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May 13, 2013 Our Great Comrade Has Fallen PETER WORTHINGTON

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May 13, 2013 Our Great Comrade Has Fallen PETER WORTHINGTON The Korean War Veteran Internet Journal May 13, 2013 This sad story is extracted verbatim – without permission, in the best traditions of Peter Worthington himself – from the Toronto Sun that Peter founded 42 years ago in November, 1971. Our great comrade has fallen PETER WORTHINGTON 1927-2013 TORONTO - Peter Worthington, the legendary founding editor of the Toronto Sun, has died. He was 86. One of Canada's most prolific and well-known journalists, Worthington witnessed history unfold during a career that spanned many of the wars, conflicts and seminal news events that shaped the 20th Century. Along with J. Douglas Creighton and Don Hunt, he founded "The Little Paper That Grew" with 60-plus former staffers from the defunct Toronto Telegram. Worthington was admitted to Toronto General Hospital last Thursday and diagnosed with a serious staph infection that compromised his heart, kidneys, and other organs. He passed away around midnight Sunday in hospital, spending the last days of his life peacefully, surrounded by his wife Yvonne and family members including his grandchildren. When told by doctors his condition was grave, Worthington didn't flinch. "Typically (for him) he made a little joke to the doctor," his daughter Danielle Crittenden said in an email, "suggesting she might need comforting more than he did." As Peter put it, 'There's nothing left I want to do; there are only things I want to know.'" Worthington was born Feb. 16, 1927, the son of Major-General Frederic Franklin (Fighting Frank) Worthington. who led his own a colourful and adventurous life that saw him orphaned at 10, take to the sea as a cabin boy on cargo ships and go onto a distinguished military career that included a key role in founding the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps. Peter, following the outbreak of WWII, followed in his father's footsteps and saw military duty as an adventure. He enlisted in the Canadian Navy in 1944 when he was 17. "I had run away from home at age 15, hoping to join the merchant navy, but they spotted my age," Worthington wrote in a 2001 column. He trained in telegraphy at HMCS St. Hyacinthe, Que., and later served as a telegraphist air gunner in the Fleet Air Arm at Yarmouth, N.S., and briefly in Britain during the last year of the Second World War. He later joined the army during the Korean War and served as a platoon commander with the Princess Pats in Korea, as well as battalion intelligence officer, then flew with U.S. Mosquito (6147 Squadron) that directed air strikes against attacking Chinese forces. After being discharged from the Armed Forces, Worthington obtained a bachelor's degree at the University of British Columbia and then completed a bachelor's degree in journalism from Carleton University. In 1956, he joined the Toronto Telegram and soon became a foreign correspondent for the paper. He covered the Vietnam War, conflicts in the Gaza Strip, the Portuguese Colonial War, the invasion of Netherlands' New Guinea by Indonesia and was in the northeast frontier of India when Chinese forces invaded. In 1963, Worthington was an eyewitness to Jack Ruby's murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man accused of assassinating U.S. President John F. Kennedy. A year later, Worthington covered Ruby's trial. In 1965, Worthington opened the first Canadian newspaper bureau in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. While there, he played hockey "badly" for a Canadian embassy team that never lost a game in two years and "wore a 007 sweatshirt that Russian players were eager to body check." On Nov. 1, 1971, the day after the Telegram folded, Worthington began a new phase in his career as the Toronto Sun's executive editor, then editor-in-chief. The newspaper flourished under Worthington's direction and its mix of no- nonsense local news and opinion, sports and tabloid irreverence was embraced by the city. The first edition sold out within minutes. He directed much of his energy during the early years of the new tabloid to holding then-prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and his Liberal government to account. During that period, Worthington was charged under the Official Secrets Act for a column he wrote identifying 15 Canadians charged with espionage or treason offences, charges that were eventually dismissed. In all, he was editor-in-chief for 12 years and helped launched the Sun's sister publication -- the Ottawa Sun -- in the late 1980s. In 1982, and again in 1984, he ran for political office under the Progressive Conservative banner but was defeated both times and returned to his roots in the newspaper business. Worthington was a devoted animal rights activist and long-time supporter of the Toronto Humane Society. During his career, he won four National Newspaper Awards, a National Newspaper Citation and was also named to the Canadian News Hall of Fame. From his bedside before he passed, Worthington spoke with his son-in-law, journalist David Frum, about his life and perilous times. "In all the situations I was in, I never felt fear," he said. "I felt nerves sometimes. And of course you want to be cautious. You feel that you want to do your best. You tense yourself - and then you wait to see what comes next." He is survived by his wife, Yvonne Crittenden, who called him her "rock," children Casey Worthington, Guy Crittenden and Danielle Crittenden and six grandchildren. Our good comrade Peter Worthington is shown above in 1954, after completing his parachutist training on returning from Korea. Below, 50 years later, Peter is pictured in Afghanistan where he was a free roaming (not imbedded) reporter, covering Canadian soldiers engaged in the war on full active duty status. Note that he wears the cumbersome and heavy body armor and helmet that was mandatory. Not so apparent is the hundred degree heat. He simply cannot be replaced! (Below) Peter Worthington at the Monument to Canadian Fallen in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan, July, 2003. Peter covered the Veterans Affairs Canada Pilgrimage to Korea as “working press.” The Pilgrimage marked the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Korean War Armistice. Peter nearly got into a fight with security screeners at Toronto Pearson Airport before he left Canada. He had a one-inch long miniature Swiss Army Knife on his key chain and they fussed that it was a weapon. Peter open the tiny three-quarter inch blade to show them how silly it was. They fussed more so he broke the blade off with his fingers. One started yelling that a bit of the broken metal could have struck him in the eye. “Don’t be a baby!” Peter thundered. He had also been directed to the wrong boarding area at the far end of the airport so was in no mood to mix words. Even bladeless, they still wanted to confiscate his toy knife. At a banquet for 2,000 delegates in Seoul one of the Canadian Veterans did not receive an Ambassador of Peace Medal (one was left at every table place where a Canadian veteran was seated). Peter promptly got up and swiped one from one of the other tables to present to him. The speaker at the dinner was Henry Kissinger. Peter was at a table just feet from him. When he phoned his wife, Yvonne in Toronto from the table before the speeches began, he looked startled. "She said 'You're drunk!'" he confided to everyone, then continued their conversation. He wasn't drunk. The sponsor who had paid for the table (several thousand dollars) was an executive with a Korean telecom company and had asked Peter to try out his company's latest cell phone. Peter Worthington is seen in a 1982 photo, taken shortly before he left on a mission to Zimbabwe with a $500,000 ransom in a failed attempt to free six tourists held hostage by insurgents. Peter and his wife, Yvonne Crittenden, and below, with their daughter, Danielle Crittenden Frum, and below that, Peter with his grandchildren, Nathaniel and Miranda. .
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