Correspondence, Camaraderie, and Community: the Second World War for a Mother and Son
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Correspondence, Camaraderie, and Community: The Second World War for a Mother and Son by Emily Gann A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario ©2012 Emily Gann Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du 1+1Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-94300-7 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-94300-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada Abstract Erie Sinclair Miller enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1940. While his initial attitude towards the conflict was one of personal invincibility and an eagerness for action, much of Miller’s Second World War experience was spent in five prisoner of war camps, enduring physical as well as psychological hardship. The following thesis engages with the contents of the Miller Collection, a series of 297 letters, two prisoner of war journals, one flying log book and one scrapbook, in order to reveal the details of a young man’s experiences of war and the critical relationship he retained with his mother in Canada. The key themes in this analysis, that of identity, community, and coping, are drawn out in each of the following three chapters, and offer an intimate appreciation of the impact that the Second World War had on families, sharper insight into the dynamics of the RCAF and prisoner of war experience, the intersection of communities of war, and the role of mothers on the home front. ii Table of Contents Abstract.....................................................................................................................................Ii Table of Contents.....................................................................................................................iii Introduction..............................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: Sgt. Miller....................................................................................................... 18 Chapter Two: Prisoner of War..............................................................................................53 Chapter Three: Mother on the Home Front........................................................................91 Conclusion................................................................................................................................ I l l Bibliography.............................................................................................................................121 iii Introduction As you know I was in the last world war and it was no fun at all. [...]Of the seven of us that joined in Ottawa: 1st one killed. Red Mayville 2nd Harvey Lasselle - Killed on fighters 3rd Ray Bergois. - Killed [on] Bombers 4th Peter Reid. - Killed [on] Bombers 5th Smoky McLaughlin. - Killed [on] Bombers 6th Ray Villeneuve. - Killed [on] Bombers 7th Dusty Miller - Prisoner War - Still living. Sailors, soldiers & airmen getting wounded & killed, not to mention civilians, men, women & children receiving the same thing. [...]Believe me war is no fun!! And there is a very good chance you can get killed or lose an arm or leg or both.1 In this letter written roughly 50 years after he was shot down returning from a bombing raid on Berlin, Germany, Erie Miller reflected on the very high cost of war and on the grim fact that he was the only man of the six with whom he had enlisted in 1940 to survive the war. The letter is part of the Miller Collection, a series of 297 letters, two prisoner of war journals, one Flying Log Book, and one scrapbook that capture and reflect the period of Miller’s active service and imprisonment during the Second World War.2 Out of this grand total, 183 pieces of correspondence were sent from Miller to his mother during his four and a half years overseas, a period which saw him through 12 months of active service with the Royal Canadian Air Force 1 Erie Miller, Brockville, Ontario, to Alex Wilson, St. Catharines, [no calendar day given], 1991. These letters and personal writings have been transcribed in this thesis exactly as they appear in the Miller Collection. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s website confirms that these airmen died during the war: John Maville on 22 June 1941; Harvey Lacelle on 28 June 1942; Laurie Bourgeois on 12 June 1943; Stanleigh Reid on 1 June 1942; George McLaughlin on 18 November 1943 and Robert Villeneuve, on 20 November 1944. 2 The collection contains 66 letters that Miller sent during his active service with the RCAF, and 117 pieces of correspondence that he sent from behind barbed wire as a POW. All of the letters Miller wrote home during the Second World War were intended for his mother and, through such communications, it can be inferred that she was the primary author of the correspondence he received from his family. The Miller Collection does not contain any correspondence between Miller and his father. 1 (RCAF) and 45 months as a prisoner of war, from September 1941 to May 1945.3 The remaining 114 letters were received by his mother, Gladys Miller, from 12 September 1941 until 7 April 1944, and are connected to her son’s captivity. The last piece in this part of the Miller Collection was received almost a year before Miller’s liberation, and, given the short period of time between his transfer to and then his forced march in April 1945, it is highly likely that this was the last note his family received prior to a telegraph of 9 May 1945: “Arrived safe England See you soon.”4 Erie Sinclair Miller was bom in Beaver Lake, Alberta, on 14 March 1920 to Gladys and Donald Miller. When he was three years old, Miller and his family moved to Castleford, Ontario, where Miller lived until his departure for war in June 1940. From 1926 until 1933 he attended Renfrew Public School and Renfrew Collegiate from 1933 to 1936, achieving a Grade 11 certificate.5 The following year, Miller was awarded a diploma from Dmmmond’s Business College after two semesters of study, where he took courses in Bookkeeping, Typing, Shorthand and Filing, and then worked as a bookkeeper and clerk for two years at J.H. Russell’s Drug Store in Renfrew.6 Miller left his employment at the local drug store for war, and while none of his letters tell us why he chose to enlist, his RCAF application form offers insight into his decision. This document contains a section entitled ‘Trades or Branches in which Applicant Prefer Enlistment or Appointment,” and beneath this heading, Miller wrote “Pilot” as his first choice.7 3 Since September 2010, Miller’s military records have been added to the Miller Collection. These records are his Application for Enlistment in the RCAF, Service Award Card, a Prisoner of War casualty report, a list of courses taken while in the RCAF, attestation papers, and an Airman’s Record Sheet. 4 Erie Miller to Gladys Miller, Telegraph, 9 May 1945. 5 Department of Veterans Affairs, “Erie Miller - Confidential, 19 September 1945”, Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. As of November 2011, a copy of this document has been added to the Miller Collection. John Gann, Eulogy for Erie Sinclair Miller, Brockville, Ontario, April 1995. 6 Ibid. 7 Miller also wrote down “Office Position Admin.” as his second choice. Miller did not provide a third choice for this section of his application. Royal Canadian Air Force, “Application for Enlistment or Appointment in the RCAF 2 This entry suggests, quite simply, that Miller enlisted because of his desire to become a pilot in the RCAF. The Miller Collection allows for the reconstruction of a young man’s experiences of war and the critical relationship he retained with his mother in Canada. By examining this body of writing against