell him not to think of joining up. It’s a hard and lonely life for one, and has no good points to counteract its many bad qualities. I hope the censor doesn’t mind my opinion. It might ruin recruiting if it became public.” “With the arrival of February,” reads the unit history, “enemy buzzbombs increased, road traic became heavier and restricted, leaves were ceased, Allied air traic noticeably increased, all of which indicated that action was being speeded up. On Feb. 19, 1945, main signals headquarters moved into the Reichwald Forest near Cleve, Germany. “With the return to action in March, moves were to come suddenly once more. Enemy aircraft strafed our area on 1 March… much enemy shelling and mortaring.” “Greetings from Germany,” Coburn wrote on March 8, 1945. “We haven’t linked up with the Russians yet, but watch your paper for future developments. “My gang and I are out on relay work again. We have to keep in touch with our HQ and subunits by wireless and help them out when communication gets dificult. We like the job quite well as we are our own bosses and nobody bothers us.

Courtesy of Douglas Allan Coburn

“Mom, I don’t want you to think I’ve forgotten religion and prayer because I haven’t. There have been occasions where I’ve prayed very fervently, mostly because of fright, I’ll admit.” And on March 19: “The past month has been very fast and eventful for me and I saw quite a bit of Germany. [Several cities he visited] are just heaps of rubble. I got lost in Uedem one night with the truck…. It’s very diicult to read a map through town as all the buildings are lat and the road is just a trail dug through the debris with bulldozers and steam shovels. “I wish I could trade in my wireless sets and truck and go home. But I will have to wait a little longer. I think the next push will be the last, but it will no doubt be the most ferocious ight of the lot.” On March 31, signals headquarters moved over the Rhine River in Germany, reporting that “shelling occurred daily in this area.” “My gang and I are away…on our old job of relay wireless station,” Coburn wrote on April 1, 1945. “We are in an orchard…but

there is no sign of the farmer. He and all the people around have moved deeper into Germany trying to escape us. There is plenty of loose livestock. One cow comes to our truck every day to be milked. So, we have all kinds of milk to drink and Bossie is very grateful. The ferocious ighting continued. “It was very noisy the irst few days we were here as there was a battery of guns just behind us and they kept pounding away night and day. About 20 of them, one right after the other and the noise was deafening, but we slept OK in spite of the noise.” On April 8, he wrote: “Right near camp is a launching site for V-1 lying bombs…aimed at Antwerp or England.” But now silenced forever. And inally, “Tonight at one minute past midnight, the war is oicially over. I feel rather like a boxer who has taken a bad beating.” The countryside is in turmoil “with Germans wandering down every road looking for

m. o M , t o l a d e g n a h c e v “ ’ I At least I know ility is.” what rsponsib

Coburn (standing, third from right) joined a group touring occupied Germany in 1945. “There is hardly a wall left standing,” he wrote to his mother. “Just heaps of broken bricks.”

somebody to surrender to, with dazed looks on their faces…no comparison to the ‘unconquerable’ Wehrmacht of ive years ago.” Lubrication is found for a celebration: “Thirty ive-gallon kegs of cherry brandy were obtained from a distillery at Bremen, where in the basement due to some damaged vats, parts of the loor were under six inches of brandy,” says the unit history. More than a million Germans had surrendered. “So ends the ighting.” The men “crowded around available radios to hear Prime Minister Churchill and His Majesty the King speak on 8 May…. May 10 brought 30,000 PoWs into our area to be guarded by our brigade.” And so started the chores of occupation and demobilization. In the weeks it took for his unit to be demobilized, Coburn toured Germany. “If you can visualize miles upon miles of wrecked buildings, heaps of brick rubble, dust and dirt and the smell of decay, then you might understand. I thought [French] cities were bad, but they were not nearly the size of Cologne.” Duren and Aachen were the same, he wrote. “There is hardly a wall left standing, just heaps of broken bricks. People had put pots of lowers and

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wooden crosses on some of the rubble piles…for people buried under the brick. “Men are at a minimum in Germany. We saw about 15 women to each man. All the men we did see wore parts of their uniform…many were without an arm or a leg or walked with a limp. “Most of the people sleep in the air-raid shelters and come out during the day to work cleaning away rubble. Others make enough to live on of the black market.” The brigade was disbanded on June 25, 1945, its members “dispersed in many directions, leave, occupation forces, to other units and to return to Canada in preparation for more action in the Far East. So went many good men.” Corporal Coburn headed home, a changed man. “You know how discontented I was about the farm,” he had written earlier to his mother. “I had no interest in it and no responsibility. I’ve changed a lot, Mom. At least I know what responsibility is. You learn fast when you are entrusted with other fellows’ lives and expensive equipment. I’ve seen enough of the world and how other people live to be quite satisied to return to Canada and be quite satisied with all its faults.” He returned to farming near Carman. L

Courtesy of Douglas Allan Coburn

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PART

SECOND WORLD WAR

INDIGENOUS WAR HEROES

CODE TALKERS, GUNNERS, OFFICERS, RANGERS—THOUSANDS OF FIRST NATIONS, MÉTIS AND INUIT PEOPLE ENLISTED IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND SERVED IN EVERY THEATRE AND BRANCH OF THE ARMED FORCES BY SHARON ADAMS 36

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or two years during the Second World War, Charles (Checker) Tomkins, a Métis from Grouard, Alta., was given a secret assignment. It was a secret he very nearly took to his grave, an Indigenous contribution to the war efort almost lost to history. Tomkins learned Cree from his parents and grandparents. He enlisted in 1939, trained and was sent overseas where he was assigned to the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade. In 1942, he received a mysterious summons to headquarters. When he arrived, the room was full of Indigenous soldiers who were put into diferent rooms, connected by telephone, and given messages to translate to and from English and Cree. Tomkins became a Cree code talker, seconded to the American air force and charged with coding and decoding secret messages that would bale and befuddle the enemy if intercepted. Not much is known about the code talkers from Canada, who or how many they were, how their work contributed to victory. They were sworn to secrecy and after the war dispersed back into their communities, often remote; most never learned that they were released from that vow in 1963. Information about orders, troop movements and supply lines, bombing runs, enemy movement and other intelligence were translated into Cree at one end of the communication line, and into English at the other. The messengers had to be highly creative, for many military words—tank, bomber, machine gun—were not in the Cree lexicon. Code talkers adapted other words to their purposes: the Cree words for wild horse, ire, bee and the number 17 identiied Mustang aircraft, Spitires and B-17 bombers.

Shirley Anderson/The Canadian Encyclopedia; The Canadian Encyclopedia/Memory Project/Historica Canada

TOMKINS CODED AND DECODED SECRET MESSAGES THAT WOULD BAFFLE AND BEFUDDLE THE ENEMY IF INTERCEPTED. Tomkins never divulged his secret assignment, not even to his four brothers who also served, until he was 85. Just months before his death, he told his story in an interview with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. “I love my country and I’ve done everything they asked me to do,” he said. Tomkins was one of thousands of Indigenous people to answer the call after the Second World War was declared. About 3,100 Status Indians enlisted, including 72 women. As with the previous war, no one knows how many other First Nations, Métis and Inuit signed up with the Canadian forces, nor how many from reserves near the southern border served with American forces, wrote Janice Summerby in Native Soldiers, Foreign Battleields. Indigenous volunteers made up a large proportion of Canada’s 15,000 Paciic Coast Militia Rangers, formed after the attack on Pearl Harbor. As in the First World War, Indigenous people were divided in their support. Some argued they were exempt due to their status under the Indian Act or various treaties. Others were inluenced by

Charles (Checker) Tomkins (OPPOSITE and ABOVE, second from right) kept secret his job as a Cree code talker, even from his four brothers (from left) John Smith, Henry, Peter and Frank Tomkins, who also served.

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experiences after the First World War when, despite stellar service, Status Indians did not secure equal access to veterans’ beneits, nor did they retain the right to vote once they took of their uniforms. Some were angered that Status Indians were not initially exempt from conscription. Some just thought a war in Europe was none of their business. But others were in full support. All but three of the eligible men from the Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation (formerly Golden Lake First Nation) in eastern Ontario signed up. Motivations for volunteering were also similar to those of previous generations who donned a uniform in 1914. Some, like

Tomkins, considered it a patriotic duty. Earning peanuts as a farm labourer, Sidney Gordon of the George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan signed up in April 1941. “I igured a dollar and a half a day would be better than what I’m doing…I get my food, I get my clothes,” he is quoted in A Commemorative History of Aboriginal People in the Canadian Military. Some enlisted because their fathers had served in the First World War. Saskatchewan Métis brothers John and James Ballendine were both snipers in the First World War. Eight of their sons served in the Second World War: Benjamin, Edward, Frank, John, Paul, Thomas, Walter and Wilfred. Five served overseas

“AN OUTSTANDING EXAMPLE to all ranks”

Charles Henry Byce, whose mother Louisa was from Moose Cree First Nation in Ontario, had big shoes to ill when he enlisted in the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment in 1940. His father Henry, of British descent, had earned the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the French Médaille Militaire in the First World War. Charlie Byce repeated the feat in the Second World War, the only one in his regiment and one of only a handful of Canadians to earn a DCM and a Military Medal. Byce, an acting corporal, was among two dozen members of his regiment who crossed the Meuse River in the Netherlands on Jan. 21, 1945, intending to sneak behind German lines to bring back prisoners for interrogation. Byce’s ive-man patrol provided cover for the reconnaissance group, which came under ire from three enemy positions immediately after stepping ashore.

Byce himself used grenades to take out two entrenchments. When his patrol came under ire again, Byce charged the German dugout and lobbed in a grenade, clearing the way for his comrades to make it back to their own lines. On March 2, Byce, now an acting sergeant, was in a company that occupied some buildings near the Hochwald Forest. Soon the enemy was peppering them with shells. The company commander and every oficer were casualties. Byce assumed command as the Germans began their counterattack. Moving from gun to gun, Byce led a ierce assault that claimed 20 enemy casualties and drove the attacking infantry back. As four enemy tanks moved in, Byce ired a PIAT (Projector, Infantry, AntiTank), knocking out the lead tank with his third shot. With no anti-tank ammunition left, he directed his men to hold ire until the remaining tanks had passed, then attack the accompanying infantry.

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After some ierce ighting, the Germans demanded he surrender; instead he led his men, under ire, to safety. “His gallant stand, without adequate weapons and with a bare handful of men against hopeless odds, will remain, for all time, an outstanding example to all ranks of the regiment,” concludes the citation to his Distinguished Conduct Medal. In the Second World War, about 160 Canadians earned the DCM, and only a handful also earned the Military Medal. After the war, Byce worked at a paper mill near Espanola, Ont., and died in 1994, in Newmarket, Ont. A bronze monument commemorating Byce was unveiled in 2016 on the grounds of the Harry Searle Branch of The Royal Canadian Legion in Chapleau, Ont., where he was born while his father was off ighting in the First World War. His medals, along with those of his father, are in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

Indigenous people served in every military theatre and in all services, although the air force and navy had colour bars until 1942 and 1943, respectively. A 1943 report found only 29 Indigenous personnel serving in the air force and nine in the navy, although many nonstatus First Nations, Métis or Inuit were likely not counted. Sergeant Samuel Jefries of Missanabie, Ont., was killed in action while the Royal Air Force’s 104 Squadron was targeting Rommel’s supply lines on Dec. 28, 1942. “A good number of Mohawks from the Bay of Quinte area, probably due to their familiarity with military aircraft [from nearby RCAF Station Trenton], joined the RCAF,” wrote Fred Gafen in Forgotten Soldiers. Sergeant Charles Clinton Topping died on a bombing mission in 1941 with 226 Squadron, RAF; Albert R. Corston of Chapleau, Ont., was of Scottish and Cree ancestry. He took light training in Canada, was posted overseas in 1942, and served with 67 Squadron, RAF, in Asia.

MOVING FROM GUN TO GUN, BYCE LED A FIERCE ASSAULT THAT CLAIMED 20 ENEMY CASUALTIES AND DROVE THE ATTACKING INFANTRY BACK. and they all survived the war, although Benjamin was afected by what is now termed post-traumatic stress injury. Some re-enlisted. Former First World War sapper John McLeod of the Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation (formerly Cape Croker), an Ojibwa band on Ontario’s Bruce Peninsula, joined again and was assigned to the Veterans Guard of Canada. Six sons and a daughter followed him into service; two sons were killed, two wounded. In 1972, McLeod’s wife Marie Louise was the irst Indigenous woman named National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. Chief Joe Dreaver of the Mistawasis Cree band in Saskatchewan, who earned the Military Medal in the First World War, brought 17 men with him when he reenlisted for the Second World War. First World War pilot Oliver Martin, a Mohawk of the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, was active in the Canadian Militia between the wars, entered the Second World War as a colonel, was promoted to brigadier and commanded infantry brigades on the West Coast until he retired in 1944. After the war, he became a magistrate and advocate for Indigenous rights. Patriotism and heartfelt sympathy for the staf at a residential school in Chilliwack, B.C., who had lost loved ones in the Blitz were the incentive for Russell Modest of the Cowichan First Nation, according to Aboriginal People in the Canadian Military. His residential school experience helped him adapt to military life. “I just blended right in with it,” he said. He served in the Italian Campaign with the Lanark and Renfrew Scottish Regiment.

LAC/PA-129070; av.canadiana.ca

In a publicity photo (BELOW), Private Mary Greyeyes of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan receives a “blessing” from Harry Ball of the Piapot First Nation before beginning her duties with the Canadian Women’s Army Corps. Charles Henry Byce (OPPOSITE) displayed cool courage in action.

His Hurricane was hit by a Japanese Zero during the attack on Calcutta, India, on Dec. 5, 1943, but he made it back to safety. Chief Petty Oicer George Edward Jamieson was the son of a Cayuga mother and Mohawk father from the Six Nations community of Ohsweken, Ont. He was a sea cadet in Toronto before the war and had been taken on by the navy volunteer reserve as a boy bugler. He transferred to gunnery, was called up in August 1939, and spent the war serving in escorts on convoy duty. His career continued after the war, and he served in Korea aboard HMCS Iroquois. The Shead brothers—Nelson, Bill and Harry—of Selkirk, Man., with roots in the Fisher River Cree Nation near Lake Winnipeg, joined the navy, capitalizing on their experience on ishing boats. Bill rose to the rank of chief petty oicer.

INDIGENOUS VOLUNTEERS MADE UP A LARGE PROPORTION OF CANADA’S 15,000 PACIFIC COAST MILITIA RANGERS.

Most Indigenous personnel were treated as equals once they put on their uniforms—but not all. Marguerite Marie St. Germain, a Métis from Alberta’s Peace River valley, who joined the RCAF Women’s Division in 1942, initially saw Métis people insulted, but that “prejudice diminished as the war progressed and the Métis proved they could perform as well as anyone else,” wrote Gafen. Mary Greyeyes, the irst Indigenous woman to volunteer for the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, had to stay in a boarding house because she was unwelcome in women’s barracks. But the experience of Margaret Pictou of the Eel River Bar First Nation in Darlington, N.B., was diametrically opposite, Gafen reported. She did not experience any discrimination during her service in a photographic unit. Some rued the day they would return to live in a prejudicial society. “Here the boys call me ‘The Saint’ but back in Canada, I’ll be treated just like another poor goddam Indian,” said Sergeant J.F. St. Germain, a Métis, after the Battle of Ortona. “I hope I get killed before it is all over.” A year later, he was, reports Gafen.

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Along with all disembarking soldiers arriving in Canada, Modest was given a liquor ticket; then he was jailed for possession of the ticket. “The magistrate told me ‘once you entered Canadian territorial waters you were now just another Indian! You have no special privileges and you have to abide by the law.’ You remember these things,” Modest said in an article in the Canadian Military Journal. “Aboriginal soldiers, free from the constraints of the Indian Act and the watchful eyes of Indian agents, discovered English pubs and lived the life of any other soldier overseas,” notes Aboriginal People in the Canadian Military. “The Indian and Métis soldiers served just as well as the others,” wrote Colonel J.R. Stone in a letter to Gafen. “There were just as many drunks and deadbeats among them and just as many disciplined soldiers.” “Discrimination? Everybody was so involved in what was happening…that nobody was involved in such pettiness,” said Dorothy Asquith, a Métis in the Canadian Women’s Auxillary Air Force, quoted in Aboriginal People in the Canadian Military. “I don’t think you bothered to look at the colour of your buddies’ skin.” The equal treatment and social acceptance experienced by many Indigenous military members underscored the inequities at home, and coupled with newfound conidence and skills, prodded many veterans into postwar activism. Many returned from the Second World War “feeling that they received great respect within their family, their community and the country,” said a 2005 article by John MacFarlane and John Moses in the Canadian Military Journal. As well, after the war they were able to capitalize on the education and training they’d had in the military. Participation in the Second World War did not change conditions for Indigenous people in Canada immediately after the war ended. For example, Status Indians had to wait until 1960 to acquire the federal vote without relinquishing their treaty status. While the new generation was of ighting on the battleields of Europe and Asia, First World War veterans continued their ight for rights in Canada.

A Vancouver Sun article about the First Nations delegation to Ottawa in 1943 focused on Francis Pegahmagabow, First World War hero and chief of the Wasauksing (formerly Parry Island) First Nation in Ontario. A sniper credited with killing 378 enemy, he received the Military Medal with two bars. “The story closed with a stunning revelation,” wrote R. Scott Sheield in The Red Man’s on the Warpath: The Image of the ‘Indian’ and the Second World War. At a Legion branch, he bought the year’s irst poppy with his last 50 cents. “That such an obviously capable man with strong claims on the society’s generosity, as both a war hero and a legal ward of the state, could be brought so low revealed something profoundly wrong with the country.” When Indigenous veterans returned from the Second World War, reports of their successes overseas and of conditions they faced at home opened the eyes of Canadians to Indigenous issues, and increased support throughout society. But social change is reckoned in years and decades. Status Indians did not have access to the same services and beneits as other veterans, said the parliamentary committee report

Indigenous Veterans: From Memories of Injustice to Lasting Recognition. They were ping-ponged between the Veterans Afairs and Indian Afairs departments. Their afairs were handled by Indian agents whose goal was assimilation. Status Indians were told they would have to renounce their status to apply for veterans’ beneits. Some found that Indian agents had removed their names from band lists while they were overseas. During the war, their allowances for dependents were funneled through agents, and “there was no way to determine whether the money actually reached the families,” said the report. Status Indians were not eligible for $6,000 Veterans’ Land Act loans if they lived on reserve lands. And although they were eligible for a grant of up to $2,320, not every Indian agent passed along this news. Only about 1,800 took advantage of the grants. Those who set up farms found limited business opportunities, as they could not sell their produce or livestock without permission of an Indian agent and they could

PERFORMANCE duing battle When he enlisted in the army in 1940, 24-year-old David GreyeyesSteele, a grain farmer and athlete from Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan, could never have imagined where that action would lead. Overseas, he was steadily promoted and was the irst Status Indian commissioned as an oficer overseas, according to the World Wars Aboriginal Veterans website. He also played on the soccer team that won the Overseas Army Championship in 1942. During the Battle of Rimini in Italy, Greyeyes-Steele was commander of a Saskatoon Light Infantry (Machine Gun) mortar platoon which, along with

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a Greek Mountain Brigade, secured one lank of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division across the Marano River on the hard slog to Rimini, at the cost of more than 100 casualties. GreyeyesSteele was one of 15 Canadians to earn the Greek Military Cross for their performance during the battle. He served in Sicily, Italy, North Africa, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, was an intelligence oficer in Germany, and would have served in the Paciic if Japan had not surrendered. After the war, he returned to farming and married veteran Flora Jeanne, one of the irst Indigenous women to serve in the RCAF Women’s

Division. An ardent soccer player, he was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1977. Greyeyes-Steele became chief of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in 1958, and in 1960 began a public service career, becoming the irst Indigenous regional director of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. In 1977, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada and received the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 1993. He died in Saskatoon in 1996.

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“A hell of a

WARRIOR” Near Littoria, Italy, in February 1944, Reconnaissance Sergeant Tommy Prince, a member of the Devil’s Brigade, ran 1,400 metres of telephone wire from Allied lines to an abandoned farmhouse, where he set up an observation post just 200 metres from enemy artillery, and began his reports. When shelling cut the line, Prince got into civilian clothing, grabbed a hoe and under guise of weeding crops, repaired the wire right under noses of observing enemy, earning a Military Medal. Prince was admired for his cunning, courage and covert moves. “The Germans thought he was a ghost or a devil,” a comrade recalled in P. Whitney Lackenbauer’s proile, “A Hell of a Warrior” in the Journal of Historical Biography. “They could never igure out how he passed the lines and the sentries. He would steal something, like a pair of shoes, right off their feet.” In September 1944, Prince and a private located an enemy reinforcement camp, hiking 70 kilometres across the mountains to report. Prince then led his battalion back to the enemy camps. Prince (above, right, with his brother Morris) was recommended for the Silver Star, an American army decoration for gallantry in action. King George VI placed the Military Medal on Prince’s chest, as well as the Silver Star with ribbon on behalf

of the president of the United States. Only 59 Canadians earned the Silver Star during the war, and only three of them also earned the Military Medal, wrote Janice Summerby in Native Soldiers, Foreign Battleields. Prince, of the Brokenhead Ojibwa Nation in Manitoba, was a descendant of Peguis, the Saulteaux chief who led his people from Ontario to the Red River area in 1790, eventually settling near what is now Selkirk, Man. He is also a descendant of Chief William Prince of the Peguis First Nation, who headed the Nile Voyageurs, boatmen hired in 1884 to carry a military party up the Nile River in an abortive attempt to rescue British General Charles George Gordon, beleaguered in Khartoum, in what is now Sudan. Prince joined the army cadets as a youth. “As soon as I put on my uniform I felt like a better man,” he said in a 1952 article in Maclean’s. He began his military career in 1940 as a sapper with the Royal Canadian Engineers, assigned to home guard duty in England. “I joined the army to ight, not to sit around drinking tea,” he told a comrade. In 1942, Prince became a member of the 1st Special Service Force, a joint Canadian-American unit best known as the Devil’s Brigade. Back home after the war, he was elected chairman of the Manitoba Indian Association and lobbied for changes to the Indian Act. He believed veterans

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were in the best position to ight for a better future for Indigenous people. “My job is to unite the Indians of Canada so we can be as strong as possible when we go to the House of Commons.” Once there, he described returning home after discharge, “but there is no way to make a living.” He wanted better inancial support, hospitals, improved sanitation, schools. He was ultimately disappointed. The resulting changes to the Indian Act lifted the restriction on off-reserve travel and the bans on political organization and traditional spirituality. But they did not go far enough to ensure the permanent improvements to reserve and economic life that he had envisioned. In August 1950, Prince enlisted to ight in Korea. “I owed something to my friends who died,” he said. He joined the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, which was awarded the U.S. Presidential Unit Citation for warding off wave after wave of attacks on Hill 677 during the Battle of Kapyong in 1951. “All my life, I wanted to help my people recover their good name,” Prince said in the Maclean’s article. “I wanted to show they were as good as any white man.” After recovering from a knee problem, Prince signed up for a second tour, joining the 3rd Battalion, PPCLI, in Korea in March 1952. He was among nine wounded at the Second Battle of the Hook on the Samichon River in November 1952, but soldiered on. And on, until he suffered what was then called battle exhaustion, likely posttraumatic stress disorder, for which he was hospitalized. The armistice was signed during his recovery. After the war, Prince slowly descended into alcoholism and homelessness, pawning or selling his medals to make ends meet. They now reside at the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature. More than 500 people, including consuls from France, Italy and the United States, attended his funeral in 1977. “He was a hell of a warrior,” said Don Genaille, an army comrade.

not qualify for bank loans because they did not own the land. They were not able to develop their farms as non-status veterans had, and consequently had less to pass on to their children. In the late 1990s, the federal government compensated veterans, surviving spouses and dependents. Military service “was a powerful egalitarian experience,” historian Scott Sheield testiied before the parliamentary committee, “and for many of them, sadly, the irst and maybe the last time

in their lives they felt respected and honoured for their character and capacity.” As many as 12,000 Indigenous people served in 20th-century wars. “We were proud of the word ‘volunteer,’” said Second World War veteran Syd Moore of Moose Cree First Nation in Ontario in a CBC Remembrance Day interview in 1990. “Nobody forced us. We were good Canadians—patriots— we fought for our country.” L

Rangers

TO THE RESCUE At the dawn of the Cold War, it was a challenge to maintain sovereignty and have a military presence in Canada’s vast north, with its remote and isolated communities, its extremes of climate and geology. How was a country with such a small population going to stand on guard? The Canadian Rangers, established in 1947, was the solution. The reserve force was patterned after the Paciic Coast Militia Rangers who patrolled in British Columbia during the Second World War. “The Rangers represent a lexible, inexpensive and culturally inclusive means of ‘showing the lag’ and asserting Canadian sovereignty in remote regions,” said a 2007 article by P.W. Lackenbauer in the Canadian Army Journal. Today, there are about 5,000 rangers in about 170 patrols across the country, mostly in the Far North. More than 60 per cent are Indigenous, speaking more than two dozen languages and dialects. These part-time reservists watch for unusual activities along the coast, in the hinterland and in their

communities. They also work in searchand-rescue operations and use their geographic and traditional knowledge to help Canadian Armed Forces members working in the North. Rangers responded after an avalanche ripped through a New Year’s party of 400 people in the Inuit community of Kangiqsualujjuaq, Que., in 1999. Nine people died. In -20°C temperatures and 100 kilometre per hour wind, 28 local Rangers freed trapped people, joined by about 40 Rangers from 11 other patrols. General Maurice Baril, then chief of the defence staff, awarded the CAF Unit Commendation to the 2nd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group. Rangers are based in remote communities across the North. In the

LAC/PA-142289; Combat Camera/ISO2012-1012-06; Wikimedia

Arctic, the vast majority are Inuit and many speak solely Inuktitut. Many serve a long time, as there is no mandatory retirement age. Ollie Ittinuar was still serving at the age of 88 when he was inducted into the Order of Military Merit in 2009. He had joined in 1984, at 60. Johnny Tookalook and Johnassie Iqaluk from Sanikiluaq, Nunavut, enlisted in 1947 and served for more than ive decades. Abraham Metatawabin, a Mushkegowuk Cree from Fort Albany, Ont. was honoured for 22 years of service in 2015, when he was 92. At the time, he was the oldest serving member in the Canadian military. Fontaine Fiddler, of the Oji-Cree First Nation 600 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., earned a Medal of Bravery in 2016. He and a cousin noticed a house was on ire, and the family, two adults and four children, were trapped inside. Fiddler, of the 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, found a way in and brought the children out to safety before returning to the burning house for the adults. “I’m very proud to be a Canadian Ranger,” said Sergeant Nick Mantla of Wha Ti First Nation in the Northwest Territories, quoted in Aboriginal People in the Canadian Military. “It’s a way to serve my country as well as my people.”

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

HOME FRONT

The

Children’s

Invasion By Valerie Knowles THOUSANDS OF SCHOOLCHILDREN WERE BROUGHT TO CANADA BETWEEN 1939 AND 1941 TO ESCAPE THE BOMBING AND POSSIBLE INVASION OF BRITAIN

A girl clutches her doll as she waits with her luggage before leaving London for Canada in May 1940.

Citizens of Saskatoon couldn’t contain their excitement when the British children arrived by rail in the late summer of 1940. The largest crowd since the Royal Visit of 1939 was at Union Station to greet the young newcomers. Huge crowds also greeted a party of British children at the Port of Montreal. In Toronto, they were cheered enthusiastically. Who were these children who drew such a warm welcome after arriving from wartorn Britain?

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These were children evacuated to Canada by a British government-inanced agency known as the Children’s Overseas Reception Board (CORB). Even before Great Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, fears of a German invasion were widespread. In fact, the British government had begun slowly planning for war with Nazi Germany soon after Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor in

David Savill/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images/3355787; Montreal Gazette/LAC/PA-142400; IWM/PST3095

1933. The fear of an invasion and occupation by the German army raised concern about the safety of British children. By 1935, a plan had been developed to evacuate youngsters from large cities to the countryside. Four years later, overseas evacuation entered the picture. When Canada was pursuing an exclusionary immigration policy, driven largely by the Great Depression, concerned Canadians urged the federal government to admit large numbers of British children in the event of war. A few Canadians even lobbied Ottawa to grant entry to refugee children from the Continent, most of whom were Jews. Among these Canadians was Senator Cairine Wilson, who headed the Canadian National Committee on Refugees, which sought a liberalization of Canada’s immigration policy. The committee petitioned Ottawa to have 100 youngsters brought from Britain, where they were then living, to Canada for adoption or guaranteed hospitality. Prime Minister Mackenzie King opposed the idea of Canada getting involved in such a scheme before it declared war on Germany, but he did agree to the admission of 100 children as an experiment. The experiment was torpedoed, however, by Frederick C. Blair, director of the Immigration Branch of the Department of Mines and Resources. The perfect instrument of the government’s anti-immigration

policy, Blair set out to thwart the committee’s aims by producing three pages of stringent regulations. As a result, only two children were admitted under the scheme. After Britain declared war on Germany on Sept. 3, 1939, almost three million children were evacuated from large cities to rural areas as authorities predicted massive civilian casualties from the bombing of British cities. When this did not happen, many of these youngsters returned to their families. Others remained in the countryside. After the initial lull in military action, known as the Phoney War (see page 20), ended in April 1940, overseas evacuation began in earnest. By then, the triumphant German war machine was sweeping through western Europe, toppling one government after another. In June, France fell and an attack across the English Channel was believed imminent. In that summer of rising hysteria, a new wave of internal evacuations from London and eastern England got underway. But some parents sought safety for their children farther aield, and in the summer of 1940, a stream of children sailed for North America. Initially, the evacuations were done privately. Parents arranged for their children

Members of the third contingent of guest children arrive in Montreal from Britain on July 7, 1940. A Ministry of Health poster (INSET) advises mothers to leave their children in rural areas while the Blitz on England’s cities continues.

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not propose to send a message by the senior child to Mr. Mackenzie King, or by the junior child either. If I sent a message to anyone, it would be that I entirely deprecate any stampede from this country at the present time.”

Five of the six guest children rescued from a lifeboat with 40 other survivors pose with members of the warship that picked them up after the sinking of SS City of Benares on Sept. 17, 1940. The lifeboat was spotted after being adrift for eight days by the crew of a Sunderland lying boat. Food was dropped to them by parachute and the ship was directed to their location.

to stay with relatives or friends in Canada and the United States. But in some cases, entire schools made the overseas journey. Universities and churches as well as British companies with oices in Canada also set up evacuation programs. However, since many of these youngsters came from well-of families, there were complaints in the British Parliament and press that the aluent were looking out for their own while children from poor families were being overlooked. Fortunately for the children of the less wellof, another option presented itself that summer. In response to a lood of ofers from the Empire, an embarrassed British government announced plans in June to evacuate children to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. The scheme would be operated by CORB, which would pay the children’s transportation costs. In the summer of 1940, some of the children who arrived in Canada came under private auspices, but by far the largest number arrived courtesy of CORB. The British government initially resisted sponsoring overseas evacuations, one of the strongest opponents being Prime Minister Winston Churchill. In fact, he and his wife Clementine detested the very idea of it. Churchill regarded it as defeatist and a waste of invaluable shipping. When he was asked by an oicial if he might like to see the senior child of the irst CORB party deliver a message to Canada’s prime minister, Churchill replied, “I certainly do

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The crisis of 1940 altered the Canadian government’s attitude toward refugees, who had been decidedly unwelcome during the Great Depression. Thomas Crerar, the minister responsible for immigration, proposed that Canada admit at least 10,000 children between the ages of ive and 15, according to historian Geofrey Bilson. The minister of inance worried about the costs, but the cabinet accepted Crerar’s proposal at the end of May. Blair, not surprisingly, was not keen on letting British children into Canada, but he was prepared to follow orders. When CORB opened its doors in June 1940, it was inundated with applications. More than 250,000 children were registered before the application period closed after only two weeks. While private overseas evacuations continued, the government agency proceeded to process its applications, employing a system already set up for massive internal evacuation of London and other vulnerable counties. To be eligible for overseas evacuation by CORB, children had to come from areas likely to be attacked, be in good health, and have a satisfactory school record. At least 90 per cent had to be enrolled in state-run schools and 40 per cent in total had to come from Scotland and Wales. Most of the children who were eventually selected were Protestant because most of the families ofering to provide homes for them were Protestant. Jewish organizations ofered to ind homes for Jewish children, but the Canadian Immigration Branch discouraged the evacuation of Jewish children. For its part, learning from the abuse and hardship sufered by relocated children of the British Home Children migration scheme that started in 1869, the Canadian government also insisted that no child

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would be sent to a family on relief or to one where children had to work for their keep. About 7,500 British children, known oicially as British Guest Children, were evacuated to Canada between 1939 and 1941. Of these, 1,532 arrived under the British government scheme. After debarking at a Canadian port, they were received by immigration oicials, who then arranged for their transportation under supervision to provincial clearing centres, where provincial authorities took charge. Tragedy struck on Sept. 17, 1940, when SS City of Benares, carrying 90 CORB children, was sunk by the German submarine U-48 in the North Atlantic Ocean after naval escorts had left the convoy, believing it was in safe waters. Only 13 of the children were rescued, after being found huddled in lifeboats and sufering from hypothermia. When the U-boat crew returned to base in France, they wept after learning that the City of Benares had been transporting children. The captain of HMS Hurricane, which steamed 480 kilometres to the rescue and picked up most of the ship’s survivors, was also deeply afected. When Lieutenant-Commander Hugh Crofton Simms received the Mayday call and realized that there were women and children on board the City of Benares, he ordered Hurricane to proceed as fast as possible to the site of the sinking. He reached the estimated position at 2:20 the following afternoon, his vessel whipped by gale-force winds and mountainous waves. When he arrived, he found the scattered remains of all the lifeboats, nearly every one of which held dead children. According to his son, Simms dedicated the rest of his life “to the destruction of the Hun.” Fred Steels was 11 at the time. He and the other CORB youngsters were already bedded down below deck when the torpedo hit. Most of them were travelling without their parents. Against all odds, Steels survived the sinking. He recalled decades later that the water had rushed in and that a bunk had crashed down on top of him. “When I got out of the cabin there was a huge hole in the deck, and a dirty great seaman grabbed me and another boy and threw us into a lifeboat,” he said. In the wake of this attack, the British

About 7, 500 British children, known officially as British Guest Children, Children were evacuated to Canada between 1939 and 1941. government suspended and then terminated the CORB evacuation plan. The agency sent no children to Canada and the other dominions in 1941. Death at home in Britain among family was deemed preferable to death at sea. Moreover, by the spring of 1941, the demand for overseas evacuation of children had ended as the threat of a German invasion of Britain was fading. Obtaining warships for convoy duty was also proving diicult. Most of the British Guest Children adjusted well in Canada where, even in wartime, life was comparatively luxurious and where there were no air raids or blackouts and food was abundant. In fact, many eventually returned to Canada as immigrants. One of those was W.A.B. Douglas, who had a long naval and public-service career, becoming oicial historian of the Department of National Defence before retiring from the federal government. The son of a widowed mother, he sailed in July 1940 from Liverpool to New York, then took the train to Toronto. He joined the family of a well-of businessman and his wife, a friend of his mother. His mother missed him terribly, but in 1943, she was able to arrange for him to return home on HMS Pursuer as a “guest of the British Admiralty.” Douglas did so on the understanding that if the war were still raging when he reached the age for military service, he would join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. As it happened, the war ended before he reached military age. His mother married a Canadian army chaplain in 1945 and sailed to Canada as a war bride in 1946. Consequently, after leaving school in 1947, Douglas set of to join his parents in Canada, sailing as a “military dependent”—the only male military dependent among hundreds of war brides. On his return to Canada, he could once again enjoy the pleasures and amenities he had enjoyed as a British Guest Child. L

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FACE TO FACE

Is the North Warning System

obsolete? Andrea Charron says YES

he North Warning System (NWS) is a series of ground-based, unmanned (but contractor-maintained), short- and long-range radar stations arrayed from Alaska to Greenland. The system has always suffered from an identity crisis. Its ability to provide adequate warning—restricted to the air domain only—has long been an issue. And its 1980s-era communications system is modest. It remains, however, Norad’s main early-warning radar system for the air defence of North America. It is now inadequate, given its location, growing geopolitical tensions, new technologies and multi-domain threats, not to mention environmental concerns. The system’s capability must be reimagined. What new combination of systems and capabilities it should have, however, is a political and operational quandary. The world is in the midst of a redistribution of geostrategic power that is not in Canada’s favour. Emboldened states—Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, India, Brazil—are resorting to power politics to challenge the long-held, rules-based, United States-led order. The potential for conlict and confrontation is growing and the risk of miscalculation is rising. The Western alliance certainly needs to shoulder some

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

of the responsibility, especially for its lack of attention to credible and persistent deterrence. There has never been a greater need to be able to warn of aggressive action as early as possible, but the NWS is simply not designed for such a task. We are also witnessing rapid development in technology. The NWS, designed as a tripwire to warn of Soviet-era Tupolev Tu95 (Bear) bombers travelling at a speciic speed and altitude, is not suited to detect drones or hypersonic weapons travelling at various speeds and altitudes. The 1980s architecture leaves the system vulnerable to new methods of data exploitation and too old for parts to be easily accessed. There is an opportunity here for a reimagined system, for thinking beyond simply “defence” threats. A new NWS could be multifunctional, supporting other departments and agencies, addressing security challenges, monitoring environmental change and aiding in safety scenarios. Canada must be able to detect, deter and defend against threats emanating from all domains: air, space, land, maritime and cyber. And from more than just a north-south axis. Currently, the NWS is a passive defensive tool that lacks the range to identify, track and, most problematic,

do anything to counter unconventional threats. It does not “see” as far as the Canadian Air Defence Identiication Zone, which leaves Canada and the U.S. unable to monitor air trafic adequately and blind to unorthodox or non-state threats.

THE NWS IS NOT SUITED TO DETECT DRONES OR HYPERSONIC WEAPONS TRAVELLING AT VARIOUS SPEEDS AND ALTITUDES. Finally, the system, whether replaced or not, is an environmental challenge. Arctic weather contributes to metal fatigue, which causes the radar sites to erode and possibly leach toxic chemicals into the ground and atmosphere. With a reimagined NWS combining space, land and cyber systems, Canada would demonstrate responsible stewardship, involve local communities, fulil its Norad commitments and advance its radar and communication technology. All of this would contribute to situational awareness, show that Canada has command and control over its northern reaches and improve the protection of North America. L

> To voice your opinion on this question, go to www.legionmagazine.com/FaceToFace

ANDREA CHARRON is associate professor and director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies at the University of Manitoba.

Ernie Regehr says

he American commander of Norad claims that today’s security environment is “more competitive and dangerous” than any in recent generations, and that makes the case for modernizing the North Warning System. But upgrades to this northern transcontinental line of surveillance radars—deployed in support of sovereignty, air defence and frontier controls—are necessary regardless of threat levels. The NWS joins Paciic and Atlantic coastal radars in monitoring air approaches to Canadian territory. Norad and the Canadian Armed Forces track and identify some 200,000 civilian aircraft that approach or enter Canadian airspace annually. The mission is to sort out which of those represent challenges to Canadian security, law enforcement or public safety. As the Arctic becomes more accessible to small aircraft, more and more of those air surveillance/interception operations will take place in the North. And, of course, the NWS also watches for the half dozen or so Russian military aircraft that patrol near, but with no known incursions into, North American airspace every year. Currently, the northern airdefence radar stations run along the northern mainland coast,

Illustrations by Joel Kimmel

ERNIE REGEHR is senior fellow with The Simons Foundation of Vancouver and co-founder of Project Ploughshares.

leaving the frontiers and air approaches of the more northerly Arctic Archipelago beyond their reach. That means a primary feature of NWS modernization will be to move surveillance technologies to include the northern reaches of the Arctic islands. Modernization will also seek to expand the role of the NWS to include the monitoring of Arctic waterways, tracking ballistic missiles and detecting cruise missiles. The point of the NWS, is and will remain, domain awareness— awareness of events within and in the approaches to Canadian territory—and modernization of the system should be driven less by the return of “great power politics” and more by an acknowledgement that domain awareness is as important in peacetime as in crisis. The threat environment is changing, but there still is no reliable “defence” available against the strategic-range nuclear weapons of powers like Russia and China— and no upgrades to a surveillance system will change that. Intercontinental ballistic missiles cannot be reliably intercepted—the North American ballistic missile defence system struggles to develop the capacity to intercept isolated and limited attacks, as might come from North Korea. The Pentagon doesn’t even try to mount a defence against great

power arsenals. Long-range cruise missiles similarly defy interception. Advocates of more efective defence eforts admit as much when they speculate about preemptive attacks on cruise missile platforms (which they call the archers) because they know that intercepting arrows (the individual missiles) is a losing proposition. A renewed NWS promises more reliable and earlier warning of cruise and ballistic missile attacks, but not a credible defence—the only means of managing those threats is a combination of deterrence to prevent nuclear attack and arms control to curtail contending arsenals.

A RENEWED NWS PROMISES MORE RELIABLE AND EARLIER WARNING OF CRUISE AND BALLISTIC MISSILE ATTACKS, BUT NOT A CREDIBLE DEFENCE. The main contribution of an upgraded NWS will be to improve essential domain awareness in support of sovereignty, defence against conventional and asymmetric security threats, and public safety. These are vital national interests that are not obsolete—so neither is the North Warning System. L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Pride dignity Sentiments of gratitude and tolerance prevailed on Remembrance Day in the nation’s capital By Stephen J. Thorne

T A veteran salutes during the remembrance ceremony in Ottawa on Nov. 11.

he Second World War is never far from the heart and mind of 97-year-old veteran Bill Anderson, whose 5th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, landed in Normandy on D-Day +6 and fought its way through Europe and into Germany. Appointed a troop commander after the lieutenant in charge was killed, the native of Saint John, N.B., saw action in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. On Nov. 11, he was at the National War Memorial in Ottawa for the 2019 Remembrance Day ceremony. The Germans “scared the daylights out of us,” said Anderson, who will represent Ontario veterans on a pilgrimage

marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands in 2020. “But I had a good group of people that I served with without injury and without injury to my men. And I’m very happy about that. “It never goes away,” he added, least of all in November, when the poppies come out and the memories low. He called the crowd in Ottawa, estimated at roughly 32,000, a “wonderful” tribute. “It’s a thrill. It really is.” The throngs braved a stif breeze and sub-freezing temperatures as they formed a kaleidoscope of colours, cultures and ages lining the streets surrounding the memorial arch for the ceremony. The parade of veterans seemed smaller, the number of those who served in the Second World War and Korea depleting with each year as they are gradually replaced by peacekeeping and Afghanistan veterans. The Massed Pipes and Drums heralded the arrival of Governor General Julie Payette and other dignitaries, including 2019-20 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother Reine Samson Dawe; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and

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Sophie Grégoire Trudeau; Chief of the Defence Staf General Jonathan Vance; Royal Canadian Legion Dominion President Tom Irvine and others. The ceremony started with “O Canada,” sung by the Ottawa Children’s Choir, followed by “Last Post,” played by trumpeter RCAF Sergeant Frederic Paci. At the stroke of 11 a.m., the irst gun of the 21-gun salute ushered in The Silence, and thousands stood hushed for two minutes of quiet contemplation. “The Lament,” “The Rouse,” and the Act of Remembrance were followed by a poignant prayer by Major-General Guy Chapdelaine, chaplain general of the CAF. “We seek dialogue with one another in all spheres, social, political and religious, that in doing so, we may achieve a lasting peace,” he said. “May this be so and may we all strive to continue our eforts to build a better world.” Governor General Payette led the dignitaries in placing wreaths, followed by dozens of embassy and organization representatives. Silver Cross mother Dawe was a proud and digniied presence throughout the solemn ceremony. Matthew Dawe, the youngest of her four sons, served with the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based in Edmonton. He was a captain in charge of 8 Platoon, ‘C’ Company, when he, ive other soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were killed by a roadside bomb on July 4, 2007, his son’s second birthday. Matthew Dawe was 27. Matt was a “delightful child, very lively, mischievous, very artistic, too,” said Dawe, a retired physiotherapist. “He loved music, any kind of music, from opera to classical to the Rolling Stones. There was always music coming out of his bedroom. He loved theatre; he was in plays at school. He was a real mimic; he could imitate anybody—his dad, his teachers, any personality who had something interesting he could copy.” He was a multisport athlete: rock-climbing (he climbed onto the roof of their two-storey house once), tennis, baseball, soccer, hockey. The brothers were competitive, yet supportive of one another. “He was also very brave and courageous,” Dawe said of her youngest.

Stephen J. Thorne

“I HAD A GOOD GROUP OF PEOPLE THAT I SERVED WITH WITHOUT INJURY AND WITHOUT Dignitaries INJURY TO MY MEN.” attending the “That’s what brought him to Afghanistan.” Matt Dawe’s two-year stint as commander of 8 Platoon inished before he was due to deploy. He could have stayed home, but Dawe was having none of it. “He promptly marched himself into his commander’s oice and said, ‘I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make sense. I trained with those guys. I know them very well. Am I supposed to send them over there with somebody they don’t even know and doesn’t know them? That’s not acceptable.’” He won the debate and was included in the roster to deploy. Then he ruptured his Achilles tendon. The injury was supposed to take a year to heal. Dawe was back to form in four months. “I’m asked sometimes, ‘Could you have changed his mind?’” said Dawe. “Well, irst of all, I wouldn’t even have tried because it meant so much to him that I could well imagine how he would have felt seeing his

ceremony (BELOW, from left) included retired lieutenantcolonel Peter Dawe, 2019-20 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother Reine Samson Dawe, Governor General Julie Payette, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau. Dawe (BOTTOM LEFT) placed a wreath on behalf of the mothers of Canada, while Royal Canadian Legion Dominion President Tom Irvine (BOTTOM RIGHT) placed one for Canada’s veterans.

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“I ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT OUR BOYS MADE THEIR CHOICES AND WE HAD TO RESPECT THAT.”

“It’s a thrill. It really is,” said Second World War veteran Bill Anderson (ABOVE), describing the 32,000 people who attended the ceremony in Ottawa. Winners of the Legion’s national senior poster and literary contests (ABOVE RIGHT) placed a wreath on behalf of the youth of Canada.

‘guys’ going over there without him. “I always believed that our boys made their choices and we had to respect that. I wasn’t about to dissuade them from a career that was at times very scary.” Matthew Dawe earned an engineering degree at the Royal Military College, and today a study room, a varsity athletic award and a sword presented annually to the top combat arms cadet all bear his name. A building at CFB Kingston, the Legion branch in Collins Bay, Ont., and an annual award for outstanding leadership and school spirit at La Salle Secondary School in Kingston, Ont., are also named for him. Reine Dawe’s husband Peter is a retired lieutenant-colonel and all their sons have served in the Canadian military. The oldest, Peter, is the major-general at the helm of the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command. Dawe says she is proud of all of her sons, and not just for their military service. “They are all very good men—productive and socially aware and respectable. They all have very good accomplishments as far as careers and so on, but the most important to me is that they are good men. They are very good men.” Dawe said she wants to use her platform as Silver Cross mother to remind Canadians to think of their military year-round, not just on Nov. 11. “And I don’t want them to show pity for people who sufered in many diferent ways from the dangers of war. They deserve more than that. They deserve respect, gratitude

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and continuous support—for them and their families.” Dawe is a member of Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, a group promoting and supporting human rights and the education of women and girls in the country where Canadian soldiers fought the remnants of an oppressive regime for 13 years. “That’s very dear to me. And if you can’t do that, then work on tolerance in general. Tolerance for your fellow Canadians, friends and family. That’s the easy part, but also for people who are diferent from you, whether by looks or culture or status. To me, that’s the basis of a good society.” Rabbi Reuven Bulka, honorary chaplain of the Royal Canadian Legion Dominion Command, echoed that sentiment in his benediction, as he reminded those present that courage and sacriice knows no colour, race or creed. “We are grateful for the supreme sacriice so many Canadians made, and were ready to make, on land, in the air, at sea,” he said. “We are grateful to the dead, the wounded, the survivors, the war-bereaved. “We are grateful to all the men and women— our anglophones, francophones, Indigenous Peoples and veterans of many ethnic and religious communities. We are grateful to them for putting their lives on hold and at risk in order to eliminate tyranny and defend liberty. “We are grateful to the younger veterans and the older veterans who gather in mutual respect and admiration as partners in the battle against evil. We are grateful to them for ighting our ight to ensure freedom and dignity for everyone.” L

Stephen J. Thorne

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2019 IN NORTH BATTLEFORD, SASKATCHEWAN

Four veterans a ceremony Bitter cold on November 11 did not deter citizens of The Battlefords from pausing to remember those who served By Jennifer Morse

long, straight highway leads 140 kilometres northwest from Saskatoon to The Battlefords, the adjacent communities of North Battleford and Battleford in west-central Saskatchewan. The ields here have been white since late October and the wind is whipping the snow into a haze that fades to a pale sky. Every 15 or 20 kilometres, grain elevators rise up like grey giants waiting by the railway beside the road. It is long past time for parkas and winter boots. North Battleford, on the eastern shore of the North Saskatchewan River, has a population of almost 14,000. The region was home to Cree, Blackfoot and Assiniboine for thousands of years before French fur traders arrived in the late 1700s. Today, Indigenous people make up a quarter of the

Jennifer Morse

city’s population. The community provides economic, education, health and social services to the primarily agricultural region. The city is neat and quiet, with rows of elm trees lining the snow-covered streets. Remembrance Day here dawned bright and cold: -27°C with a wind chill of -35°. The day’s events started with a parade formed up at North Battleford Branch on 100 Street. Led by the branch colour party and executive members and followed by an RCMP contingent in red serge dress uniforms, a few dozen veterans, army and air cadets, girl guides, scouts and a North Battleford Fire Department ire truck, it passed the cenotaph and halted in front of John Paul II Collegiate high school.

The veterans’ parade (ABOVE) marched from the North Battleford Legion branch to John Paul II Collegiate, where the ceremony took place.

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“LET US REMEMBER OUR HEROIC PAST, ACTIONS OF COURAGE AND NOBILITY AND GRANDEUR.” The ceremony took place in the school gymnasium. Remembrance Day is a statutory Attendees illed holiday in Saskatchewan and hundreds packed the school gym the gym to remember and honour those who (BELOW). Branch gave their lives in service of their country. President Marilyn Clark (BOTTOM LEFT), The ceremony began with “The Lament” accompanied by and “The Rouse,” performed by the North Past President Battleford City Kinsmen Band, followed by Gordon Brown the Act of Remembrance read by branch oiciated the President Marilyn Clark. Legion chaplain ceremony. A member Reverend Jan Cooke led the call to worof 43rd Royal ship. “Let us remember our heroic past, Canadian Air Cadet actions of courage and nobility and granSquadron (BOTTOM deur,” he said, “and work to make such RIGHT) stood with deeds part of the people we are today.” arms reversed. The ceremony included Bible readings

by warrant oicers second class Cheney Legacy and Shelby Pontes and Flight Corporal Daniel Eckerman, after which 16 wreaths were placed at the temporary indoor cenotaph, including one in memory of Elzear Joseph (Shorty) Duhaime, a beloved local Second World War veteran who died at the age of 95 on Nov. 8. During the wreath placing, the audience was treated to the beautiful voices of Kathleen Abrahamson and Piper Mutch, accompanied on keyboard by Ashlyn Elmer from the Battlefords Community Youth Choir. Clark then invited those gathered to the branch for lunch, and there, greetings from dignitaries were read. After the service, the wreaths were moved to the city cenotaph in H.D. McPhail Park by the 43rd Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron and the 2537 Battlefords Army Cadets, who lined up in the bitter cold to place each garland, after which they removed their poppies and solemnly placed them on the cenotaph. On Sunday, Nov. 10, Gordon Brown, Past President of North Battleford Branch, had arranged for me to meet four veterans living at Caleb Village, a modern retirement community northeast of downtown. They had an hour free before the start of Sunday afternoon football. We sat in a circle of remembrance and they began to share stories of their service. Doug Zorn had a 35-year career with the RCMP, serving in New Brunswick, Ontario and across Saskatchewan; Ed Smith was a signalman in the Second World War; Don Chartier enlisted in 1942 and trained as a tanker in the armoured corps, but the war ended before he got overseas; and Byron Rodriguez served two tours in Afghanistan as an army medic. “I joined in Winnipeg when I was 18, and it has been 31 years since I retired,” said Zorn. “Then I went to work on pipelines for 12 years. When I was in New Brunswick, I rescued a young registered nurse and brought her west. I lost her three years ago.”

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Zorn is proud of his police work. “Unfortunately, we have been forgotten,” he said. “We participated in every war, we had members in Haiti, and all over Europe, but you don’t see stories about them. I spent all my service on detachment, and as a detachment commander I have seen everything: murders, true friends shot, killed.” He and Smith have an easy friendship and tease each other about why two old farm boys joined up—to avoid bringing in another crop, to get of the farm, or maybe because the pay was better…but not much. Smith, 97, was 19 when he enlisted in 1942. “When I joined up in Saskatoon, they sent me to Guelph,” said Smith. “I was there about three months and they said they were sending me home on leave because ‘you’re going overseas.’ For most of the leave, I was on the train getting home and then getting back again. I was in England training for a long time. Ours was the second division to go into Caen, Falaise, and all through Belgium and the Netherlands. “I have so many memories, I could ill a book. You had to go to an aptitude test for overseas and, fortunately, I didn’t end up in infantry, but the signal corps. I spent a long time and that was all we did, take messages from the army, 1st Canadian Corps, everything. “We landed in July 1944. Exactly one month after the third division was out, they sent the second division in. We took shifts. We had a big lorry, a Bedford made in England. We were communications for all the diferent departments—engineering, medical, everything, no matter what it was, everything went through our exchange. “We had an oice in the Bedford truck, two desks with all the equipment on them and two operators all the time. And one of us had to operate the telephone exchange. Sometimes you worked all

Jennifer Morse

“I HAVE SO MANY MEMORIES, I COULD FILL A BOOK.” day, sometimes you worked all night. “About 6:30 in the morning, a message came through that the war was over. It was [then] sent out to everybody. A dispatch driver brought back a great big bottle of Calvados. “Terrible stuf.” Smith laughed. “Terrible stuf. “After I got out,” he continued, “I went to Saskatoon and took a course in accounting through Veterans Afairs.” He then worked as an accountant in the automotive industry, ending in sales in North Battleford. “That’s not the whole story,” said Zorn. “After he retired, he went to work for the sherif’s department.” Smith’s eyes twinkled and he continued. “I belonged to a poker club—long story— and the sherif was one of our members. ‘I have to get a deputy sherif,’ he said, and somehow or other, I got the job.” The four veterans were caught up in their memories, and the kickof had long passed. Smith had a few mementos with him, including his Canadian medals and another from France. In October 2017, he was awarded the rank of Knight of the French Legion of Honour. Chartier didn’t quite make it to the front lines. “I joined up right here in North Battleford and went to basic training in Orillia, Ont., for three months. I was a tanker in the armoured corps. The war was over before I got over there.” He listened quietly as Smith reminisced about those days, then added, “After the war, I became a plumber.” Rodriguez, who is Second Vice of North Battleford Branch, served as a medic in Afghanistan from September 2008 to April 2009 and again from April to

ABOVE LEFT, from left:

Doug Zorn, Byron Rodriguez, Don Chartier and Ed Smith reminisced about their service. A member of 43rd Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron (ABOVE) placed a wreath at the cenotaph in H.D. McPhail Park.

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“I KNEW WE COULD MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE. WE WERE BUILDING HOUSES, SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS.” December 2010. “Eighty per cent of my tour was outside the wire,” he said, “which means that I was where the war was.” He volunteered for the second tour. “The way I saw it was that we either fought the Taliban there or we fought them here in Canada. Sooner or later they would come here and, in my view, it was better to ight them in their country. “I saw progress that made a big diference. The irst time I was there, boys and girls couldn’t walk together on the same side of the street, or play sports together. The school had two separate doors. Females had no rights, they had nothing. Females had to look down to the ground. They had to walk behind you, never beside you, never in front of you. “But our duty was to ight the Taliban, not to deal with domestic issues. One little girl of 14 was beat up, with a broken

nose. I asked her what happened. She had been married for two years and whenever the time of the month would come and she wasn’t pregnant…well…. “I knew we could make a big diference. We were building houses, schools, hospitals. We did so many things. We gave the kids chocolates…so much that we take for granted at home. I asked one of the men how often they eat beef and he said once a week. Then I asked, ‘How do you cook it?’ ‘We get the bone and throw it in the pot and give it to another family…to lavour the water.’ That was their beef.” Smith and Chartier have been sharing the same dinner table for ive years. Looking at the two eldest, I mentioned that Saskatchewan has more centenarians per capita than any other province—people live longer here. “Oh,” said Chartier. “I thought it just felt longer.” The residence holds its own Remembrance Day ceremony every year, said Zorn, to honour veterans and remember those who paid the ultimate price. But these men don’t need help remembering. More than 70 years later, said Smith, “I remember it vividly, of course.” L

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Forum research spans mind to moon

59 FORUM RESEARCH SPANS MIND TO MOON

By Sharon Adams

60 LEGION CLAMPS DOWN ON STOLEN VALOUR By Tom MacGregor

61 SERVING YOU Major-General Andrew Downes, the CAF SurgeonGeneral, addresses the forum.

62 NEW BRUNSWICK CONVENTION By Tom MacGregor

64 SURVEY EXPOSES DISCONTENT WITH VETERANS’ SYSTEM By Stephen J. Thorne

66 BRITISH COLUMBIA/ YUKON CONVENTION By Sharon Adams

68 VETERANS GROUPS CONSULT ON COMMON ISSUES By Tom MacGregor

69 NEW PAIN RESEARCH CENTRE FOR VETERANS By Sharon Adams

70 SASKATCHEWAN CONVENTION By Stephen J. Thorne

72 TWITTER CREATES POPPY EMOJI 72 OBITUARY GREGORY THOMPSON 73 UBC OFFERS VETERANFRIENDLY CAMPUS By Sharon Adams

Sharon Adams

ew ways to control bleeding, better prostheses, vehicles designed to minimize damage from explosions, providing hope and help to struggling military families—these beneits of military health research have wideranging impacts on people’s lives. The 750 delegates to the 10th Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research forum in Gatineau, Que., Oct. 21-23 heard about these developments—and many, many more—in nearly 250 research presentations and a half dozen keynote addresses spread over three intense days. Retired general Walt Natynczyk has championed serving soldiers and then veterans, and has come full circle in his appreciation of military-health research. “The evidence you provide, with the hard rigour of research, is vital to how we provide support to our veterans and their families,” said Natynczyk, deputy minister of Veterans Afairs, in his keynote

address at the 2019 forum. A decade ago, at CIMVHR’s irst forum, Canada was at war. Natynczyk was chief of the defence staf, dealing with new combat health challenges—particularly the physical and psychological toll presented by improvised explosive devices. The argument for evidence-based treatment for soldiers won him over back then, he said, and such research now ensures Veterans Afairs Canada “provides the best care and support, relecting best practices and leading-edge innovation.” Vice-Admiral H.C. Edmundson, commander of Military Personnel Command, agreed. “Through research we are able to understand challenges, to make decisions and put together policy changes” that align with the needs of those serving. Over the past decade, military health research has moved “from what happened and why did it happen, to what will happen and what should we do about it,” said

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

“THE EVIDENCE YOU PROVIDE, WITH THE HARD RIGOUR OF RESEARCH, IS VITAL TO HOW WE PROVIDE SUPPORT TO OUR VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES.” CAF epidemiologist Robert Hawes. He designed the military population health surveillance system CAF-HERO, which combines data from dozens of sources to monitor the health status of personnel and identify risks to operational readiness. This can cover a myriad of considerations, including enforcing public health measures, preventing diseases during deployment and ensuring members see the dentist before deploying. Through their participation, serving members and veterans “ensure researchers are well informed

of our unique requirements and recognize diferences between civilian and military populations,” said Major-General Andrew Downes, CAF Surgeon-General. DND and VAC have awarded nearly 80 health research projects valued at about $14 million to the CIMVHR network of researchers, which has grown to include 1,700 researchers at 44 universities and a myriad of research institutes and government departments. “We push for world-class research,” said Tom Irvine, The Royal Canadian Legion’s Dominion President. “This can lead to development of important evidence-based practices, policies and programs and helps the Legion advocate for change.” Irvine presented the Legion’s sixth $30,000 master’s level scholarship to University of British Columbia student Kaitlin Sullivan, who is studying the underlying mechanisms of fear memory. Ultimately, Irvine said, this could lead to development of pharmaceuticals that can

Legion clamps down on stolen valour By Tom MacGregor

ominion President Tom Irvine has committed the Legion to addressing the issue of stolen valour—when a member of the public wears a uniform or medals to which they are not entitled. It is not a new phenomenon. It is an ofence under Sections 419 A and B of the Criminal Code of Canada. However, in today’s

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

age of instant messages and social media, cases are more quickly noticed and given wide circulation. A Legion policy for dealing with accusations of stolen valour was developed by the Going Forward Committee and approved by Dominion Executive Council. That policy was explained by Irvine in a video which is posted

block or lessen formation of fear memories after a traumatic event. The inal keynote address updated delegates on research that is out of this world. Or will be. Rob Riddell, light surgeon with the Canadian Space Agency, said Canada will provide a smart robotic system in Canadarm 3 for the Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway, a stepping stone for future space explorers. Canada will also contribute a medical system to support humans in deep space. His mandate calls for the system to be developed in Canada and that it must directly beneit Canadians. The challenge of health care in space has some commonalities— communications lag, diiculty in timely access and training in self care—with Canadians who are geographically or culturally isolated, or whose mobility is a barrier to access. “How amazing would it be to apply those same technologies to beneit thousands of Canadians every day?” L

on the Legion website Legion.ca. “The Legion does not have access to an individual’s service record to verify a stolen valour accusation,” said Irvine. “When we are alerted to an accusation of stolen valour within the Legion membership, the claim is immediately addressed beginning with a regional investigation. If there is evidence of criminal activity, the claim is reported to local authorities and we monitor the investigation through its conclusion.” The Legion policy makes it clear that it is important to respect a member’s right to due process and to have his or her side heard. At the same time, branches are responsible for

protecting the branch’s reputation and the reputation of The Royal Canadian Legion as a whole. When made aware of a suspected case, a branch president should: • identify someone who can speak to the person accused. That person can be the president or a trusted member of the branch who the person accused will feel comfortable speaking with; • explain the accusation to the person and potential impact on the branch and the Legion if it is true; • give the person the opportunity to tell his or her side of the story. It is hoped the conversation will clarify the situation with the

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SERVING

YOU

person providing evidence that there is no case or it will convince the accused to surrender the items which are worn fraudulently; • report the outcome of the investigation to the appropriate command. In recent years, the independent group Stolen Valour Canada has investigated cases of individuals accused of fraudulently wearing uniforms or medals. It is a volunteer group of veterans who use contacts within regimental associations and other informal sources to verify if the person is entitled to the decorations being worn. In many cases, the person has apologized and surrendered the

“IF THERE IS EVIDENCE OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, THE CLAIM IS REPORTED TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES.” ofending items. In others, the case has been reported and the person has been ined or put on probation. Others who have not been charged and have not agreed to stop have been posted in the Hall of Shame on the group’s website www.stolenvalour.ca. L

SERVING YOU is written by Legion command service oicers. To reach a service oicer, call toll-free 1-877-534-4666, or consult a command website. For years of archives, visit www.legionmagazine.com

Applying for your Veteran’s Service Card

ll Canadian Armed Forces veterans may now apply for the new Veteran’s Service Card (VSC). The inal stage of the VSC distribution has begun. Applications from CAF veterans released before February 2016 are now being accepted for processing. All Regular and Reserve Force CAF members who completed basic training and were honourably released are eligible to receive the VSC upon request. You may apply for your VSC either online or by mail. It is strongly recommended that you apply via the online application portal as it may expedite your request by at least two weeks. Due to privacy and security considerations, the CAF will not accept or process any applications by e-mail or by e-mail attachment. They will make every efort to verify eligibility and fulil requests within

a 90-day period of application. Apply for your card online using the Veteran’s Service Card secure online portal veteransservice-card.canada.ca/en/. By mail, you will have to download the Veteran’s Service Card Application Form at www.canada.ca/content/ dam/dnd-mdn/documents/ military-beneits/20190919-vscapplication-form-dnd-9036-e. pdf and ill it in electronically before printing. For handwritten submissions, print the form and ill out using clear block letters. Include the following with your application form: a passport-like quality photo; proof of identity such as a scan or photocopy of a valid government-issued photo identiication; and a copy of a CAF certiicate of service if available. Mail the application form and enclosures to Director General

Defence Security, National Defence Identiication Service, Veteran’s Service Card, National Defence Headquarters, MGen George R. Pearkes Building, 101 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa ON K1A 0K2. The new Veteran’s Service Card is not intended for oicial use as an identiication card; it provides a tangible symbol of recognition of your military service. It is not intended to replace the CFOne card. If you already have a previously issued NDI 75 card, there is no need to apply for the new Veteran’s Service Card. Questions regarding the implementation of the Veteran’s Service Card can be directed to VSCQuestions. EnquetesCSAC@forces.gc.ca. A toll-free number, 1-833-9950004, is also available to respond to applicant inquiries. L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

84th New Brunswick ONTARIO CONVENTION Convention

Unused veterans’ beds concern delegates By Tom MacGregor

egionnaires in New Brunswick expressed concern about the loss of veteranspriority-access beds in the province’s long-term care facilities when delegates met for the 84th New Brunswick Command Convention in Shediac on Sept. 21-22. The issue of veterans’ beds came up when Veterans Seniors and Services Committee Chair Daryl Alward noted that Horizon Health Network, one of the province’s two health-care authorities, had been allotted eight beds that had been veteranspriority beds at the Veterans Health Unit in Fredericton and 10 beds at the Ridgewood Veterans Health Wing in Saint John. Delegates were upset that those beds, which are available only to Second World War and Korean War veterans, were being used by non-veterans. “We have 600,000 veterans in Canada and we are giving away beds,” said Larry Lynch of Lancaster Branch in Saint John. “What I want to know is: once we have given them to Horizon, are we ever going to get them back?” Later in the convention, delegates would unanimously pass a resolution that eligibility for beds contracted to Veterans Afairs Canada be extended to all veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces. The convention was held at

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

the Shediac Convention Centre, 25 kilometres northeast of Moncton, N.B. It got underway on Saturday morning with local dignitaries bringing greetings. Dominion Treasurer Mark Barham declared the convention open. Later in the day, Barham, New Brunswick Command President John Ladouceur, Shediac Mayor Roger Caissie, VAC representative Lauri Schafer and provincial Ladies Auxiliary President Susan Brooks placed wreaths in a commemoration ceremony at the town cenotaph.

BEDS, WHICH ARE AVAILABLE ONLY TO SECOND WORLD WAR AND KOREAN WAR VETERANS, WERE BEING USED BY NON-VETERANS. With 125 delegates attending, business started with a surprise for Ladouceur, who was presented with the Meritorious Service Medal by Barham on behalf of the Legion. Homeless Veterans Committee Chair Harold Harper reported that the committee helped four homeless veterans at an expenditure of $20,700 in 2018 and ive homeless veterans at a cost of $5,868 so far in 2019. Later in the convention, it was announced

that branches had donated $22,000 to the Homeless Veterans Fund. Membership Committee Chair Tony Chevalier said that membership in the command was steady with 7,201 members as of August. It had an 84.9 per cent renewal rate when the national average was 83 per cent. Changing to his role as Veterans Licence Plate Committee Chair, Chevalier told delegates that New Brunswick Command would continue to be the authority to approve a veteran’s licence plate. At his committee’s recommendation, the provincial government will be changing the deinition of a veteran to the one approved by Dominion Command; he expected new forms with the new deinition to be printed shortly. The command has approved 8,146 veterans’ plates since 2003. Delegates welcomed news from Treasurer Gary McDade, who reported that the command inances are in good shape and that there would be no request for a per capita tax increase. The command also presented Leigh Hunter of the Gagetown Military Family Resource Centre with a cheque for $10,000. Barham told delegates that Dominion Command was following the recommendations of its Going Forward Committee to modernize the Legion and improve member retention. “Twenty-six per cent of those who answered our questions on not renewing said it was because of at-the-branch

Tom MacGregor

Newly elected President Terry Campbell (centre) is lanked by First Vice Daryl Alward (left) and Second Vice Tony Chevalier. Looking on are (from left) Sergeant-at-Arms Henry D’Eon, Dominion Treasurer Mark Barham, Honorary President Harold Harper, Grand Patron Tom Eagles, Treasurer Gary McDade, Past President John Ladouceur and Chair Joe Rideout. Following the cenotaph service (BELOW), Ladouceur (left) and Barham chat.

experiences,” he said. “We have to be more welcoming.” He suggested that modernizing facilities would help attract new members. “We used to build bunkers. We need to open up our facilities.” After his presentation, Chair Joe Rideout called for delegates to come forward with their donations to the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League. Delegates raised $12,623 to help veterans and widows in Caribbean countries. Kent Caldwell of St. Croix Branch in St. Stephen made a presentation on his experiences on the 2019 Royal Canadian Legion Pilgrimage of Remembrance to Europe. He inished by presenting a charcoal etching of the headstone of a local soldier to St. Croix Branch. Delegates approved a resolution

to remove a bylaw that says the Legion uses the masculine to include the feminine. Instead, the command will use gender-neutral language with such titles as “chairperson” or “chair.” Other resolutions called on the Legion to lobby the provincial government to ensure that the sacriices of veterans are taught in the school curriculum and that the command continue to process applications for veterans’ licence plates with no administration fee. The only standing vote required was when a motion was made to bring back a non-concurred resolution to create a veterans council within the Legion, with a head who would be a senior elected oicer of Dominion Command. New Brunswick Command had

approved such a resolution at its 2017 provincial convention but it was non-concurred at the following dominion convention. Rideout said that a two-thirds majority would be required to bring the resolution back to the loor for discussion. After counting the votes, he declared the motion had failed to get the required support. Barham acted as election chair. First Vice Terry Campbell of Peninsula Branch in Clifton Royal was acclaimed president. Former president Harold Harper of Havelock Branch was elected honorary president over Paul Dupuis of Moncton Branch. Second Vice Daryl Alward of Marysville Branch in Fredericton was elected irst vice over Tony Chevalier of Alfred Ashburne Branch in Gagetown. Chevalier’s name was dropped down to run for second vice in a contest with Stella Ward of Harcourt Branch and Ron Bourque of Durham Branch in Belledune. After two ballots, Chevalier was declared elected. Treasurer McDade of Fredericton Branch was acclaimed for another term. Chair Rideout of Fredericton Branch was re-elected in a contest with Clayton Saunders of Petitcodiac Branch. Rideout had become chair partway through the term when former chair Jack Clayton resigned to become executive director of New Brunswick Command. Campbell thanked Local Arrangements Committee Chair Leo Doiron for the hospitality from Shediac Branch, which included lunches and a banquet served at the centre. L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Survey exposes discontent with veterans’ system By Stephen J. Thorne

early 60 per cent of respondents to an online survey conducted on behalf of Legion Magazine said the country’s veterans are poorly served by Veterans Afairs Canada. Almost 75 per cent, or 952, of 1,275 respondents to the non-scientiic survey identiied themselves as veterans. The survey was conducted on Twitter, Facebook and on the magazine’s website at legionmagazine.com from May to October 2019. An ad in the July/August issue of Legion Magazine asked readers to ill in the survey on the website. Legion Magazine conducted similar surveys in the magazine in 2013 and 2014, resulting in nearly 2,200 responses the irst year and 449 responses in the second. The survey asked 15 questions. To the query “Are Canadian veterans well served by Veterans Afairs Canada,” 58.67 per cent of respondents said they are poorly served, fewer than a quarter (24.94 per cent) said veterans are “adequately served” by the federal department; less than eight per cent (7.76) said they are well served. Among the respondents, 122 (9.57 per cent) identiied themselves as immediate family of veterans; 106 (8.31) said they were currently serving military, and 24 (1.88) said they were currently serving or former RCMP. Discontent was palpable, with wait times and a complex beneits application process plagued by excessive bureaucracy the chief complaints among 751 written comments and suggestions. “It is a very long process to wait for a decision and even longer

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to wait for a inal decision,” one respondent wrote on Aug. 23. “I have been waiting 49 weeks for a decision and still no answer.” “Too many forms to ill,” said another on Aug. 20. “Duplication of services between civilian doctors and VAC doctors, who always reduce the severity of the medical condition when they know nothing about the veteran’s condition.” The same respondent said civilian doctors have to ill in paperwork every two years conirming that a chronic medical condition still exists. The respondent also said their own hand-delivered forms have twice “miraculously disappeared inside paper-choked VAC,” leaving the onus on the veteran to restart the process.

ALMOST 75 PER CENT OF RESPONDENTS IDENTIFIED THEMSELVES AS VETERANS. There was qualiied anger among the written responses: “Wait times for decisions are atrocious and so are the wait times for phone calls,” was a comment on July 14. “I truly believe that the staf are doing what they can; there just isn’t enough of them to serve the numbers of personnel who require help.” And there was outrage: “Stop treating veterans like they are guilty when we are trying to claim beneits,” wrote a respondent.

“VAC treats us like we are trying to cheat the system. Just give us what we know we are entitled to.” There was also plenty of advice: A respondent said the shortage of front-line staf “can be dispiriting and depressing to some, with actual health implications. Decisions should default in favour of the applicant, NOT in favour of bureaucratic denial.” Another respondent called on VAC to “quit putting stuf on the internet or website and just have staf available to answer questions.” “Quit expecting people to navigate a maze of crap to get a question answered,” they wrote. “Not everyone is tech savvy enough to know where to look for answers to questions. Double or triple or quadruple staf at Veterans Afairs to answer phones and give answers to questions.” “I think that all the beneits received should be tax-free,” wrote another respondent. “Currently the amount of taxes paid are straining us inancially. But for many, the survey comments simply ofered the opportunity to vent. “The process timing is long and arduous,” wrote one respondent. “There is little feedback through the stages. Secure e-mails take weeks to be addressed, after a tertiary auto reply. I’ve been sent by them to diferent bureaucrats; seems like they are not very co-ordinated or really know what the other hand is doing.” “I have been well served by VAC but my problem was not complicated or very serious,” wrote

ARE CANADIAN VETERANS WELL SERVED BY VETERANS AFFAIRS CANADA?

IN THE

NEWS

Not sure

Well served

8% Adequately served

25% Poorly served

59%

HOW EASY IS IT TO UNDERSTAND THE APPLICATION PROCESS FOR A DISABILITY BENEFIT OR FOR SERVICES FROM VETERANS AFFAIRS CANADA?

Not sure

18%

Very easy

2% Easy

20%

Diicult

60% Note: percentages have been rounded

a respondent on July 15. “I hear many stories of younger vets having great diiculty with VAC.” “Why can RCMP veterans not get assistance to stay in their homes?” asked one respondent. “When will policy change to get spouses after age 60 beneits upon our death?” More than 60 per cent of survey respondents said it was

“diicult” to understand the application process for a disability beneit or services from VAC. Indeed, there was a thread of sympathy for what some survey respondents characterized as overloaded personnel and high expectations at VAC. One respondent said there are

“very dedicated, excellent public servants at VAC. The improvement opportunities are with the culture and executive leadership of the department. The senior leadership of the ministry is subpar.” “Veterans Afairs cannot do everything for everyone,” declared another writer. “I have been treated fairly. The fact that it takes a few weeks to process a ile is standard. Because they are dispensing taxpayers’ dollars, there must be checks and balances. That takes time to administer. So whatever staf are needed to handle a 30-day, or even a 60-day, turnaround is what they should have.” The survey addressed other issues: • half of respondents said their income from all sources has not kept up well with the cost of living; 42 per cent said it has; • a third said the Veterans Independence Program has been helpful or somewhat helpful in allowing them to stay home; • more than 49 per cent of respondents who had been rendered a inal decision on a VAC claim were either dissatisied or very dissatisied with the process; 30 per cent were neither satisied nor dissatisied; just over 20 per cent were satisied or very satisied; • more than half (51.8 per cent) of eligible veterans rated the continuity of care transition under the New Veterans Charter as poor; 31 per cent said it was fair; 14 per cent rated it good; three per cent called it excellent. “Overall, VAC has been quite good in assisting with my dad’s care,” said one respondent. “I’m frankly appalled by the manner in which many younger veterans have been treated in seeking care and redress. There is a bean-counter mentality that is both childish and cruel in decisions that, by times, appear arbitrary and inlexible.” L

> To see the full results, go to legionmagazine.com

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54th British Columbia/

ONTARIO CONVENTION Yukon Convention

Weather fails to dampen convention By Sharon Adams

he irst blizzard of the season caused some treacherous trips home over the mountains, but in no way afected the warm welcome for the 249 delegates attending British Columbia/ Yukon Command’s 54th convention at the Penticton Trade and Convention Centre Sept. 26-29. Inclement weather on Friday caused the march to be cancelled. However, wreaths were placed at a mobile cenotaph at the convention centre by Dominion President Tom Irvine, B.C./Yukon Command President Glenn Hodge, 2018 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother Anita Cenerini, L.A. President Karen Crashley, Veterans Afairs Canada area director Beverly Martin and Chief Chad Eneas of the Penticton Indian Band. Wreathes were placed after convention in a second ceremony by dominion and provincial command oicers at the Veterans Memorial Park Cenotaph. At the opening ceremony, Cenerini, the irst Silver Cross mother whose son died by suicide, said her position allowed her to talk of the challenges, barriers and frustrations faced by her son Thomas, to help soldiers and veterans struggling with mentalhealth issues, and to console parents who lost children to suicide. Irvine spoke on Saturday morning, outlining the Legion’s national achievements during the past year. He reminded branches of

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

online support available for building membership and welcoming new members, which will support the goal of reaching 300,000 members by The Royal Canadian Legion’s centenary in 2026. He also addressed the issue of stolen valour—people who “lie about military service and medals they didn’t earn. It’s a criminal ofence.” He asked branches to be more vigilant and take action when warranted. Delegates later passed a

“I BELIEVE THERE ARE MORE THAN 400 HOMELESS VETERANS IN B.C. AND THE YUKON.” motion to bring to the 2020 dominion convention a resolution requesting a bylaw change so that membership can be revoked for wearing unearned medals or awards. Irvine ended his address by announcing that control was being returned to elected executives from trustees who had been overseeing B.C./Yukon Command operations for nearly two years. The trustees were appointed shortly after the 2017 convention. Conidentiality agreements prevent details from being disclosed. “It has been a hard and trying time,” said Hodge. “Without the support of the membership, it

wouldn’t have gone as well as it did. I believe that this elected body is functional and capable of moving the command forward.” Despite a diicult two years, Treasurer Jim Diack was able to say the command has been “strictly controlling expenses and we are in a good inancial position.” Expenses decreased from $2,087,193 in 2017 to $1,833,996 in 2018. Revenues also decreased from $2,656,042 in 2017 to $1,535,207 in 2018, largely due to estate donations of $900,000 in 2017, compared to $261,734 in 2018; a dip in revenue from the Military Service Recognition Book; and a luctuation in the market value of investments that resulted in a drop of net investment income from $290,666 in 2017 to a loss of $194,995 in 2018. Income was up from proit-sharing and sponsorships, grants and membership. Staf changes at provincial command in the past two years afected communications with branches, other commands and provincial organizations, reported executive director Veronica Brown. Now, provincial working relationships have been rekindled, she said, and command has worked to improve communication with branches. Command has adopted Assistance Dogs International accreditation as its standard for service dogs, reported B.C./

Yukon Legion Foundation Chair Angus Stanield. Vancouver Island Compassion Dogs is the only accredited provider at this time. “I believe there are more than 400 homeless veterans in B.C. and the Yukon,” Stanield said, adding that 100 veterans have passed through Cockrell House in Victoria, which continues to operate at capacity. Stanield also reported on fundraising eforts to support the purchase of a Locomat machine, a $500,000 robot-assisted gaitrehabilitation device for the Legion Veterans Village project in Surrey, which recently broke ground and will house a centre of excellence for PTSD and rehabilitation for veterans and irst responders. As of the convention, provincial command had 42,888 members and a renewal rate of 91.73 per cent, reported Membership Chair Valerie MacGregor. “If our current path continues, there will not be a membership to sustain the Legion,” she said, urging members to promote it in their branches and among other members. “Online renewals can only help retain members.” Irvine reported that veterans and spouses on four Caribbean islands are receiving help from the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League. Extra funding from Britain has allowed Canada to double to two the number of daily meals provided, a commitment that will continue after the British

Sharon Adams

funding runs out. Delegates then raised $31,395 for the RCEL. Eforts by the University of British Columbia to be the most veteranfriendly campus in the country were outlined by assistant dean Suzanne Scott and Tim Laidler of the UBC Centre for Group Counselling and Trauma. Plans include a Legion branch on campus (see page 73). Victoria city councillor Marianne Alto spoke of the efort to secure provincial property-tax exemptions for B.C./Yukon Command and branches, with the hope it will spread across the nation. A motion to the Union of BC Municipalities convention garnered only 42 per cent of votes, said Alto, but with some lobbying there is a good chance the motion will pass in 2020. Major objections were erosion of local autonomy, that the Legion should not be distinguished from any other worthy cause, and that municipalities already have the power to provide exemptions. However, Alto pointed out, there is only limited power for exemptions, and electoral districts, which have no power for exemptions, govern about 60 per cent of the province. “It will take a lot of lobbying,” she said. “This presents an opportunity to educate politicians [and they] will listen because they are human, because it’s important and because it’s the truth.” She received a standing ovation. In elections, Hodge from Trail

Dominion President Tom Irvine places a wreath (LEFT), accompanied by Local Arrangements Committee Chair Rick Lundin. Valerie MacGregor (ABOVE) of Powell River Branch is the new president of B.C./Yukon Command.

Branch ran for a second term as president but was defeated by Valerie MacGregor of Powell River Branch. Craig Thomson of Kamloops Branch defeated John Scott of Prince George Branch for First Vice. Scott’s name dropped down, making a ield of six running for the two positions of vice-president, including Joe Elliott of Provincial Branch in Vancouver, Dale Johnston of Cloverdale Branch in Surrey, Jessie King of Oyama Branch, Robert Underhill of Vancouver TVS Branch and Roy Cardinal of Seaview Centennial Branch in Lantzville. Scott and Underhill were elected. Jim Diack of Qualicum Beach Branch was elected treasurer over Dale Johnson. Chairman Dwight Grieve of Malahat Branch in Shawnigan was acclaimed after Jim Howard of Vancouver TVS Branch declined his nomination. Local Arrangements Committee Chair Rick Lundin thanked the dozens of volunteers. In the evenings, entertainment was arranged at Penticton, Summerland and Okanagan Falls branches. The 2021 convention will be held in Nanaimo June 3-7. L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Veterans groups consult on common issues By Tom MacGregor

omeless veterans and the work of the veterans’ ombudsman were the main focus of the Veterans Consultation Group which met at Legion House in Kanata, Ont., on Nov. 16. The group, representing 15 different veterans groups, usually meets on an annual basis to discuss common problems and take united stands on veterans’ issues. The group heard from Suzanne Le, executive director of the Multifaith Housing Initiative which is building a 40-unit supportive housing project on the former Canadian Forces Base Rockclife in Ottawa. Veterans’ House is designed to help homeless veterans get the help they need to transition back to civilian life. The units ofer the privacy of a bachelor apartment with its own bathroom and kitchen. At the same time, the veterans will be able to interact with their peers while receiving help for mentalhealth issues and other veterans beneits. The facility will have common elements such as a communal kitchen and a itness centre. There will be plenty of green space around the building where those

who want to garden can have their own plot, a meditative garden and a third area where veterans can exercise their service dogs. There will also be an outdoor barbecue. Ottawa Salus, which provides afordable housing and services to adults with mental-health issues, will manage the in-house mental-health support. The project was started in November 2014 and ground was broken in September 2019. Le says she hopes the facility will be open in time for Remembrance Day 2020. The group has received strong support from Ontario Command and District G. Other partners include Veterans Afairs Canada and the Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services. However, the group is committed to raising $5 million to match other donations and still needs to raise $2.3 million. Veterans Ombudsman Craig Dalton also addressed the group. He said his oice had been quiet since his appointment in November 2018, but that was mostly because an election was coming and he

expected to be dealing with a new Veterans Afairs minister. His oice has a number of reports in draft stages, which will be released early this year. The irst of which is an analysis of the Pension for Life, which came into efect on April 1, 2019. Other priorities the oice will tackle include a look at family members who are sufering because of a veteran’s health or disability, and issues afecting female veterans. Speaking in general terms, he said there have been many changes in veterans’ beneits in recent years. While some older veterans are still being served under the Pension Act, there was the introduction of the New Veterans Charter in 2006, which then morphed into the Veterans Well-being Act in 2018 and then Pension for Life was introduced. “You have veterans being served under three diferent regimes. It’s getting very complicated,” said Dalton. “Veterans with mentalhealth issues cannot deal with all the forms and paperwork.” Dalton said his oice receives 1,500 to 2,000 complaints a year. About 25 per cent of those are weeded out as not falling within his oice’s mandate. About 1,100 investigations have been carried out in the past year. The meeting ended with a roundtable discussion. All participants expressed their support for the annual meetings.

Dominion President Tom Irvine (left) listens as representatives of veterans groups present their concerns.

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Tom MacGregor

Others expressed concern that some long-term care beds for veterans are being left vacant. They are reserved for Second World War and Korean War veterans while there

IN THE

NEWS

are many other veterans who could use the beds but are not eligible. It was also noted that the government has allotted $30 million to compensate Métis veterans who

served in the Second World War and were denied beneits available to other veterans. Cheques for individual Métis veterans and their survivors began to be issued in November. L

New pain research centre for veterans By Sharon Adams

he new Centre of Excellence on Chronic Pain promised by the federal government has been established in Hamilton, supported by $20.1 million in funding over ive years by Veterans Afairs Canada. “By identifying new and emerging treatments, we will help veterans and military members get better,” Veterans Afairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay said at the announcement on July 29. The centre “will test innovative therapies that can be shared with health professionals across the country.” The centre will be located at McMaster University, a logical location, MacAulay said, as the university also houses the National Pain Centre and the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Pain Research and Care. It is the second national centre of excellence for veterans’ health care funded in the past two years by the federal government, joining the Centre of Excellence on PTSD located at The Royal in Ottawa. Military careers are hard on the body. Veterans are two to three times more likely than the general public to have chronic physical health conditions, many of which, like neck and back problems, knee and hip injuries, gastrointestinal conditions, arthritis and traumatic brain injury cause chronic, and sometimes continual, pain. Complicating this is the

fact that many veterans have more than one chronic health condition. In the 2016 Life After Service Survey, data on about 3,000 regularforce veterans who left the Canadian Armed Forces between 1998 and 2015 found a signiicant portion of veterans live with chronic pain. About 45 per cent of veterans with chronic pain were medically released from the CAF; musculo-skeletal

“WE WILL HELP VETERANS AND MILITARY MEMBERS GET BETTER.” injuries are responsible for 42 per cent of all medical releases. About 60 per cent of veterans with chronic pain reported diiculty adjusting to civilian life, and those with chronic pain are 11 times more likely to have limitations on their activity. More than half of veterans with chronic pain report that it interferes with their work. The Survey on Transition to Civilian Life says pain is constant for 41 per cent of veterans with chronic pain, and intermittent for about a quarter of them. VAC says 65 per cent of its clients have chronic pain and 63 per cent of those clients also

have mental-health conditions. Three quarters of veterans who had attempted suicide within the previous year sufered chronic pain, as did 65 per cent of those who had thought about suicide. The centre will research chronic pain in veterans, set standards of care and share information across the country. “We know that through research, best practices will be developed to better treat the large number of Canadian veterans sufering from chronic pain. The new centre of excellence will ensure that veterans throughout the country will receive evidence-based treatments to improve the quality of their lives,” said Ramesh Zacharias, medical director of the centre and of the DeGroote Pain Clinic. This research will also beneit serving members. A 2018 report on chronic pain and mentalhealth conditions among military personnel found a quarter of the respondents to the 2013 Canadian Forces Mental Health Survey reported regular chronic pain. But pain often goes untreated due to stigmatization: tough people are supposed to be able to work through pain. “Sub-acute pain may go untreated as service members tough it out, increasing the opportunity for pain to become chronic,” says a U.S. 2018 report on the burden of pain. L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

50th Saskatchewan ONTARIO CONVENTION Convention

Membership and fundraising dominate discussions By Stephen J. Thorne

odernization of The Royal Canadian Legion was front and centre in Moose Jaw Oct. 19-21 as delegates to Saskatchewan’s 50th convention debated two issues fundamental to the organization’s future—membership and fundraising. Delegates passed two controversial resolutions that they will now take to the dominion convention in Saskatoon in August—one to give irst responders the same membership status as military veterans and the other to allow local Legion branches to solicit donations outside their districts. Thirty-four-year military veteran Mack Howat sparked an impassioned debate on the convention loor when, in the face of declining Legion membership, he proposed granting peace oicers, ireighters and paramedics the same ordinary membership as veterans. “We need to break away from the ingrained stereotype [of] your granddad’s Legion,” said Howat, a member of Regina Branch. “We must be progressive and ensure the future of our Legion.” The debate followed a presentation by Dominion Vice-President Angus Stanield, who declared membership the Legion’s No. 1 priority and delivered a video

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Legionnaires march to the cenotaph in Moose Jaw for ceremonies marking the start of Saskatchewan Command’s 50th biennial convention on Oct. 19.

encouraging traditionalists to embrace all veterans and new members with open arms. Incoming Saskatchewan president Keith Andrews echoed the sentiment, urging members to “take the grouch out of the Legion.” Ordinary members currently include still-serving and retired military, reservists, RCMP, police oicers and Canadian Coast Guard. The designation, however, comes with no special membership privileges. Some speakers suggested dispensing with the ordinary designation altogether. “There’s nothing ‘ordinary’ about us,” said one veteran. A similar resolution, presented by Alberta-Northwest Territories Command, was soundly defeated at

the 2018 dominion convention in Winnipeg. It aimed to also include Canada Border Services agents and proposed amendments to the Legion’s mission statement. Howat said he had worked with Legionnaires from British Columbia/Yukon Command on the current resolution and described it as clearer, shorter and more precise than its predecessor. “We do not intend…to create a new category of veteran,” he assured the 159 delegates and guests attending the convention. “We will not touch with…a 10-foot pole the concept of the deinition of a veteran according to The Royal Canadian Legion, or certainly not Veterans Afairs Canada. “And we are not proposing that any veterans’ beneits become available to anybody within this category of member who might be accepted as an ordinary member. What we do want to do is honour the service of these individuals in their communities. They might not have been members of the armed forces but, I can tell you,

Mack Howat (ABOVE) of Regina Branch debates his resolution to admit first responders on the same terms as military veterans. Provincial Past President Lorne Varga (LEFT, at left) stands with newly elected President Keith Andrews. they put their lives at risk daily or any time they are on a callout.” Patti Paul, a long-time reservist whose Dutch parents were liberated by Canadian soldiers during the last months of the Second World War, spoke out stridently against the resolution. “The Royal Canadian Legion was formed to ight for veterans’ rights,” the District 3 commander pointed out, arguing that an “ordinary” designation is not going to make the diference between a irst responder joining or not joining the Legion. “We need to leave that ordinary membership for our veterans who go overseas and ight for our country and our freedoms.” John Votour, a veteran and longtime volunteer ireighter, contended the whole concept of membership categories was misplaced. “When I look at a Legion member, I don’t look at their crest to see whether they’re an associate, I don’t look at their crest to see whether they’re original or ordinary. I look at

that individual as a comrade.” Former dominion president Pat Varga urged delegates to open their minds on an issue that has come up repeatedly over the years. “We have passed this question back and forth,” said Varga, who described herself as a veteran and a mother. “I’m not speaking for or against; I’m just asking you to think. Is it not within our power to expand a category of membership that I think is misnamed? I don’t think that any of us are ‘ordinary,’ honestly.” The motion passed, 56-36. Contentious debate persisted. Later in the day, Ron Hitchcock, former acting president of Regina Branch, presented a motion to drop boundary restrictions on branch fundraising. The move came after his internet campaign to inance operations at his struggling branch was shut down by the provincial executive because it reached beyond his district. The subsequent debate pitted old ideas against new—a core of predominantly older members who

don’t use the internet or social media versus a younger segment who say the Legion needs to embrace progress and technology in order to bolster declining membership, raise money and avoid shutdowns like the one threatening Regina Branch. “The internet is the only means that we have to raise funds,” said Hitchcock. “We don’t have the membership to do much of anything. This idea of a boundary is ancient history and it should be ignored.” The television and internet campaign increased branch membership by 18 per cent and doubled poppy fund income before it was shut down, he said. Constitution and Laws Committee Chair Ray Marjoram pointed out that, regardless of the merits of his motion, Hitchcock launched the campaign without seeking executive approval, as dictated by the constitution. “We had no choice,” said Marjoram. “We had to follow the General By-laws.” The debate came on the heels of speeches by nominees for senior executive positions during which some candidates characterized the web as “a young people’s domain.” The motion to remove area restrictions on branch fundraising and capitalize on internet opportunities was passed and will now be sent to the dominion convention. Andrews of Beechy Branch was acclaimed president of Saskatchewan Command after outgoing President Lorne Varga of Coleville Branch declined the nomination for a second term. Carol Pedersen of Star City Branch was elected irst vice, while former president Peter Piper of Tecumseh Stoughton Branch in Stoughton won the position of command chair. Roberta Taylor of Oxbow Branch and Nathan Hofmeister of Fillmore Branch will serve as vicepresidents for the next two years. Saskatchewan’s honorary chaplain is Rev. Ron Cairns and the honorary president is Brent Wignes. L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

Twitter creates poppy emoji

uring the remembrance period for 2019, The Royal Canadian Legion and the social networking company Twitter unveiled a custom-designed poppy emoji to help raise awareness of Remembrance Day and encourage people to support the Legion’s poppy campaign. The Legion gave approval to Twitter to use the poppy symbol, to which the Legion holds the trademark. Twitter designed the emoji. (An emoji is a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion.) The initiative also has the approval of The Royal British Legion and the Australian Department of Veteran Afairs. “The poppy is such an important symbol,” said Amanda Kitts, client account manager with

Twitter Canada, “but there are global variations. We also realized there is a global, organic conversation happening that we want to bring attention to.” “The Legion’s presence on social media has increased in recent years,” said Dion Edmonds, the Legion’s Deputy Director, Marketing and Communications. “The introduction of the custom poppy emoji will create even greater awareness

and we are excited about that.” The poppy emoji is separate from the Legion’s own digital poppy campaign (https://mypoppy.ca), said Edmonds. “But it is an indication of how we are doing more in the digital space to increase awareness and support of veterans and their families.” The poppy emoji was automatically added to tweets when Twitter users included any of the following globally approved hashtags: #RemembranceDay #ArmisticeDay #LestWeForget #WeWillRememberThem #SaluteOurForces #BehindThemAlways #RemembranceSunday #GetYourPoppy #PortezUnCoquelicot #TwoMinuteSilence #ThankYouForYourService #TYFYS. The emoji was active only during the remembrance period Nov. 1-15. L

OBITUARY

Gregory Thompson Gregory Thompson, who was minister of Veterans Afairs when the New Veterans Charter came into efect, died on Sept. 10 at the Saint John Regional Hospital in Saint John, N.B. He was 72. Thompson was born in St. Stephen, N.B., and attended St. Thomas University in Fredericton as a mature student, graduating with degrees in both arts and education. He taught history at Fundy High School before entering politics. Thompson was irst elected to the House of Commons in 1988 as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party. He was defeated in 1993 but returned in 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2008.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

1947-2019

He was appointed minister of Veterans Afairs in Stephen Harper’s irst government in 2006 and held the position until he left government in 2010. During the 1990s, he was diagnosed with nonHodgkin’s Lymphoma. Thompson came out of retirement in 2018 to serve as a Progressive Conservative member of New Brunswick’s Legislative Assembly for the riding of Saint Croix and was appointed minister of Intergovernmental Afairs. “Greg worked as a businessman, teacher and inancial planner but he found particular zeal for representing his community,” said Premier Blaine Higgs. “Greg sought to bring the voices of his neighbours to the corridors of power.” He is survived by his wife Linda and sons Gregory and Christian. L

Twitter; Legion Magazine Archives

UBC ofers IN THE veteran-friendly campus

NEWS

By Sharon Adams

he University of British Columbia hopes to establish a branch of The Royal Canadian Legion on campus as part of its veteran-friendly initiative. “It would provide the social support for military veterans going through the academic experience,” Afghanistan veteran Tim Laidler, executive director of the UBC Centre for Group Counselling and Trauma, told delegates at the British Columbia/Yukon Command convention in September. UBC and the Legion have a long history. B.C./Yukon Command supported development of the Veterans Transition Program (VTP), a 10-day group peercounselling program founded in 1997. In 2010, it provided $1.37 million over 10 years. The program has helped more than 1,000 veterans “drop the baggage” from service, thus reducing symptoms of trauma, decreasing depression and increasing selfesteem and self-conidence. “They come out…full of energy and hope again, looking for what to do next with their lives,” said Laidler. Laidler attended the program, and then completed a master’s degree in counselling, served as executive director of the VTP and founded the Veterans Transition Network, a national organization dedicated to ensuring the program is available to every veteran across Canada. Dominion Command and Legion branches across the country have contributed to funding that expansion. “It is thanks to you that future veterans who need help are getting

it,” said Suzanne Scott, assistant dean in the faculty of education, told convention delegates. “The support of the Legion has made transformational change in how UBC is supporting veterans.” Each year, 5,000 service members leave the Canadian Armed Forces, and many are going back to school, thanks to support of Veterans Afairs Canda’s Education and Training Beneit of $40,960 to $81,920, depending on length of service, introduced in 2018. “We hope to ensure that, when veterans complete their service and decide to pursue higher education, there is a welcoming campus with the services and resources available to meet their unique needs,” UBC President Santa Ono said in announcing the veteran-friendly initiative in the fall of 2019. A team was tasked with coming up with a plan to achieve that. More than 75 veterans were found to be attending UBC, including CAF regular and reserve veterans, veterans of NATO countries and the Israeli Defense Forces, and faculty members who had served. When polled, they talked of “a disconnect between the civilian students and themselves, and often the faculty and professors teaching them,” said Laidler. Bringing them together in a community will help bridge that gap. Now when other universities ask for advice, Laidler tells them “the irst thing you can do is get a community on campus. The Legion exists…that’s the best way to start.” Among other UBC veteranfriendly initiatives are having veterans identify themselves upon admission, providing

“WE HOPE TO ENSURE THAT WHEN VETERANS COMPLETE THEIR SERVICE AND DECIDE TO PURSUE HIGHER EDUCATION THERE IS A WELCOMING CAMPUS WITH THE SERVICES AND RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO MEET THEIR UNIQUE NEEDS.” mental-health and counselling support, training specialists to provide that help, priority student housing, social and recreational opportunities, and professional development courses. This year, 21 students are taking professional development courses to prepare for work in international non-proits. There is a shortage of people with experience in conlict zones working for non-governmental organizations, non-proit agencies involved in education and reconstruction in places like Africa and Afghanistan. “It’s something a lot of veterans have experience in, and a lot of interest in,” said Laidler. L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

SNAPSHOTS Volunteering in the community British Columbia/Yukon

Nova Scotia/Nunavut

Saskatchewan

Newfoundland and Labrador

Prince Edward Island

Dominion Command

Ontario

New Brunswick

Quebec

Alberta-Northwest Territories

Wayne Tedder (second left) and poppy chair Kent Guilford of Comox, B.C., Branch present $3,000 to Military Family Resource Centre representatives (from left) Karen Ferland, Amira Nargis and Kim Hetherington.

IN THIS

ISSUE Legion branches donate more than

$241,300 to their communities

Gold River, B.C., L.A. President Raymonde Brosseau (second left) receives the Minister of Veterans Afairs Commendation. Congratulating her are (from left) Gold River Branch President Robby Robertson, North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney, Mayor Brad Unger and British Columbia/ Yukon Command branch operations adviser Tony Rushworth.

Winners of the poster and literary contests from Howe Sound Secondary School are congratulated by Nelson Winterburn (left) and Ed Robertson (right) of Diamond Head Branch in Squamish, B.C., and principal Nick Pascuzzi.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

Meghan Liddle of the Comox Valley Hospital Foundation receives $15,000 from Courtenay, B.C., Branch Second Vice Lloyd Smith (left) and poppy chair Dave Bell.

Padre Brian Kirby, cadet liaison of Bowser, B.C., Branch, presents $750 to WO2 Markus McDermand of the Beaufort air cadet squadron.

Christy King (left) of the SPCA accepts $550 from President Edith LeClair of Cranbrook, B.C., Branch.

Principal Erin Boisvert of Garibaldi Highlands Elementary School congratulates students on their achievement in the poster and literary contests. Certiicates were presented by Nelson Winterburn and Ed Robertson of Diamond Head Branch in Squamish, B.C.

First Vice Diane Janes and treasurer Robert Smith of Grandview-Collingwood Branch in Vancouver present $1,500 to Kaitlyn Fung of the Renfrew Collingwood Food Security program.

William Cave (centre) of Bowser, B.C., Branch is congratulated by Sgt.-atArms Ken Wood (left) and President Rick Nickerson on receiving his 50 Years Long Service Medal.

First Vice Lynn Edey of Comox, B.C., Branch presents $3,000 to executive director Colt Long (left) of Comox Valley Healthcare Foundation and Michael Aikins of the Views at St. Josephâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, a long-term care facility.

Treasurer Robert Smith (right) of GrandviewCollingwood Branch in Vancouver and Sgt.-at Arms Hector Nicolson present $500 to Grace Browning of the Lower Mainland Colour Party. legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

SNAPSHOTS

Volunteering in the community

Brandi Andreef accepts the Memorial Scholarship from Past President Tim Murphy of Alberni Valley Branch in Port Alberni, B.C.

Past President Tim Murphy (second right) of Alberni Valley Branch in Port Alberni, B.C., presents the Memorial Bursary to (from left) Emily Cutforth, Rebecca Douglas, Jayden Corbeil Iversen, Kylea Anderson and Kenji Boyko.

Zaykeshea Corey receives the Ladies Auxiliary Bursary from L.A. President Connie Richardson (left) and Sgt.-at-Arms Donna Dol of Alberni Valley L.A. in Port Alberni, B.C.

At the grand opening of the new volunteer ire department built on land donated by Edgewood, B.C., Branch are (from left) Central Kootenay region director Paul Peterson, MLA Katrine Conroy, ire department president Lynda McNutt, branch Past President Dave Le Pine, Fire Chief and Branch President Bill Neil Matherson of Cranbrook, B.C., Branch presents $550 to Dummett and Lynda Laleur of the Candice Carver of Key City Gymnastics Club, accompanied by gymnasts. Columbia Basin Trust.

Andy Anderson (right) receives his 50 Years Long Service Medal from President Glenn Litchield and Honours and Awards chair Noni Bell of Courtenay, B.C., Branch.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

Doug MacKay (left) and President Mike Brazeau of Summerland, B.C., Branch present $500 to the BC Cancer Foundation. he donation is from the Bob Wolleswinkel Memorial Poker Run held during the Okanagan Friday the 13th Motorcycle Rally.

Grades 5 and 6 students from the Tamarac Education Centre in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., plant 75 of the Liberation 75 tulip bulbs with teachers and members of Port Hawkesbury Branch. Branch members Michaelette MacDonald, Rod Corbett and Zone 3 Commander John Langley spoke of the signiicance of the liberation of the Netherlands.

President Al Peterson of A.H. Foster MM Memorial Branch in Kingston, N.S., presents two bursaries to Megan Leduc, one on behalf of the Nova Scotia/ Nunavut Command Bursary Trust Fund and the other on behalf of Kingston Legion Clyde Golden Memorial Fund. Leduc will be attending St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University to pursue a PhD in criminology. ERIC WOODS

Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, Branch was presented with the annual Business of the Year award at the Nunavut Trade Show and Conference in Iqaluit. Holding the award are (from left) volunteer Lauren Kaludjak, Second Vice Kelly Kaludjak, treasurer Darrin Nichol, First Vice Mark Wyatt and member Keenan Eetuk.

Deputy District Commander Sylvester MacInnis (left), Brenda White and Aurine Richard of Richmond Strait Hospital and President Donald Goyetche of Isle Madame Branch in Arichat, N.S., attend the presentation of funds for the hospital. JAMES LEADBEATER

Nevaeh Lang of Grayson School receives a certiicate for her irst-place essay at zone level by President Barry Dilts (left), Maxine Bell and Brian Morris of Robert Combe VC Branch in Melville, Sask.

President Tom McCormack and poppy chair Rita Connors of Calais Branch in Lower Sackville, N.S., present $12,801 to Stacey Chapman, executive director of Cobequid Health Centre Foundation, for the purchase of a portable ultrasound machine and two bariatric stretchers. RICCI HAWKINS

Poppy chair Brian Morris (left), Maxine Bell and President Barry Dilts of Robert Combe VC Branch in Melville, Sask., present Kennedy Woytkiw of St. Henryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sr. School in Melville with certiicates for winning the poster contest at district and zone level. legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

SNAPSHOTS

Volunteering in the community

President Greg Grenning and members of St. Johnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, N.L., Branch present $12,580 to the Caribou Memorial Veterans Pavilion to help buy two blanketwarming cabinets.

Rebecca Compton shows her certiicate for placing irst at provincial level in the poster contest. Looking on are members of Grant Crerar Branch in Wabush, N.L., (from left) William Moyles, hird Vice Beatrice Moyles, President Brian Corcoran, First Vice Mike Cole and Past President Edouard Daigle.

At the presentation of tulips to be planted in Prince Edward Island in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands are (from left) cenotaph researcher Pieter Valkenburg, P.E.I. Command Chair John Yeo, Netherlands Ambassador Henk Vander Zwan and Command President Duane MacEwen. JOHN YEO

WO Braden Gaudet accepts a $500 bursary from Roy Crozier of George Pearkes VC Branch in Summerside, P.E.I., and Navy Lieutenant Linda DesRoches. JOHN YEO

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

Roy Clarke (left) of Clarenville, N.L., Branch is presented with the Legionnaire of the Year award by Judge Randolph Whifen. he award is presented each year in memory of Whifenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grandfather, Pte. Patrick Whifen of he Royal Newfoundland Regiment, who fought at Beaumont-Hamel, France.

Roy Crozier and Lieut. (N) Linda DesRoches of George Pearkes VC Branch in Summerside, P.E.I., congratulate Sea Cadet Benny Sham on his irst-place essay in the poster and literary contests. JOHN YEO

Home Hardware president and CEO Kevin MacNab (left) and Programmed Insurance Brokers Inc. CEO Bruce Burnham (right) present $20,000 to Senior Program Oicer Lia Taha Cheng of Legion National Headquarters. he money supports Dominion Commandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s track and ield program.

Governor General Julie Payette (centre) joins Grand President Larry Murray (left) and Dominion President Tom Irvine following the presentation of the irst poppy at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

Don Kennedy (left) of Stratford, Ont., Branch receives the 50 Years Long Service Medal and bar from Art Boon.

Dave Mewhinney (left) of Stratford, Ont., Branch is presented with the Legionnaire of the Year award by President Dale Bast.

At H.T. Church Branch in St. Catharines, Ont., Zone B-5 Commander Lloyd Cull and membership co-chair Shirley Csordas present the 50 Years Long Service Medal to Ron Green.

Port Elgin, Ont., Branch President Robert Harrison presents $1,000 to Huron Shores Hospice co-chair Carol Renchek.

At St. Josephâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Villa retirement centre in Dundas, Ont., poppy chair Jim Byron (back left) and public relations chair Peter Whittaker of Valley City Branch view a new bathtub bought in part with $15,000 from the branch. Also attending are the director of care, Natalie Cameron (left), and health-and-safety director Marlina Jakob.

Woodstock and Ingersoll branches observe Battle of Britain Day ceremonies at the Ingersoll Cemetery. legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

SNAPSHOTS

Volunteering in the community

Jim Haney from Hespeler Branch in Cambridge, Ont., wins the Ontario Command seniors singles horseshoes championship.

Trenton, Ont., Branch hird Vice Tom Carr (left) and President Doug Duf congratulate Jack Hannah on receiving the 50 Years Long Service Medal.

Trenton, Ont., Branch President Doug Duf conducts opening ceremonies for Legion Week alongside Zone F-2 Commander Wayne McKinnon, District F Deputy Commander Dave Harnden and branch member Ron Denham.

President Vanessa LeBlanc (left), Second Vice Josie Waters, Rev. Richard Parker, First Vice Mike Childerhose and Sgt.-atArms Stu Jarvis of Oshawa, Ont., Branch prepare to cut the cakes as they celebrate seniors at a special event for 80 guests.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

In Toronto, Mount Pleasant Group of Cemeteries assistant district manager Neil Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Bright (left) presents $3,000 to Zone Commander Joyce Geddes to assist with the Zone D-5 veterans dinner. Joining them are manager of funeral operations of Mount Pleasant Group David Perry and Deputy Commander Richard Viles.

At the Niagara Grape and Wine Festival parade in St. Catharines, Ont., H.T. Church Branch veteran Harry Fox reaches out to shake a boyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hand.

Secretary-treasurer Peggy Johnson of Veterans Memorial Branch in Grand Bend, Ont., presents $500 for the London Health Service Foundation for prostate cancer research to development oicer for community events Justin Tiseo.

President Harry Boomer (centre) and First Vice Bill Kalbhenn of Hespeler Branch in Cambridge, Ont., present $6,500 to Cambridge Memorial Hospital development oicer Ines Sousa-Batista.

At Sarnia, Ont., Branch, First Vice Les Jones presents $1,500 for Ecole Secondaire FrancoJeunesse students to attend the First Vice Bill Hodges (left) and President Andre LaBrosse of Brig.-Gen. G.H. Ralston Encounters with Canada Branch in Port Hope, Ont., present program in Ottawa. Accepting Jim Glover and Kevin Stuart of the donation are students Northumberland 89.7 FM with Marianna Joudah, Anissa Crafts the Media Award. and Cooper McLean.

Branches in Ontario Commandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Zone A-6 raised $9,642 for Parkwood Hospital veterans in London, Ont. Ontario Command Vice-President Brian Harris (left) and Zone A-6 Commander Randy Warden present the cheque to recreation and creative arts co-ordinator Tichelle Schram and Sue Hardy, St. Josephâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Health Care Foundation manager of Legacy Giving and Governance.

Denise McPherson (second left) won $52,732 and four charities each received cheques for $17,679 as the Rose City Branch in Welland, Ont., concludes its Catch the Ace lottery after 51 weeks. Attending are (from left) poppy chair Clif Driscoll, Hope Centre representative Jon Braithwaite, Welland SPCA representative Tammy Gaboury, Leslee Bellingham and Marty Misener from the Open Arms Mission and President Paul Racicot.

At Scarborough, Ont., Branch, President Dan Burri, accompanied by First Vice Ken hompson, presents $1,000 to Brother David Lynch of the Good Shepherd mission to assist with their work with homeless veterans. Veterans transition representative Maria Newman looks on.

District C Commander Eric Ross (left), district public relations oicer Rae Bauman (second from left) and Ontario Command Vice-President Lynn McClellan (right) congratulate Port Elgin Branch bulletin editor Rhonda Harrison on the provincial Len Taylor Award for best bulletin.

Goderich, Ont., Branch presents the Legionnaire of the Year award to John Hruden (centre). Attending are Zone C-1 Deputy Commander John Corbet (left), Zone C-1 Commander Dennis Schmidt, District C commander Eric Ross, Ontario Command Vice-President Lynn McClellan, President John MacDonald and Sgt.-at-Arms Brian Murray. legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

SNAPSHOTS

Volunteering in the community

President Kevin Froats (left) and membership chair Velma Rutka (right) of Merritton Branch in St. Catharines, Ont., welcome new members Roger Hardwick, Randy McQueen and Mike McQueen.

At Brig.-Gen. G.H. Ralston Branch in Port Hope, Ont., Wayne Stephens (right) receives the Legionnaire of the Year award from President Andre Labrosse and secretary Jean Kimball.

Ontario Command assistant executive director Juanita Kemp, accompanied by Zone D-5 Deputy Commander Richard Villes and Sgt.-at-Arms Bob Dafoe, prepare to place a wreath during a memorial service at Pine Hills Cemetery.

At the Perley and Rideau Veteransâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Health Centre in Ottawa, Rockland Branch service oicer Laval Perron (left) and President Donald Ferrara present $2,000 to foundation executive director Delphine HaslĂŠ.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

In Ingersoll, Ont., Zone B-2 Commander Dianne Hodges (left) presents a certiicate from Ontario Command commemorating the 90th anniversary of Hillcrest Memorial Branch, represented by President Rob Mabee and L.A. President Georgina Moyer.

President Roy Fagel (left) and poppy chair Wayne Rahn of Col. John McCrae Memorial Branch in Guelph, Ont., present $10,000 to Lino Di Julio following the arrival of marchers in the Ruck to Remember, a 148-kilometre walk to raise money for homeless veterans.

Capt. Brien L.A. in Essex, Ont., commemorates its 75th anniversary with a tree-planting at the local cenotaph park. Flanking L.A. President Patti Hayes are committee members Luanne Copat (left) and Linda Higgins.

Goderich, Ont., L.A. Second Vice Diane Leddy (holding cheque) presents $5,000 to members of the Huron Hospice.

President Eileen Viau (left) and service oicer Bernie Saari of North Bay, Ont., Branch present Lieut. (N) Nadine Leblanc and CPO2 Emily McLaren with $3,236 for the Brilliant sea cadet corps.

President Eileen Viau and service oicer Bernie Saari of North Bay, Ont., Branch present $3,236 to the Canuck air cadet squadron, represented by Lieut. Trish Lewis and cadet Victoria Desfosses.

At the Trenton Memorial Hospital in Trenton, Ont., District F Hospital Trust chair Don Ramsey (second from left), accompanied by Trenton President Doug Duf and L.A. President Glenda Trottman, present $9,489 to hospital foundation events and stewardship manager Laura Lee and strategic partnerships oicer Jef Moorhouse.

At Lord Elgin Branch in St. homas, Ont., Ron Jewell receives the Minister of Veterans Afairs Commendation from Elgin-Middlesex-London MP Karen Vecchio. Also at the presentation are (from left) Zone A-7 Commander Nancy Miller, District A Deputy Commander Caroline Mayo, St. homas Mayor Joe Preston, MPP Jef Urek and Branch President Valerie Clark.

President Tom Jefery (left) and treasurer Wendy Robertson (right) along with members of Melborne, Ont., Branch present $3,400 to Four Counties Health Services Foundation.

Second Vice Jef Miller (left), First Vice Harold Leddy (in back) and President John MacDonald (right) of Goderich, Ont., Branch welcome new members Jim Doig, Dennis Kelly, Robert Cliford and Pat Carter.

At the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre in Ottawa, Strathcona Branch presents $10,000 in poppy funds to the centre’s foundation. In the back row from left are Perley and Rideau Veterans’ chair Kris Birchard, First Vice Robert Buss, and foundation chair Keith de Bellefeuille Percy. In front holding the cheque is service oicer Vic Dowie alongside foundation executive director Delphine Haslé, Strathcona member Anastasia Bendus and executive member Wanda Riddell. legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

SNAPSHOTS

Volunteering in the community

President Eugene Godin of Herman Good VC Branch in Bathurst, N.B., presents bursaries to (from left) Jasmine Isabelle Doucet, Aliya Ouellette Boake, Megan White and Wilmond Turbide. Looking on are bursary committee chair Jonathan Doucet and committee member Michael White.

At Kennebecasis Branch in Rothsay, N.B., students who attended the New Brunswick Command Annual Youth Leadership camp at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B., are presented with awards. From left are Kennebecasis Branch youth chair Brian Eisan, Laura Mackay, Abby Searle, Ethan Finnigan, Sophie Lewis, Sophia Gerorgoudis and President Harold DeFazio.

Fredericton Branch presents bursaries. At the presentation are (rear, from left) bursary committee member Tony Quackenbush, First Vice Greta Sloat, recipients Joey Staford, Brook Billings and Katelyn Caverhill, President Joanne Gibson, bursary chair Rev. Brian MacDonald, (front) Destiny Davidson, Amber Weekes, Samantha Crook, Kierra Armstrong and Madeline Johnston.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

Hudson, Que., Branch poppy chair Eric Connor presents $500 to Capt. Alexandre Grimard Latulippe of the Bourget army cadet corps in Rigaud, Que. ROD HODGSON

Jean-RenĂŠ Grondin (left) and President Robert Trepanier of Lt.-Col. Robert Grondin Branch in Shawinigan, Que., present a $400 bursary to Karine Constantin, who is Grondinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s granddaughter. MARIO GAUTHIER

Conrad Boucher (left) and President Robert Trepanier of Lt.-Col. Robert Grondin Branch in Shawinigan, Que., present certiicates to the winners in the poster and literary contests. MARIO GAUTHIER

CORRESPONDENTS’ ADDRESSES

Executive Director Michael Brown (from left) of High River Healthcare Foundation receives $17,490 from President Bob Collins, poppy chair Louise Hughes and treasurer Robin Templeton of High River, Alta., Branch. he donation, from poppy funds, will help buy a special stretcher used to safely transfer long-term care residents in and out of bathtubs.

Send your photos and news of The Royal Canadian Legion in action in your community to your Command Correspondent. Each branch and ladies auxiliary is entitled to two photos in an issue. Any additional items will be published as news only. Material should be sent as soon as possible after an event. We do not accept material that will be more than a year old when published, or photos that are out of focus or lack contrast. The Command Correspondents are: BRITISH COLUMBIA/YUKON: Graham Fox, 4199 Steede Ave., Port Alberni, BC V9Y 8B6, gra.fox@icloud.com ALBERTA–NORTHWEST TERRITORIES: Bobbi Foulds, Box 5162, Stn Main, Edson AB T7E 1T4, rfoulds@telus.net SASKATCHEWAN: Sherri Maier, 3079–5th Ave., Regina, SK S4T 0L6, admin@sasklegion.ca MANITOBA: William Trefry, B207 Academy Rd., Winnipeg, MB R3M 0E2, wptrefry@gmail.com NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO: George Romick, 320 Admiral Court, Thunder Bay, ON P7A 8B5. romickg@tbaytel.net ONTARIO: Mary Ann Goheen, Box 308, Gravenhurst, ON P1P 1T7, magoheen@sympatico.ca

Hinton, Alta., Branch Acting President Teresa Bosch presents the 50 Years Long Service Medal to Mark Rivers.

QUEBEC: Len Pelletier, 389 Malette, Gatineau, QC J8L 2Y7, hel.len@hotmail.ca NEW BRUNSWICK: Marianne Harris, 115 McGrath Cres., Miramichi, NB E1V 3Y1, jimfaye@nb.sympatico.ca NOVA SCOTIA/NUNAVUT: Rita Connors, 30 Lennox Dr., Lower Sackville, NS B4C 3B2, rita.connors@ns.sympatico.ca PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: John Yeo, 657 Rte. 19, Meadow Bank, PE C0E 1H1, johnyeo@pei.sympatico.ca NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR: Brenda Slaney, Box 5745, St. John’s, NL A1C 5X3, bslaney@nfld.net

With Morinville, Alta., Branch’s new automated deibrillator are (from left) Sgt.-at-Arms Mark Pasqualetto, President Claude Phaneuf and Peter Gougeon.

DOMINION COMMAND ZONES: EASTERN U.S. ZONE, Gord Bennett, 803-190 Cedar St., Cambridge, ON NIS 1W5, Captglbcd@aol.com; WESTERN U.S. ZONE, Douglas Lock, 1531 11th St., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, doug.lock@verizon.net. Submissions for the Honours and Awards page (Palm Leaf, MSM, MSA and Life Membership) should be sent directly to Doris Williams, Legion Magazine, 86 Aird Place, Kanata, ON K2L 0A1 or magazine@legion.ca. TECHNICAL SPECS FOR PHOTO SUBMISSIONS

NEWS MANITOBA

FOOD CENTRE RECEIVES FRIENDSHIP AWARD Portage la Prairie Branch presented the Friendship Award to Mike Panko of Panko’s Food Centre.

DIGITAL PHOTOS—Photos submitted to Command Correspondents electronically must have a minimum width of 1,350 pixels, or 4.5 inches. Final resolution must be 300 dots per inch or greater. As a rough guideline, colour JPEGs would be between 0.5 megabytes (MB) and 1 MB. PHOTO PRINTS—Glossy prints from a photofinishing lab are best because they do not contain the dot pattern that some printers produce. If possible, please submit digital photos electronically.

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LOST TRAILS BLAKE, ERNEST HENRY BAKE—Born in Halifax, Yorkshire, England. Relatives sought to return his medals which have been found. Shawn MacNeil, 350 Albert St., Corunna ON N0N 1G0, shawn.macneil@hotmail.com. INGLIS, J.W.—Also known as Jimmy Inglis, a tall blond soldier, possibly American, killed in car accident while driving from Den Bosch to Nijmegen around September 1944. ID bracelet found with the number L106188. Sandra Rijken, Calslaan 18, 2314GJ Leiden, Netherlands, ksandrarijken@ziggo.nl. NDHQ—The family of former navy captain Dwight Harold Miller, a Canadian Forces administration oicer at NDHQ, is looking for former colleague GIRARD, Pte. J.J. of Ottawa and LADOUCEUR, M.V. of Aylmer, Que. D. Miller Russo, 54 Oke Road, Courtice ON L1E 2V1, darmar.russo@gmail.com, 905-404-9205.

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SMITH, PTE. WILLIAM HENRY—North Nova Scotia Highlanders. Seeking his sister Maureen, age six or seven in 1941. The North Nova Scotia Highlanders Museum has his diary and wants to know what happened to him once he was invalided home in the summer of 1944. Also trying to identify his best friend, referred to only as “Rodney” in the diary, reportedly killed in action on June 12, 1944. John Wales, North Nova Scotia Highlanders Museum, 36 Acadia St., Box 1174, Amherst NS B4H 4L2, nshmuseum@eastlink.ca.

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

CANADA AND THE NEW COLD WAR

By J.L. Granatstein

The Arctic and us T

he Arctic ice is melting and the New Cold War is heating up. Russia, China and the United States are all looking northward and increasing their military and economic investments in, and pronouncements on, the Arctic. Thus far, Canada is doing almost nothing other than proclaim that the Northwest Passage runs through its internal waters. Vladimir Putin’s Russia already draws roughly 10 to 20 per cent of its gross domestic product from its Arctic territory. It has a rapidly developing Northern Sea Route—the segment of the Northeast Passage running from the Kara Sea to Siberia. The ice is thinning quickly along Russia’s Arctic coast, and Moscow has invested in nuclear-powered icebreakers which will soon be able to keep shipping moving year-round and reduce sailing times between Asia and Europe by as much as 20 days. Moscow has simultaneously accelerated military deployments in its northern regions,

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

It’s time for Canada to get its northern house in order reopening bases that had been closed for a quarter-century, creating new ones, and staging large military exercises. In August 2019, a Russian submarine ired an intercontinental ballistic missile from very near the North Pole—a warning shot, so to speak. China is not an Arctic power, instead declaring itself a near-Arctic nation. Beijing’s Arctic white paper, released in January 2018, laid out its plan for a Polar Silk Road, a network of northern shipping lanes connecting China with the rest of world. Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are sinking vast sums into liqueied natural gas exports using tankers able to sail through heavy ice. The Northern Sea Route is turning into the Arctic link in China’s Belt and Road plan, and Putin and Xi are working together—strange bedfellows with China now much richer, more populous, and the senior partner (even if Putin pretends otherwise). For its part, the United States has begun to react to the Russian and Chinese eforts. In August 2019, President Donald Trump

loated a ludicrous proposal to buy Greenland, an idea quickly pronounced as “absurd” by Danish leaders whose country recognizes the island as an autonomous region. More seriously, the U.S. Coast Guard will be building new icebreakers, senior U.S. navy oicers are talking about expanding their presence in the north, and there are even suggestions that a warship might undertake a freedom-ofnavigation operation through the Northern Sea Route, waters Moscow claims as its internal waters. This will lead to confrontation. Washington is also considering a similar cruise through the Northwest Passage, following on recent harsh words from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Canada’s claims to the Passage are “illegitimate.” The United States, he said at a 2019 Arctic Council meeting, “has a long-contested feud with Canada over sovereign claims through the Northwest Passage.” This has been the American position for decades, but since the Arctic Cooperation Agreement of 1988, Washington and Ottawa have had an amicable diference of opinion on the subject. Pompeo’s belligerent words and the possibility of a warship sailing through the Northwest Passage without Canadian concurrence suggest that there is now a diplomatic crisis on the horizon. How should Canada respond to the rapidly changing situation in the Arctic? What must be said is that successive governments have failed to produce a coherent Canadian policy for northern defence and economic development. There is no Arctic port yet built—plans for Nanisivik on Bain Island have been scaled back—and major infrastructure developments are nowhere to be seen. The strength of the Canadian Armed Forces in the North is minimal—some 200 CAF personnel plus 5,000 Canadian Rangers—and there are serious logistical problems. The Royal Canadian Navy is getting Arctic Ofshore Patrol Ships—one is almost ready and seven more are expected to be in the water within ive years. But the AOPS have very light armament and, astonishingly, lack any capacity to sail through anything more than irst-year ice. This is important because Canada’s icebreakers are obsolescent and new ones are years away from launching. Ottawa’s main eforts seem to be rhetorical. “Canada is very clear about the Northwest Passage being Canadian,” said Chrystia Freeland, Canada’s former Minister of

Combat Camera/YK-2016-073-004

Foreign Afairs, in response to Pompeo’s verbal fusillade at the Arctic Council. “There is both a very strong and geographic connection with Canada.” This is certainly true, but if the rapid shrinking of the polar ice cap continues, the Northwest Passage may become all but irrelevant. The Russian route is already easier going and will become more so as Moscow deploys more icebreakers and Russian, Chinese and other nations’ commercial vessels increasingly seek the quicker travel times the Northern Sea Route will ofer. Canada’s anti-pollution legislation is tougher than Moscow’s, and once the ice melts closer to the North Pole, why wouldn’t shipping sail free of Ottawa’s burdensome restrictions? The importance of the Northwest Passage will likely diminish within a few years. So, what must Ottawa do to deal with the developing situation in the Arctic? WE NEED TO WORK “Use it or lose it” was WITH SMALLER Stephen Harper’s mantra a ARCTIC STATES few years ago. This was not TO MAKE THE wrong, but in truth there ARCTIC A ZONE is no direct threat yet. The WITHOUT great powers are beginning CONFLICT. to focus on the high north, however, and Canada needs to get its preparations in place. We need to work with smaller Arctic states—Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Greenland—at the United Nations and at the Arctic Council to try to calm the situation and make the Arctic a zone without conlict and with strictly controlled economic development. We need to persuade Secretary Pompeo and the Trump administration to continue to respect the 1988 agreement, a diicult task to be sure. We need to get cracking on building infrastructure in the North to Members of strengthen our claims and to improve the the Royal life of our Indigenous Peoples. We must 22nd Regiment travel by inflatable improve the CAF’s ability to operate in boat from the Arctic, post more troops, aircraft, iceHMCS Moncton breakers and naval ships there, strengthen to a staging area Canada’s role in Norad, and upgrade the near Rankin Inlet, North Warning System (see page 50). Nunavut, during If Ottawa doesn’t act, Canadians might Operation Nanook not lose the Arctic, but we are almost in August 2016. certain to see the region become a contested zone of unregulated maritime, economic and military development, not to mention an increasingly polluted environment. No Canadian wants this. L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

HUMOUR HUNT

By John Ward

More bang

for the buck

he military is always seeking more bang for its buck. But there have been times when there was a lot more bang than anyone needed. For example, back in 1959, Ottawa’s new airport terminal was nearing completion. It was a modern, open-plan building designed to accommodate higher passenger traic for the dawning era of passenger jets. In keeping with that modern theme, someone decided that a lypast by a cutting-edge aircraft would set the tone for the oicial opening that August. The United States Air Force was happy to oblige and dispatched one of its newest ighters for the occasion. The F-104 Starighter, designed by the team at Lockheed’s legendary Skunk Works, was essentially an engine with a needle nose, stub wings and a cockpit. Just before the oicial opening of the airport, the Starighter pilot was practising his lyby. He approached too low and came in supersonic. The resulting shock wave blew out most of the windows in the terminal, including the two-storey glass wall of the main waiting room. Ceiling tiles rained down, door frames were twisted and some structural features were damaged. The opening was delayed almost a year for repairs. Too much bang.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

In 1967, Major-General Frank Worthington died at the age of 78. He was the irst commandant of the Canadian Armoured Fighting Vehicle School and is considered the father of the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps for his pioneering work on tanks. Canadian Forces Base Borden, Ont., decided to commemorate Worthington with a full-blown memorial parade. Someone (again, no names get attached to the decision) decided that Worthington’s armour connections should be underlined at the parade and four husky Centurion tanks were rolled in for the occasion. As the commemoration drew to a close, the tanks raised their main guns and ired a salute. The concussion from the blank charges shattered every window in the buildings that lined three sides of the parade ground. Presumably, procedures for future memorials were redrafted to discourage the discharge of heavy-calibre guns in proximity to vulnerable structures. Again, much too much bang. Many of the young Canadians who captained corvettes during the Second World War picked up some of the traditions of their Royal Navy mentors, including the habit of using biblical verses in signals as a quick way to get a message across. This involved using a Bible concordance to ind an appropriate phrase, then simply signalling book, chapter and verse. For example, there’s the story of a captain, weary and perhaps bored by endless days tossing in the North Atlantic under dreary, grey skies, who signalled to another warship: Hebrews, 13, 8. In the King James Bible that verse reads: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever.”

> Do you have a funny and true tale from Canada’s military culture?

Send your story to magazine@legion.ca

THE F-104 STARFIGHTER… WAS ESSENTIALLY AN ENGINE WITH A NEEDLE NOSE, STUB WINGS AND A COCKPIT.

An infantryman’s comment on the artillery: “If it’s in front of them, it’s a target. And it’s all in front of them.” A sharp-end view of the rear echelon: “Bread is the staf of life. The life of the staf is one long loaf.” A deinition of a veteran non-commissioned oicer in the Canadian army: “He’s been around since Centurion was a rank, not a tank.” From Britain’s Special Air Service survival handbook: “You’re getting your kit together. What is the most important item to remember to take with you? “Take your brain with you. You can’t beat the combination of common sense and experience in high-stress survival situations.” James Lister of Toronto recalls his irst sea duty with the Royal Canadian Navy, a three-month cruise to South America aboard HMCS Uganda, a light cruiser transferred from the Royal Navy in 1944. He was among 50 to 100 men fresh from training establishments ashore. One morning, Lister heard an order over the ship’s loud hailer: “Hands to training stations.”

Illustration by Malcolm Jones

The trouble was, he had no idea where or what his training station was. After checking the notice board, he found his name and station: six-inch practice loader. But where was that? He inally worked out where he was supposed to be—by the ship’s aft funnel—but by the time he got there, he was 15 minutes late, much to the displeasure of the chief petty oicer in charge of the exercise. The chief looked him up and down and said, “Do you see that six-inch projectile on the deck? Take it to the petty oicer of the fo’cs’le.” The projectile in question was about 25 kilograms of dead weight, a round blob of steel with no handholds. Lister had to cradle it in his arms like a baby. He staggered of with his burden, struggling up ladders and across the decks, heading forward. When he inally reached the forecastle, he found the petty oicer in charge. That worthy, once he inished laughing, said simply, “Take it back.” “After another struggle, I arrived back at the six-inch practice loader, but everyone was gone,” say Lister. “I was never required there again.” L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

HEROES AND VILLAINS

By Mark Zuehlke

MacGill Messer ELIZABETH (ELSIE) MacGILL

n 1939, Britain and the Commonwealth lacked a ighter plane to match the German Bf-109. In aerial combat over northwestern Europe in 1940, the 109, created by German aircraft designer Wilhelm (Willy) Messerschmitt, easily outfought “Although I never existing Royal Air Force ighters. learned to ly myself, In its pursuit of a competitive ighter plane, I accompanied the the RAF sent thousands of Hawker Hurricane pilots on all test blueprints on microilm to the Canadian Car lights—even the and Foundry Company in Fort William, Ont. dangerous irst (now Thunder Bay). Transforming the bluelight—of any aircraft I worked on.” prints into a functional ighter and creating an aircraft assembly line fell to 35-yearMacGILL HAD BEEN old Elizabeth (Elsie) In 1938, THE FIRST WOMAN MacGill. MacGill had been the ADMITTED TO irst woman admitTHE ENGINEERING ted to the Engineering INSTITUTE OF Institute of Canada. CANADA. Joining CanCar that same year, she oversaw the company’s conversion to aircraft manufacturing. Each Hurricane required 60,000 perfectly manufactured parts, and MacGill pioneered a unique modular construction system inspired by Meccano sets. Ensuring every Hurricane perfectly matched the rest meant parts from one could be used to repair another. MacGill oversaw the training and production work of a skilled workforce she created. Half of the 4,500 workers were women. By 1943, more than 1,400 Hurricanes had been produced.

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

“War efort,” MacGill relected, “is a man staying and working an extra hour, or two or ive hours a day…a woman cutting short her noon hour to inish the job…. War efort is something which is as microscopic in the unit as the individual, but as mighty in the sum total as an army.” The irst 40 Hurricanes of the production line were deployed during the Battle of Britain. By battle’s end, 1,715 Hurricanes had seen combat—accounting for 1,593 of RAF and RCAF’s total 2,739 kills. Although unable to match the Bf-109’s manoeuverability and speed, the Hurricane had a tighter turning arc. This gave the Hurricane an edge in dogights. MacGill also invented modiications to it them with skis and created a de-icing system—developments crucial to their use by the Russians. Dubbed “Queen of the Hurricanes,” MacGill’s rise as a woman within the aeronautical industry resulted in U.S.-based True Comics proiling her achievements in a special 1942 issue. By 1943, however, new ighter designs outpaced the Hurricane and production ceased. Stepping in, the U.S. navy contracted CanCar to build its Curtiss SB2C Helldiver. When continuous speciication changes caused a production bottleneck, naval oicials blamed MacGill and line-production manager Bill Soulsby. Both were ired. It later emerged that CanCar may also have ired them for having an afair. The two married, moved to Toronto, and enjoyed successful postwar careers. MacGill died in 1980. L

Elsie Gregory MacGill/LAC/PA-139429; Alamy/CPHTJV

> To voice your opinion, go to legionmagazine.com/HeroesAndVillains

&schmitt

Elsie MacGill’s Hawker Hurricane and Willy Messerschmitt’s Bf-109 faced of in the Battle of Britain

WILHELM (WILLY) MESSERSCHMITT

hen Germany’s Air Ministry issued a 1935 call for a new ighter design, aeronautical engineer and designer Wilhelm (Willy) Messerschmitt was advised not to compete again because his previous work in the ield “was of no importance.” Undeterred, the maverick entrepreneur, who had built his reputation on producing light, fast aircraft, remarked: “You can have any combination of features the Air Ministry desires, so long as you do not also require that the resulting airplane ly.” Ignoring proposed speciications, Messerschmitt produced his own design. The resulting Bf-109 won the single-seat ighter and multi-purpose ighter contests. Small, sleek, well-armed and very fast for the era, the 109 debuted at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The Condor Legion, a unit made up of personnel from Nazi Germany’s air force and army, lew it in support of Franco during the Spanish Civil War. It easily overwhelmed the Russian ighters aiding the Republicans. By the time Germany invaded Poland, the Bf-109 had been nicknamed the Messerschmitt or Me-109. Most Allied lyers called it this throughout the war. Each 109 could be built in 4,000 to 6,000 hours—faster than either the Hawker Hurricane or Supermarine Spitire. In the Battle of Britain, the Messerschmitt was a fair match against the Hurricane and Spitire. This was primarily due to its manoeuverability. The 109’s limited fuel capacity, however, meant it could stay over England for only 30 minutes before returning to

base. Reduced time-over-target combined with an ammunition load of only 1,000 rounds for each of its two engine-cowl guns tilted the balance against the Luftwafe. The 109 saw service throughout the war, however, because Messerschmitt regularly varied its design to improve performance and enhance irepower. Ultimately, 35,000 were produced—ensuring Messerschmitt’s “You can have legacy was tied to the ighter and its vital any combination contribution to Germany’s air power. of features the Messerschmitt, however, also produced Air Ministry desires, the world’s irst operational jet—the Me-262. so long as you do not also require With Germany facing serious manpower that the resulting shortages, he resorted to using slave labour airplane fly.” at Gusen II concentration camp. Only about 300 of 1,443 jets produced saw combat—a number too small to inluence the war’s MESSERSCHMITT’S outcome. And by war’s end, LEGACY WAS TIED only a few hundred 109s TO THE FIGHTER remained operational. AND ITS VITAL Use of slaves—between CONTRIBUTION 8,000 and 10,000 died— TO GERMANY’S resulted in Messerschmitt’s conviction by a denaziicaAIR POWER. tion court and a prison sentence. Released after two years, he returned to business. Germany was forbidden from producing ighter aircraft, but Messerschmitt designed the HA-100 for Spain. This plane’s inal variant—the HA-300—was ultimately sold to Egypt. Retiring in 1970, Messerschmitt died in 1978 at age 80. L

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

ARTIFACTS

By Sharon Adams

The

winged

ship

HMCS Bras d’Or was ahead of its time and soon obsolete

Hydrofoils protruding from the hull allowed HMCS Bras d’Or (FHE 400) to soar above the water in tests in the 1970s, reaching speeds of 63 knots (116 kilometres per hour), double the top speed of Canada’s destroyers and frigates today.

> For a video related to this artifact, go to legionmagazine. com/artifacts. 94

uring the Cold War, fast and deadly Soviet nuclear-powered submarines were deployed along the North American coast, capable of launching a nuclear weapon attack practically without warning. Tasked with anti-submarine duties by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Canada upgraded its leet and modernized equipment. But it was also keen to develop a ship that would be capable of detecting one of these subs, and then quickly accelerating to intercept it, regardless of rough seas. Battleships are not known for great acceleration and speed, as most of their power is used to overcome friction on their hulls as they plow through the water. But what if the hull could be lifted clear of the waves? Canada’s Defence Research Board, formed in 1947 for postwar military research, tackled the problem by delving into technology perfected in Canada in the First World War. In 1919, when the fastest steamship’s top speed was only 48 kilometres per hour,

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 > legionmagazine.com

Alexander Graham Bell and Frederick (Casey) Baldwin designed a ship that set a world marine speed record—114 kilometres per hour. Bell and Baldwin designed airfoils and hydrofoils, technology that allows aircraft to sail through the sky and watercraft to ly over the sea. A foil, such as an airplane wing, has a lat bottom and curved upper surface. At speed, air is directed downward, increasing pressure beneath the foil, while the foil’s curve increases the speed of the airlow over the top, reducing pressure above. This creates the lift needed to raise a plane from the runway. The same principle is used to raise a ship’s hull from the sea. A hydrofoil thus allows a ship’s power to be devoted to speed, rather than ighting friction along the hull. Several designs were tested in the 1950s. In 1963, the Royal Canadian Navy contracted de Havilland Aircraft Company of Canada to build a hydrofoil. In July 1968, after a delay of nearly two years due to a ire, the hydrofoil vessel was commissioned

LAC/R112-5519-2-E; Granger Academic/0622504; Alamy/F62YN4

Alexander Graham Bell (INSET), Frederick (Casey) Baldwin and Baldwin’s son Robert aboard an experimental hydrofoil on Bras d’Or Lake, N.S., in 1919.

BY THE NUMBERS

Canada’s hydrofoil program was “a triumph of naval architecture, design and technology.”

Originally called the Bras d’Or, a one-third size experimental hydrofoil (BELOW) commissioned by the Royal Canadian Navy was renamed HMCS Baddeck to free up the name for the full-size hydrofoil vessel (ABOVE).

—M.D. MacIntyre, author of Unfulfilled Promise: The Failure of Canada’s Hydrofoil Warship Project

25,000 Horsepower

1,500 Hull-borne range in nautical miles

930 Foil-borne range in nautical miles

into the navy as HMCS Bras d’Or, named for the lake where Bell and Baldwin tested their models. During trials, the ship travelled at 116 kilometres per hour, but it was plagued by problem after problem. Despite this, Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Edwards, the ship’s captain in 1970-71, grew to love Bras d’Or. “We showed her of whenever we could,” said Edwards in the foreword to Thomas Lynch’s The Flying 400: Canada’s Hydrofoil Project. During one demonstration, he said, “after doing a slalom down the formation of ships, then a turn around them all, I gilded the lily by going past the lagship literally ‘waggling’ my wings.” As development costs of Bras d’Or climbed to $50 million (equivalent to $310 million today) and glitches and problems continued, helicopter/destroyer teams were proving that they were capable

116 Speed in kilometres per hour

49.95 Length in metres

20 Main foil span in metres of anti-submarine operations. As well, Canada’s defence policy focus moved from submarines to sovereignty. The hydrofoil project was cancelled in 1971. HMCS Bras d’Or is now on display at the Musée maritime du Québec at L’Islet-sur-Mer, an hour’s drive east of Quebec City on the southern shore of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. L

25 Number of crew

4 Number of oicers

0 Number of weapons

legionmagazine.com > JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020

O CANADA

By Don Gillmor

The RCMP

turns 100 W

hen Canada bought Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1870, it needed to police those millions of square kilometres, so in 1873, the North West Mounted Police was formed by an act of Parliament. Successful applicants had to be males between the ages of 18 and 40, of sound constitution and good character. The pay was one dollar a day IT FELL TO THE RCMP and their irst job TO DETERMINE THE was to clean up the EXTENT OF RUSSIAN whiskey trade on the INFILTRATION, AN southern Prairies. On July 8, 1874, ONGOING POLITICAL 300 men set out from THEME THAT Man., on a CONTINUES TODAY. Duferin, two-month odyssey across the Prairies. They dealt with the whiskey traders, went on to put down the 1885 Métis resistance against the government, and policed the Klondike gold rush. Crowfoot, the inspirational leader of the Blackfoot, said, “The Mounted Police have protected us as the feathers of the bird protect it from the frosts of winter.” Find many more stories in our O Canada, Discover Your Land publication on newsstands across the country!

On Feb. 1, 1920, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was created through the merger of the NWMP and the Dominion Police, a force that had been established in 1868 to enforce federal laws. The phrase “The Mounties always get their man” stemmed from the 1932 pursuit of Albert Johnson, also known as the Mad Trapper of Rat River, across the North. Johnson had wounded an RCMP constable in a shootout in the Northwest Territories,

then led. It was January and bitterly cold, but the ensuing chase covered 240 kilometres on foot and lasted a month and a half. In the end, the Mounties caught up with the Mad Trapper, who was fatally shot on the frozen Eagle River in the Yukon. Four years later, American actor Nelson Eddie appeared in the movie Rose Marie, cast as a Mountie who hunts down a man who has killed an RCMP oicer. It was a hit, and featured Eddie singing “Song of the Mounties” (“Far over the snow…they sing as they go”). Eddie wore the signature red serge uniform in the ilm, and it became the image that was set in the imagination of ilm audiences around the world. In real life, the RCMP was occupied with intelligence work while fears of Bolshevik iniltration were still a government concern as the Depression dragged on. This concern gained credence in 1945 when defecting Soviet Embassy stafer Igor Gouzenko revealed evidence of a Soviet spy network in Canada. In the 1960s, Vancouver postal clerk Victor Spencer was caught gathering information for the Soviet Union, sparking new worries. Immediately in the wake of this revelation came the news that some Conservative cabinet ministers under prime minister John Diefenbaker had ties to a German woman named Gerda Munsinger, who was also involved with Russian agents. It fell to the RCMP to determine the extent of Russian iniltration, an ongoing political theme that continues today. Since then, the RCMP have dealt with separatists, drug dealers and criminals of every description. From the 300 men who set out across the Prairies in 1874, the organization has grown to more than 30,000 men and women. L

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Plans above include unlimited evening & weekend minutes, voicemail, call display and name display.

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Call 1-844-483-2288 or visit simplyconnect.ca/legion Ofer shown is available until January 31, 2020 or while quantities last and are subject to change without notice. 1 10% of applies to the Talk & Text monthly plan fees, and 15% of applies to the Smartphone monthly plan fees. Discount applies for as long as you are a member of The Royal Canadian Legion and cannot be combined with Bring Your Own Phone discount, Tablet Data plans and Wireless Home Phone plans. 2 Device pricing and minimum monthly rate plan apply for each line, and vary by term and plan chosen. Early cancellation fees apply with a 2-yr term. 3 Double minutes, texts and data bonus applies with a 2-yr term on in-market Individual plans from $18/mo to $60/mo and on all Couples and Family plans; bonus not applicable with Canada/U.S. plans. 4 Data bonuses apply on select in-market data wireless plans 1) with a 2-yr term: 1 GB: $32 Individual plan and $55/mo Couples Data Share Plan; 2 GB: Individual plans from $40/mo to $95/mo and $80/mo Family Data Share Plan, and 2) with no term: 1 GB: Individual plans from $40/mo to $95/mo and $80/mo Family Data Share Plan. Data bonus is not eligible for Double minutes, texts and data bonus and is not applicable with Canada/U.S. plans. Other ofers cannot be combined. Some conditions apply, call 1-844-483-2288 for details or visit simplyconnect.ca/legion for details.