, 2010

bravely before being forced to members of bomber, transport, surrender on Christmas Day. reconnaisance and fighter Approximately 290 Canadians squadrons. Ontario’s Leonard were killed and almost 500 Birchall was even dubbed “the wounded. The survivors’ ordeal Saviour of Ceylon” by British was just beginning. Over the Prime Minister Winston next four years, 267 more would Churchill after detecting the die as a result of malnutrition, Japanese invasion fleet sailing beatings by prison guards and for the island of Ceylon (now forced labour. Ronald Routledge known as Sri Lanka). His of Saskatchewan was there: plane was shot down, but not before the crew had radioed a “Well, I went down to a hundred warning that helped the Allies pounds, you know. I was maybe repel the attack. a hundred and eighty odd pounds Photo: LAC PA-114811 when I was my normal weight, Japan surrendered on Canadian and British prisoners of war in Hong Kong awaiting but I was down to about a August 15, 1945, after atomic liberation by landing party from HMCS Prince Robert. hundred pounds.” bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During the Second World War, approximately 10,000 Many other Canadians also saw V-J (Victory over Japan) Day Canadians served in Asia. Almost 2,000 soldiers from action in Asia during the war, marked the end of years of Manitoba’s Winnipeg Grenadiers and Quebec’s Royal Rifles including thousands of Royal fighting in the Second World of Canada set sail for Hong Kong in late October 1941 to help Canadian Air Force airmen who War. The Canadian POWs defend the British Crown Colony. The Japanese invaded on served in the Burma Campaign were finally liberated and December 8, 1941. Badly outnumbered, the defenders fought as radar operators and returned home. Photo: Public Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador VA37-1-3

Newfoundland Regiment soldiers in front line trenches in Gallipoli.

When Britain declared war in August 1914, Newfoundland, which was a colony of Britain at the time, The Canadian Navy was founded in 1910. responded quickly by recruiting its At the outbreak of the First World War, the first 1,000 men for overseas service. Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) only had two ships and fewer than 350 men. It would In September 1915, the play such roles as controlling shipping 1st Newfoundland Regiment landed in Canadian ports, performing radio- on Turkey’s Gallipoli peninsula, telegraph services and undertaking mine joining British, Australian and New sweeping and patrolling operations during Zealand troops. Gallipoli would the war. be the Newfoundlanders’ first experience of the horrors of trench The Second World War saw the RCN warfare—artillery fire, snipers, great grow greatly and play an important role in cold and disease caused by living in the Battle of the Atlantic — the struggle Photo: DND HS2008-J018-006 such harsh conditions. The regiment between the Allied navies, who needed to HMCS Charlottetown serving in the Arabian Sea in 2008. also earned its first battle honour maintain the vital flow of war materials when they captured “Caribou Hill” from North America to Europe, and the guard against amphibious landings, protect and have served with North Atlantic in November. They covered the German U-boats (submarines) that wanted aircraft carriers, bombard coastal areas and Treaty Organization (NATO) forces over withdrawal of Allied troops from the to cut off that supply. By the end of the war, assist isolated fishing villages. the years. The Canadian Navy tradition of region, being among the last to leave Canada had the third-largest navy in the service continues today, whether guarding in January 1916. Approximately 40 world with 434 vessels and 95,000 men and With the unification of the Canadian our coasts, watching for smuggling, Newfoundlanders had died, a taste women in uniform. military in the late 1960s, the RCN became undertaking sovereignty operations in of the great casualties the regiment the sea arm of the Canadian Forces. Our the North, or patrolling the waters off would soon suffer on the Western During the Korean War, eight Canadian ships patrolled Canada’s shores during the Southwest Asia in the fight against Front. destroyers helped blockade the enemy coast, Cold War, watching for Soviet submarines, terrorism.

One of the most dangerous routes From 1941 to 1945, more than forty sailed by the Merchant Navy during convoys sailed, transporting millions the Second World War was the of tons of supplies, such as aircraft, notorious Murmansk Run. Despite tanks, jeeps, locomotives, flatcars, guns, constant German attack and extreme ammunition, fuel and millions of pairs weather conditions, supplies were of boots. These supplies allowed the shipped to the Arctic port of Soviet Union to continue fighting Murmansk to assist the Soviet Union Germany on the Eastern Front, in it’s fight against Germany. It was so thus preventing the Germans from dangerous that if a ship was sunk, the concentrating all their forces against survivors could not be rescued. the Allies in the West.

The liberation of the Netherlands offensive to a halt. That winter was a was a big hush over all the people and during the Second World War is one terrible time for the Dutch—food and it was suddenly broken by a big scream, of the most famous chapters in our fuel supply reserves were gone; people as if it was out of the earth. And the country’s military heritage. In late ate tulip bulbs and scavenged through people climbed on the tank . . . and 1944 and early 1945, the Canadians garbage to survive. Thousands starved they were crying. And we were running battled to push the Germans from the or froze to death. with the tanks and the jeeps all the way country they had occupied since the into the city.” spring of 1940. With its challenging Early in the new year, the push began terrain of canals, dikes and floodlands, to finally liberate the country. The Helping liberate the Netherlands was the Netherlands was a tough place to Canadian troops were cheered as one a proud achievement for our country, fight. town after another was freed. It was but one that came at a great cost. More

a memorable period, as one Dutch than 7,600 Canadians died in the Photo: LAC PA-140417 After opening battles in the fall teenager at the time recalled: “As the effort. Dutch civilians celebrating liberation of Utrecht by units of 1944, bad weather brought the (Canadian) tank came nearer . . . there of the 1st Canadian Corps. 2 NEWS C anada Remembe rs Times

In the years following the Korean War, The “Medak Pocket” was a portion of Canada developed a well-deserved Croatia that was then under Serbian reputation for taking part in United control. The Croats had launched an Nations (UN) peacekeeping efforts offensive to take the area and heavy fighting around the world. Peacekeeping broke out. A cease-fire was arranged, with involves sending impartial troops into a UN forces overseeing the withdrawal of war-torn area after a cease-fire has been both sides. Canadian and French soldiers negotiated to prevent new fighting began to move in but Croatian forces began breaking out. firing on the Canadians. The Patricias bravely repelled many attacks and held their In the early 1990s, the Eastern position despite being pounded with heavy European country of Yugoslavia was machine gun fire, grenades, cannons and torn apart by ethnic and religious small arms fire. The next morning, despite differences and civil war erupted. another cease-fire, the Croats still prevented Atrocities were committed against UN troops from entering the pocket. civilians on all sides. The UN sent in forces to try to contain the worst The Canadian commander held an of the violence, but fighting was still impromptu press conference in front of going on. In September 1993, the their roadblock to show the world what Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light they were doing, forcing the Croats to

Photo: DND Infantry serving in the UN forces open the road. Tragically, the UN forces found themselves in the middle of the found the ethnically Serbian villages in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry Battle Group - CANBAT 1 - Croatia 1993 heaviest firefight a Canadian unit had Medak Pocket destroyed and many civilians then experienced since the Korean War. killed—the victims of “ethnic cleansing.”

In the early morning hours It took the collective efforts of all of October 14, Canadians, at home and overseas, 1942, the ferry to help the Allies achieve victory SS Caribou was in the Second World War. on its way from Cape Breton to With so many young men in Newfoundland uniform, women were called with 237 people upon to take up jobs that had on board, many Photo: Cassie Brown Collection, Coll 115. Archives and Special Collections, Memorial University. Queen Elizabeth II Library, been traditionally done by of them civilians. Survivors of the SS Caribou. October 14, 1942. men. This included important The dark night manufacturing jobs to produce was lit up when the ferry was hit by a nurse to be killed due to enemy action the materials so desperately torpedo from a German U-boat. The during the war. Her colleague Margaret needed for the war effort. One explosion threw people from their bunks Brooke was named a Member of the example was the Pictou Shipyards and they rushed to get off the sinking Order of the British Empire for her in northern Nova Scotia. ship. Several lifeboats were damaged or brave efforts to save her good friend. Approximately 700 women could not be launched, so many were picked up hammers, wrenches forced to jump into the cold water. One hundred thirty-six people died and rivets to help build dozens of that night, including at least five merchant ships to carry supplies Among the casualties was Royal mothers and 11 children—a tragedy overseas. Photo: LAC PA-112891 Canadian Navy Nursing Sister that still echoes today for many Atlantic Agnes Wilkie, Canada’s sole military Canadians. Mrs. A. Mackay operating a rivet gun at Pictou Shipyards.

The challenges faced by Canadians serving in Afghanistan with the UN-sanctioned International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) have been great and the risks many. While much of the toll taken on Canadian Forces members has come from roadside

bombs and suicide attacks, Canadians have also taken Photo: DND AR2006-G007-0071 part in major combat with the Taliban. Canadians readying to storm a compound where Taliban soldiers Operation Medusa was a Canadian-led offensive in the are hiding during Operation Medusa. Kandahar area of the country in September 2006. Afghan, Approximately 1,400 ISAF soldiers, including more than American, Dutch and Danish forces were also involved. The 1,000 Canadians, took part, making it Canada’s largest goal was to clear the Taliban from the Panjwai district to help combat operation in more than 50 years. It was hard

Photo: LAC PA-128820 the Afghan government establish control over the area. The fighting and the Canadians took heavy fire, but the Taliban many hostile villages, terrain criss-crossed by irrigation ditches, were pushed from the district. The cost was high, however Canadian artillery in action in Korea, June 1951. trenches and tunnels, extreme climate and roadside bombs —12 Canadian Forces members were killed in the two- made it a difficult place for the Canadians to operate. week offensive. Korea has traditionally been known as the “Land of the Morning Calm,” but for the more than 26,000 brave Canadians who travelled halfway around the world to fight with the United Nations (UN) forces in the Korean War, calmness was in short supply. The South African War was the first overseas Alberta’s Ray Nickerson enlisted in the conflict in which large contingents of Canadian Army at age 16 and served in Korea. Canadians served. It was a struggle between He remembers his first encounter with the the British, who wanted to unite South Africa enemy: under their rule, and the Dutch settlers, who wanted to remain independent. “... We took an attack at night ... one wave and another wave behind and another wave When war broke out in 1899, after decades of behind, like, it seemed like they had endless, tensions, Britain requested military assistance endless, endless men. ... And it was pretty from Canada and other members of the damn scary when the flares were going up Commonwealth. Canadian opinion was and you could see all these, it looked like a split over what some saw as a “British War” bunch of ants crawling around, coming up the in which our country should not become hills ... it was scary, but you knew you had a involved, while others were drawn to the idea job to do and you had to do it, you know.” of defending the British Empire. Despite the controversy, a thousand men were quickly The war began on June 25, 1950 when North recruited to form the First Contingent that Korea invaded South Korea. When an sailed from Québec City on October 30, 1899. armistice was finally signed on July 27, 1953, after more than three years of fighting, the The war ended in 1902 with the Dutch border was back close to where it had been surrendering their independence in exchange before the war. Canada had helped restore for support to the victims of the war and peace and freedom to the people of South eventual self-government. More than 7,000 Korea—a peace paid for in part by the 516 Canadians had volunteered for service with Canadian servicemen who died during the 277 dying (most from injury or disease caused war. No formal peace treaty was ever signed, Photo: LAC PA-173029 by the harsh conditions), and more than 250 however, and tensions along the border being wounded. between the two countries remain high today. 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles on patrol in South Africa in 1902. Editor’s Note: Veterans Affairs Canada recognizes that names and spellings of some countries/locations may have changed. For historical accuracy, we have used the name current at the time of the event(s). This publication is available upon request in other formats. © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Veterans Affairs, 2010 Catalogue No: V32-180/2010 ISBN: 978-1-100-51579-3 Printed in Canada Affairs, This publication is available upon request in other formats. © Her Majesty the Queen Right of Canada, represented by Minister Veterans we have used the name current at time of event(s). Canada recognizes that names and spellings of some countries/locations may have changed. For historical accuracy, Affairs Editor’s Note: Veterans C anada Remembe rs Times PROFILES 3

Many Canadians have looked after the wounded during war, including Drs. Frederick Banting, Norman Bethune and Cluny Macpherson. Their experiences led to impressive medical discoveries still in use today.

Cluny Macpherson was born in 1st Newfoundland Regiment during Dr. Macpherson invented the first St. John’s, Newfoundland in 1879, and the First World War. He served in gas mask by modifying a helmet earned his medical degree at McGill France, Belgium, Egypt, Salonica and with a canvas hood, eyepieces and University in Montréal. Gallipoli, Turkey. a breathing tube. This became an important protective device in Dr. Macpherson enlisted in Early in the war, a soldier’s only the war, protecting soldiers from September 1914, and was appointed protection from gas was to breathe blindness, disfigurement and injury Photo: Museum of Health Care at Kingston. Used with permission Principal Medical Officer of the through a handkerchief soaked in urine. to their throats and lungs. The Macpherson gas mask

Frederick Banting was born on November 14, 1891 in Alliston, Ontario. During the First World War, Norman Bethune was born in 1890 in Dr. Banting joined the Canadian Army

Gravenhurst, Ontario. At the outbreak of Photo: © Canada Post Corporation. 1214 Canadian Postal Archives, LAC, POSTAL Medical Corps, and served as a medical the First World War in 1914, he enlisted 1990 “Norman Bethune in Canada” stamp. officer. Just weeks before the armistice, in the No. 2 Field Ambulance Medical he was wounded in the right arm but Corps, and served as a stretcher-bearer. American Mobile Medical Unit continued to treat injured soldiers, Wounded at Ypres, Belgium, he returned and worked day and night under earning him the Military Cross. In to Canada to complete his medical degree rudimentary conditions, caring for 1922, he was awarded Canada’s first- in 1916. Bethune later pioneered the the wounded. Tales were told across ever Nobel Prize for the discovery of world’s first mobile blood transfusion units, China of this extraordinary foreigner insulin. established free medical clinics in Montréal, who was undaunted by hardship, and invented new surgical instruments. and gave his clothes, his food, and Banting also conducted medical even his own blood to those in research for the military during the When Japan invaded China in 1937, need. While operating on a soldier, Second World War. He died in a

Dr. Bethune was determined to help. Bethune cut his finger and died of Photo: LAC PA-178289 plane crash in Newfoundland while He went there with the Canadian- blood poisoning in 1939. Dr. Frederick Banting on a secret scientific mission to England in 1941.

Alexander Decoteau was born in police officer before enlisting in the prize. Tragically, he was killed in October Saskatchewan in 1887 and moved army during the First World War. 1917 during the Battle of Passchendaele. to Alberta as a young man. A It is said that the German sniper who remarkable long-distance runner, he Private Decoteau won the five-mile shot him took the watch but Decoteau’s competed in the 1912 Olympics in race during a military sports day in comrades later killed the sniper, Stockholm, Sweden. He was also our England and King George V awarded recovering the treasured memento and country’s first Aboriginal-Canadian him his personal gold pocket watch as a sending it home to Decoteau’s mother. Photo: City of Edmonton Archives EA-10-2072 Alexander Decoteau in 1912.

The Canadian military has a long of the Somme when the men were held precious pipes behind, Richardson tradition of using music to build up by thick barbed wire and intense insisted on going back to retrieve morale. During the First World War, enemy fire. Richardson cooly strode them. He was never seen again. playing the bagpipes even earned a back and forth outside the wire and British Columbia soldier the Victoria proudly played his pipes, inspiring his Miraculously, Richardson’s bagpipes Cross (the highest award for courage). comrades to successfully capture the were found in the mud of the enemy position. Somme in 1917. On display in In October 1916, James Richardson Scotland for decades, they were of the Seaforth Highlanders was in Richardson later helped in the repatriated and placed on display in action on the Western Front in France. transport of a wounded comrade and the British Columbia Legislature in

Photo: LAC PA-C-033428 The 20-year-old piper’s company was some prisoners away from the fighting. 2006. Richardson’s pipes had finally launching an attack during the Battle Remembering that he had left his come home. Piper James Richardson

Omer Levesque was born in Mont- He was captured and spent the rest Joli, Quebec in 1920. Early in the of the war in Stalag Luft III, the Second World War, Levesque joined German prisoner of war camp made the Royal Canadian Air Force famous by the Hollywood movie, The Marc Garneau was born in Quebec (RCAF) where he flew Hurricane and Great Escape. in 1949. He joined the Canadian Spitfire fighter aircraft. Patrolling over Navy in 1974, working as a combat occupied France in November 1941, Levesque returned to action in system engineer. He designed a he shot down a German November 1950 when he went to simulator and training equipment Focke-Wulf 190, the first kill of this Korea on an exchange posting with for the Navy. In 1983, he was new fighter aircraft by an RCAF the United States Air Force. He selected as one of Canada’s first pilot. He later shot down three more became the first Commonwealth astronauts, and became the first German fighters during the war. pilot to shoot down a Chinese Canadian in space in 1984. Communist MiG-15 fighter. With Levesque was shot down over the his total aerial combat victories from

French coast in 1942 while battling the two wars now at five, he became Photo: Public Domain fighters protecting German warships. an “ace.” Omer Levesque in the cockpit.

who served in the Royal Canadian Gerald joined at age 18 and was Air Force (RCAF) during the one of the youngest commissioned Second World War. officers in the RCAF at age 19. During more than 35 missions, he

Photo: The Telegraph Photo: The Telegraph Journal Adolphus, the oldest, was a saw service as a wireless air gunner flight sergeant and served as an on Wellington and Lancaster The military heritage of African- airframe mechanic. William was bombers and was wounded in action. Canadians is long and proud. a flight sergeant who served as The Carty family of Saint John, an aeronautical inspector. Clyde, In keeping with family tradition, New Brunswick, exemplifies this a leading aircraftman, served as a two younger brothers at home, commitment to service. Albert firefighter. Donald, an aircraftman Robert and Malcolm, were Carty, a First World War Veteran, second class, was an equipment members of the Army and Air Photo: Canadian Space Agency and his wife Fannie had five sons assistant. Cadets during the war. Marc Garneau 4 LIFE AND TIMES C anada Remembe rs Times

ON THE WEB

The Vanier Cup is awarded each year to the Canadian university football champion. The cup is named after Major-General Georges Vanier, a Canadian soldier and diplomat. He served as an officer in the 22nd Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War, losing his right leg. Vanier received a number of decorations including the Military Cross, and served again in the Second World War. He became the first French-Canadian Governor General of Photo: LAC PA-002777 Canada. An avid sports fan, he created the Major Georges Vanier in 1918. Vanier Cup in 1965.

The contributions of French- In 2005, Conal Slobodin was a youth Canadians during the Second delegate on a Veterans Affairs Canada World War, both on the home overseas event marking the liberation of front and in the military, were the Netherlands. Travelling with many many. Men and women recall Veterans who had helped liberate the their war experiences in this country had a great impact on the young cool interactive Web feature. To man from the Yukon. learn about their stories, visit www.vac-acc.gc.ca today and “I was speechless (for the first time in my search for “La force francophone.” life) as I sat talking to these men who, sixty years ago, were my age, and had donned a uniform and fought in a war that would forever impact the world. ... I did not know how to thank them, and I still don’t today. ... Their courage and bravery go beyond our understanding of the mere Photo: VAC words. As I often heard them say to me, ‘I Conal Slobodin sprinkling Canadian soil on never want it to happen to you.’ I thought, soldier’s grave in the Netherlands. these men are true heroes.”

John “Jack” Babcock died on February 18, 2010 at the age of 109—the last known Canadian Veteran of the First World War. He Veterans Affairs Canada lied about his age in order to enlist has a new multimedia and in the Canadian Army at age 15, interactive Web feature about but authorities discovered he was the Korean War. Hear about underage and sent him to train with the events leading up to the a reserve battalion in Britain until he Photo: VAC conflict, watch interviews was older. The war ended before he Mr. Babcock at age 107 and as a teenager. with Canadian Veterans who could be sent to the front line. were there, or explore an sacrifice during the First World War. interactive time line and map. Mr. Babcock’s passing marked the Visit www.vac-acc.gc.ca today and Visit www.vac-acc.gc.ca today end of an era. It is up to all of us to search for “End of an Era” to learn and search for “Land of the remember Canadians’ service and more. Morning Calm.”

Canadians have long put their lives on the line in the cause of peace and freedom. Remembering their achievements and sacrifices is a great way to honour their service. People do this in many ways.

In March 2009, 20-year-old Trooper Jack “Bouts” Bouthillier of Ontario was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. His father, Raynald Bouthillier, wanted a fitting way to honour his son and other Canadians who have died in Afghanistan. He modified one of his company’s trucks with pictures of “Bouts,” scenes from Afghanistan, and the names of all Canadians

who have died in service there. Eric Traclet Developer, Photo: DND - Base Web Bouthillier’s truck at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa.

Did you know that on the back support efforts around the world. On Winston Churchill, Prime More than twenty-five million of the Canadian $10 bill, you can the right is a Veteran and two youth Minister of Great Britain during of the “V for Victory” coins find three remembrance-related participating in a Remembrance Day the Second World War, helped were minted in 1943 alone. In 2005, illustrations? On the left is a service at a cenotaph. popularize the “V For Victory” during the Year of the Veteran, the verse from In slogan in an effort to raise Allied Canadian Mint released a special Flanders Fields, spirits. The people of occupied commemorative the famous Europe were urged to paint “V for Victory” First World the letter “V” on the walls of nickel. War poem by buildings. Canadian John McCrae. The From 1942 until 1945, Canada center depicts a replaced the traditional beaver

Canadian Forces with a torch superimposed on a peacekeeper, “V” on the back of the Canadian doves and nickel. “WE WIN WHEN WE a globe

WORK WILLINGLY ” was also Dent Photo: Terrill representing etched in Morse code. 1945 and 2005 ‘V for Victory’ nickels Canadian peace Bank note images used and altered with permission of the © Bank of Canada