Legion Magazine 2015-03-04

ASSAULT ON ITALY THE FORGOTTEN FRONT

U-BOATS

UNDER FIRE

CANADA’S DANGEROUS

DANCE WITH NATO

SPECIAL FEATURE

ARE YOU GETTING THE BENEFITS YOU

DESERVE?

Veterans PAGE 17

Benefits

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2015

GUIDE Do YOU qualify for disability coverage or a pension? Benefits for RCMP Veterans survey results Vocational training Jargon-buster

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FEATURES

LEGIONMAGAZINE.COM

Veterans 2015 Benefits Guide SPECIAL FEATURE

17 INSPIRED BY THE ORIGINAL CHARTER By Tom MacGregor

PAG E

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28 USING SKILLS AND EDUCATION TO MAKE THE TRANSITION By Ellen O’Connor

19 FREQUENTLY USED TERMS 21 HOW RCMP MEMBERS FARE

29 A LONG WAY TO GO By Adam Day

By Sharon Adams

30 2015 VETERANS BENEFITS SURVEY RESULTS 32 PENSIONS, AWARDS, ALLOWANCES FOR 2015

24 FILLING IN THE FORMS By Sharon Adams

28 EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE FOR VETERANS’ FAMILIES

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34

WAR AFTER WAR

Canada’s dangerous dance with NATO Story and photography by Adam Day

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FACE TO FACE

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Was Vimy Ridge the Canadian Corps’ greatest victory? By John Boileau and Andrew Iarocci

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BORDEN’S GREAT GIFT A patriotic nation rallies to recruit more men By Graham Chandler

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THE FORGOTTEN FRONT

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Canadians take the fight to Sicily and the Italian mainland By J.L. Granatstein

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IN

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BATTLE HONOURS OF THE CANADIAN FORCES

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Italy—Advance to Campobasso By John Boileau MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEGION MAGAZINE

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2015-01-30 10:04 AM

The

forgotten Some 60,000 Allied forces and 50,000 German soldiers died in the fight for Italy. Why then is the Italian Campaign so little known today? See page 46.

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front

LEGION MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

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LIEUT. STRATHY SMITH/DND/LAC/PA-189923

Troops with the Governor General’s Horse Guards show off their distinctive haircuts and catch up on the news on May 26, 1944, before their advance on the Hitler Line during the Italian Campaign. From left are G.W. Richardson, E. Duncan and S. Montgomery.

MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEGION MAGAZINE

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ON THIS

CANADIAN MILITARY HISTORY IN PERSPECTIVE

DATE

M A R CH

52

ARMY

Deadly green fog By Terry Copp

PAGE 6

55

NEWS

13

12

HEALTH FILE

AIR FORCE

In and out of Southest Asia

JOURNAL

By Sharon Adams

By Hugh A. Halliday

By Adam Day

58

64 New minister needs to win back veterans’ trust 65 Track program wins award

NAVY

Five U-boat kills in five weeks

66 2014: The year in review—moving forward 69 Statue to honour author of “In Flanders Fields”

By Marc Milner

70 Wartime letters preserved at high school 71 Serving you

DEPARTMENTS

72 Fort York adds visitor centre to site

90 91 91 91 91

73 The future of Ste-Anne’s Hospital still uncertain 74 The hunt for homeless veterans VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

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AL

SNAPSHOTS

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The Snapshots section is available online in the Community section of legionmagazine.com.

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ON SALE MARCH 2! Canada’s Ultimate Story

THE FIGHT FOR ITALY

8 9 15 92 94 96

Special collector’s edition available at newsstands across the country.

EDITORIAL LETTERS EYE ON DEFENCE CANADA AND THE COLD WAR HUMOUR HUNT TRAVELLING ABOUT

On The Cover See our Veterans Benefits Guide, starting on page 17.

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Vol. 90, No. 2 March /April 2015 www.legionmagazine.com Legion Magazine is published by Canvet Publications Ltd., ISSN 1209-4331. Member of CCAB, a division of BPA International. Printed in Canada. PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 40063864 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO LEGION MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT 86 AIRD PLACE, KANATA, ON K2L 0A1 email: [email protected] Published six times per year, January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October and November/December. Copyright Canvet Publications Ltd. 2015. Reproduction or recreation, in whole or in part, in any form or media, is strictly forbidden and is a violation of copyright. Reprint only with written permission. Recommended by The Royal Canadian Legion.

Editorial & Advertising Policy

Opinions expressed are those of the writers. Unless otherwise explicitly stated, articles do not imply endorsement of any product or service. The advertisement of any product or service does not indicate approval by the publisher unless so stated.

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General Manager Jennifer Morse Editor Eric Harris News Editor Tom MacGregor Staff Writers Sharon Adams, Adam Day Art Director, Production and Circulation Manager Jason Duprau Designers Dyann Bernard, Sophie Jalbert, Jennifer McGill Administration Doris Williams Researcher/Administrative Assistant Stephanie Slegtenhorst

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Legion Magazine is $9.96 per year ($19.93 for two years and $29.89 for three years); prices include GST. For addresses in BC, a subscription is $10.63 per year ($21.26 for two years and $31.89 for three years). For addresses in NS, a subscription is $10.91 for one year ($21.83 for two years and $32.74 for three years). For addresses in ON, NB and NF, a subscription is $10.72 for one year ($21.45 for two years and $32.17 for three years). To purchase a magazine subscription visit www.legionmagazine.com or contact Legion Magazine Subscription Dept., 86 Aird Place, Kanata, ON K2L 0A1. The single copy price is $5.95 plus applicable taxes, shipping and handling.

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ON THIS

DATE MARCH

1 MARCH 1942 The Canadian Women’s Army Corps is granted full army status and becomes an integral part of the Canadian Militia. Prior to this, only nursing sisters were admitted into the Canadian Armed Forces.

5 MARCH 1885 Louis Riel and a group of Metis hold a meeting where they agree to take up arms to protect their land rights. Three days later at another meeting, the Revolutionary Bill of Rights is drafted.

6 MARCH 2002

7 MARCH 1951

Nearly 130 combat troops of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry are sent to Afghanistan, where they participate in the search for terrorists and their hideouts.

In the Battle of Maehwa-San in South Korea, two companies from 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry assault and secure Hill 532, resulting in seven Canadians dead and 37 wounded.

15 MARCH 1990

16 MARCH 1935

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Baltej Singh Dhillon becomes the first officer to be allowed to wear a turban while in uniform after the federal government rules the prohibition against turbans be lifted.

Adolf Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles and orders Germany to rearm. He reintroduces military conscription to increase the size of the armed forces.

21 MARCH 1918

22 MARCH 1951

The entire German army attacks the British front between St. Quentin and Arras with a heavy artillery bombardment of explosives and gas. Called Operation Michael, this massive campaign kicks off the 1918 Spring Offensive.

The Eighth Army reaches the 38th parallel in Korea.

29 MARCH 1909 Conservative party member George Foster introduces a resolution to establish a Canadian Naval Service. In response, Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier offers his own resolution approving the establishment of the service and it passes unanimously in the House of Commons.

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23 MARCH 1978 Following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the United Nations deploys 110 peacekeepers to Lebanon to ensure the Israelis have left and to help restore the Lebanese government’s authority.

17 MARCH 1945 In the Bay of Biscay off France, HMCS Guysborough is torpedoed and sunk by German submarine U-878 while on minesweeping duty. Forty-nine of the 51 casualties die while awaiting rescue.

24 MARCH 1945 Corporal Fred G. Topham, a medical orderly with the First Canadian Parachute Battalion, earns the Victoria Cross for treating wounded casualties, while injured himself, during the Allied assault on the Rhine.

30 MARCH 1953 In advance of the upcoming Korean Armistice Agreement, communists announce that each side shall directly repatriate all prisoners of war who insist on repatriation following the armistice; those who refuse should be repatriated to a neutral state.

LEGION MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2015

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FIRST WORLD WAR

1914 –1918

MARCH SECOND WORLD WAR

3 MARCH 1919

The Halibut Treaty, a CanadianAmerican agreement concerning fishing rights in the North Pacific Ocean, is the first treaty negotiated and signed by Canada independent of Britain.

William E. Boeing and Eddie Hubbard use Boeing’s C-700 to deliver the first Canadian international airmail from Vancouver, B.C., to Seattle, Wash.

Colonel Colin Gibson is appointed Minister of National Defense for Air.

10 MARCH 1945 The First Canadian Army successfully completes its month-long campaign against German opposition to occupy the land between the Rhine and Maas rivers.

18 MARCH 1942 No. 413 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force begins its transfer from the Shetland Islands to Ceylon to strengthen allied air defences and provide reconnaissance on Japanese plans.

25 - 26 MARCH 1952 The Chinese launch a raid on the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry platoon holding Hill 132 in Korea and a Royal Canadian Regiment outpost on Hill 162. The Chinese withdraw as Canadians hold their positions at the cost of eight killed and 13 wounded.

31 MARCH 1949 Canada’s Supreme Court formally becomes the final court of appeal and replaces Britain’s Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

KOREAN WAR

1950 –1953

4 MARCH 2006

2 MARCH 1923

8 MARCH 1945

1939–1945

In Gumbad, Afghanistan, while meeting with village elders, Canadian Captain Trevor Greene is attacked from behind by a man wielding an axe and suffers a serious head wound.

9 MARCH 1925 Pink’s War, an operation led by Wing Commander Richard Pink, begins. It is the first Royal Air Force operation conducted independently of the British Army or Royal Navy.

11 MARCH 1935

12 MARCH 2000

Following the granting of Royal Assent to the Bank of Canada Act, the Bank of Canada begins operations as the nation’s central bank.

The Royal 22nd Regiment ends its peacekeeping operation with the United Nations in East Timor.

13 MARCH 2002 In Paktia Province, Afghanistan, Operation Harpoon, a joint American-Canadian military assault, is launched using land and air forces to eliminate Taliban and al-Qaida resistance.

In Saskatchewan, women are granted the right to hold office and vote in provincial elections.

19 MARCH 1923

20 MARCH 1945

The Royal Canadian Air Force officially adopts the uniform of the Royal Air Force. These changes remain in place until unification on Feb. 1, 1968.

14 MARCH 1916

HMCS New Glasgow and German submarine U-1003 collide off Lough Foyle, Northern Ireland, sinking the U-boat and damaging the frigate.

28 MARCH 1961

27 MARCH 1756 In the Battle of Fort Bull, French forces, Canadian militia and Indian allies take British-held Fort Bull, N.Y.

The Royal Canadian Air Force receives the first CF-104 Starfighter, fulfilling Canada’s NATO commitment in Europe for a nuclear strike aircraft.

April On This Date Events Visit our website legionmagazine.com The items will appear April 1. Here’s a taste of what to expect.

24 APRIL 1915 The 100th anniversary of the Battle of St. Julien, during which Germans release a cloud of chlorine gas across no man’s land that advances toward Canadians. Urine-soaked handkerchiefs offer little protection and many are blinded or collapse in suffocation.

LAC; UNITED NATIONS MULTIMEDIA; IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM; DND; SHARIF TARABAY; JENNIFER MORSE; LEGION MAGAZINE ARCHIVES

MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEGION MAGAZINE

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VIEWS EDITORIAL

MARCH | APRIL 2015

What is free speech? “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” These words were enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on Dec. 10, 1948. The Declaration resulted from the events of the Second World War and is the first expression of rights to which all people are inherently entitled. Free speech is restricted by all nations, to some degree, with the test usually being whether influencing a third party’s opinions or actions adversely affects the second party. Libel, slander, obscenity, sedition, hate speech and numerous other specific acts are restricted by law, as are forms of expression considered offensive to society, special interest groups or individuals. Canada protects free speech, of course, but here too the right is not absolute. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees “the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.” The key is that all citizens of a state, however free, are bound to adhere to that state’s laws, or face sanction—mild or severe—by their government. For example, in 1984, Alberta teacher James Keegstra was charged and convicted for “promoting hatred against an identifiable group by communicating anti-Semitic statements to his students.” After appeals that reached to the Supreme Court of Canada, the conviction was upheld and Keegstra served a one-year suspended sentence, one year of probation, and 200 hours of community service work. In a contrasting case, Saudi Arabian writer and activist Raif Badawi created a website in 2006 called Free Saudi Liberals, a blog promoting freedom of expression and fostering public debate about religion in Saudi Arabia. Badawi was arrested in 2012 and convicted in 2013 on charges of apostasy (abandoning or renouncing a religious or political belief), an offence punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s Sharia law. In 2014, he was fined one million Saudi Riyals (C$330,000) and sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes for “insulting Islam and religious authorities.”

These examples are given to show that every nation in the world has its own laws with which to adjudicate then punish those who cross its legal lines of free speech. Each nation sets its own socially accepted levels of punishment—many are reasonable, some are abhorrent. But no one on the planet, not even the most fervent adherent to a state or religion, has the right to mete out anything like the repugnant attacks seen in Paris in January. The Palais de Chaillot, where the Declaration of Human Rights was enshrined, is a mere seven kilometres from the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, where gunmen killed 12 people, and 20 kilometres from the kosher market in Porte de Vincennes, where another gunman killed four. The perpetrators stated they were acting in the name of Islam, exacting vengeance for cartoons that blaspheme the Prophet Muhammad. This assault on a nation’s ideals was executed by welltrained barbarians commanded by a vengeful, borderless

No one on the planet, not even the most fervent adherent to a state or religion, has the right to mete out anything like the repugnant attacks seen in Paris in January.

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cult of religious extremism, which does not represent the true nature and values of Islam. Yes, some of the slain cartoonists did flout the religion’s dictum, but they did not break any national, or international, laws. Big difference. France is one of the world’s cradles of democracy and liberty. Countless people, including thousands of Canadians, have fought and died on its soil defending its right to exist as a civilized state based on freedom, equality and human rights. Many wars have been fought for these priciples. This magazine itself is a vehicle of free speech, with the right to voice opinions that may concur or dissent with the opinions of others—including our readers, whose opinions we welcome and highly respect. But at this time, it seems safe to say, we all speak with one voice: “Nous sommes Charlie.”

LEgion MagazinE MARCH/APRIL 2015

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VIEWS

letters

WORKING ON A LETTER I WAS SORRY to hear of the govern-

ment’s poor response to changes for the New Veterans Charter (“LetterWriting Campaign Launched By The Legion,” January/February). It is disgraceful that they are balancing the budget on the backs of disabled veterans. Last year you published an article on all the innovative ways medics have to keep horribly injured soldiers alive. Now this is what happens when they get home. I’m glad Dominion President Tom Eagles is going to keep pushing. I think all Legion members should show their support by a letter-writing campaign. I’m working on mine. MABEL HAOURT, CLINTON, B.C.

I AM WRITING to urge the Canadian

federal government to take immediate

PLEASE SEND COMMENTS TO: [email protected] or Letters, Legion Magazine, 86 Aird Place, Kanata, ON K2L 0A1

and significant action on the changes recommended to the New Veterans Charter and to do so before the tabling of the 2015 federal budget. Our veterans and their families deserve our full support for the sacrifices they have made and continue to make. I call on our government and its ministers to make certain that our veterans successfully return to their families, communities and vocations with all the support they require and with a minimum of red tape. We owe them no less! REV. DR. FRED SPECKEEN, KELOWNA, B.C.

MINISTER DESERVES TO WEAR MEDALS THOUGH I AM NOT a fan of Minister

earned them defending the citizens of this country for 41 years as a police officer before becoming a Member of Parliament (Letters, January/ February). I served this country for 30 years as a police officer and a reserve member of the Canadian Armed Forces and I proudly wear my Police Exemplary Service Medal, Canadian Forces Decoration, Canada 125th, Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee medals for service to this country. Many politicians had lives before they were voted into office and they deserve to wear medals. We served this great nation and deserve to wear our chest full of medals. TED USHER, NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.

I HAVE NOTICED more and more

Julian Fantino, he does have the right to wear those medals because he

Legion members wearing very many medals of all sizes and types. Have we lost the meaning of medals? Advertisement

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I have in my possession medals that my father earned in the Second World War. He is no longer with us but at least his medals were earned fighting for our freedom. JOHN MacLEAN, LINDSAY, ONT.

A QUESTION FOR OUR READERS Erin O’Toole, a former air force navigator, is the first Veterans Affairs minister named by Prime Minister Stephen Harper with service in the Canadian Armed Forces. Do you think the Veterans Affairs minister should be a veteran? PLEASE SEND COMMENTS TO: [email protected] or Letters, Legion Magazine, 86 Aird Place, Kanata, ON K2L 0A1

OUR READERS RESPOND IN JANUARY/FEBRUARY, WE ASKED OUR READERS IF THEY SUPPORTED THE NEW UNIFORMS FOR THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE USING TRADITIONAL COLOURS.

the flag the country fought under and something the Legion fought so hard to retain but lost to the insensitive government of the day.

I THINK THAT it is a very good move to get new uniforms for the Royal Canadian Air Force. If integration had not been started by [Defence Minister] Paul Hellyer, I would have stayed in the RCAF instead of getting a release in October 1967 after having completed almost 12 years.

BEING AN ex-RCAF member, I still

ROBERT WOODMAN, ARICHAT, N.S.

AFTER READING the article on RCAF

uniforms, I felt immense gratification, the turning back of the clock was long overdue and the government has to be commended in taking these important steps. All that is required now, to complete the picture, is to place Old Faithful (the Union Jack) on the top left-hand corner of our flag. It was, after all,

IAN WALKER, CALGARY

cannot grasp the time and money being spent and wasted on their so-called return of the RCAF and its original Commonwealth roots. This new uniform and insignia will not do this unless the uniform is like those in other Commonwealth countries—the original air force blue. Will the new system rid itself of the army titles, i.e., will officers be called pilot officer, flying officer, flight lieutenant, squadron leader, etc.—not to forget flight sergeant? How long will it be before a new political party comes along and decides to drop the “Royal” and again unify the three services? Long live the original RCAF. I miss it. JOHN DERRICK, WINNIPEG

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VIEWS

health file

BY SHARON ADAMS

EVERYBODY HAS LAPSES in memory —“Where did I leave my keys?” “What is his name?” “What’s that word I need?” But once you pass the milestone birthdays of 60 and beyond, such questions raise the worry: “Could this be the first sign of dementia?” It is wise to be watchful, as risk rises with age. But we don’t need to feel doomed or helpless. Research is showing that although there are changes in structure and function, healthy older brains function well— albeit a little slower. Research also shows we can take action to improve memory and cognition as we age. And as a result of research, more and better treatments are being devised to lower the risk of developing dementia, delay its onset and maintain more function as it progresses. One in 13 Canadians aged 65 to 74 years old is affected by dementia, one in nine between 75 and 84, and one in four over the age of 85, according to the PONDER (Prevention of Neurodegenerative Disease in Everyone at Risk) program at the McGill Centre for Studies in Aging. PONDER’s national network of 1,500 scientists, academics and physicians aims to change those statistics, in part by investigating how to prevent neurodegenerative disease in the first place. Their longterm studies will document healthy aging, identify things to prevent disease, pinpoint who’s at risk, and test effectiveness of cognitive training. By assessing differences in participants’ lifestyles, diets and exercise, researchers hope to identify things that can prevent or delay development of disease. Some surprising results have come from recent brain research.

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We take longer to understand technology, make decisions and remember facts because even in healthy brains the areas responsible for learning, reason and memory shrink and communication between brain cells is disrupted. As well, blood flow to and within the brain is reduced. And inflammation, which is involved in so many disease processes, can wreak havoc. The human brain has developed some work-arounds for these problems—including some cognitive reserve to cushion against decline in function and recruiting alternate neural networks when one area of the brain can no longer complete its job alone. “By midlife our brains have developed a whole host of talents,” Barbara Strauch, author of The Secret Life of the GrownUp Brain, said in the Harvard Business Review. We’re much better at solving problems as we get older because our brains have laid down millions of memories and interconnected pathways, allowing us to focus on solutions, rather than problems. Older brains recognize patterns faster, make better judgements and recognize unique solutions. And we express our thoughts better due to the rich vocabulary built up over a lifetime. The healthy aging brain is also stronger than we were once led to believe. Neurologists at the Massachusetts Medical School and General Hospital have debunked the notion a goodly portion of our brain cells die off as we age. They discovered the brains of healthy people who died in their 90s had as many brain cells in the regions governing memory,

cognition and problem solving as those who died between 57 and 60. Exercise, sleep and a healthy diet are all important for brain health. But for seniors these can be problem areas. Deep sleep helps consolidate and lock away long-term memory, but as we age, we get less deep sleep. The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines for those aged over 65 call for 150 minutes of aerobic activity per week (or about 20 minutes a day) and musclebuilding activity twice a week. Getting enough nutrition can be a challenge when coping with heartburn, constipation, a slower digestive system or side effects from medications. As we age, our sense of smell and taste diminish, along with appetite. Statistics Canada reports a third of Canadians over 65 are at nutritional risk through such things as shirking vegetables or skipping meals. Aside from the healthy eating advice in the Canada Food Guide, the Alzheimer Society of Canada recommends a diet rich in the brain-healthy nutrients vitamins D, B6, B12 and folate. When it comes to brain health, there’s plenty to cogitate.

ISTOCKPHOTO

THE AGING BRAIN—SLOWER, BUT WISER

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VIews

journal

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OP IMPACT/DND

BY ADAM DAY

A Canadian CP-140 Aurora aircraft in Operation Impact, the Canadian mission against ISIL in Iraq.

ReDeFInInG ‘COmBat’ In news from Canada’s shooting

war, it turns out that the mission to advise and assist Kurdish forces in northern Iraq had a much more rigorous amount of assisting involved than was initially made clear. In a press conference in Ottawa on Jan. 19, Lieutenant-General Jonathan Vance, head of the Joint Operations Command, and Brigadier-General Michael Rouleau, head of Special Operations Forces Command, told reporters that not only had Canadian special operations snipers directly engaged ISIL militants, but that the Canadian soldiers had been calling in airstrikes since November—no fewer than 13 times. While close observers have noted that the war against ISIL has been following the model of the successful 2001 campaign against the Taliban,

which was to use coalition airpower guided by special operations soldiers on the ground to allow local forces to smash defensive lines and advance, it was never made clear that Canadian soldiers would be involved in a combat mission such as that. As a result, in the days and weeks after the Rouleau and Vance press conference, much hand-wringing ensued as to what activities the “advise and assist” verbiage could meaningfully contain, and even to the proper definition of ‘combat,’ as Prime Minister Stephen Harper had declared to Parliament in September 2014 that Canadian ground forces in Iraq would not be in combat. In the midst of the ensuing media storm, the prime minister’s spokesman, Jason MacDonald, declared that Canada’s special operators march/april 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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are not in combat because: “a combat role is one in which our troops advance and themselves seek to engage the enemy physically, aggressively, and directly.” Of course, this now meant that any Canadian soldier who previously fought to maintain a position, or fought in defense, or found themselves being blown up by an IED, was excluded from the definition of combat as purely offense. Veterans nationwide entered the dispute. Retired major-general Lewis MacKenzie perhaps put it best when he told Postmedia journalist David Pugliese that “it’s fair for them to have their own definition, but that is not the definition of combat...if you are somewhat close to the enemy and they’re firing at you and you’re firing back with deadly effect, that is combat.”

In the meantime, Chief of

Defence Staff General Tom Lawson had his own fire to put out, as he had told the media in mid-October that Canadian Special Operations Forces would not be using their laser designators to direct airstrikes against ISIL. “They will have nothing to do with that,” said Lawson on CTV’s Question Period on Oct. 19. “As far as we know, all coalition troops that are on the ground in Iraq are being used in the same role of advise and assist but not accompany and not engage in direct combat.” Clearly though, things changed shortly thereafter and Canada’s soldiers did start accompanying Kurdish forces to the front lines, and did start calling in airstrikes. For the record, Lawson’s reply was as follows: “I understand that there may be some questions about my comments on Oct. 19th about the nature of activities being undertaken by Canada’s Special Operations Forces in Iraq. To be clear, the situation on the ground has evolved since I offered those remarks, and we have increased our assistance with respect to targeting air

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strikes in direct correlation with an increased threat encountered by the [Iraq Security Forces]. “Our SOF personnel are not seeking to directly engage the enemy, but we are providing assistance to forces that are in combat. The activities of Canada’s Special Operations Forces in Iraq, as described by Generals Vance and Rouleau on Jan. 19, are entirely consistent with the advise and assist mandate given to the Canadian Armed Forces by the government. You should be justifiably proud of your men and women in uniform.” Lost in all of this theatrical debate is a discussion of the nature of the effort to defeat ISIL and its importance. Though this may have been a poorly handled escalation in the Canadian mission, it is unlikely to be the last. In late January, the chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff

page 34). It was there as part of Operation Reassurance, the NATOled effort to flex its muscles in an attempt to deter Russia from invading any more of the region’s countries. Whether or not Russia decides to end its current spree of expansionism with the annexation of Crimea and proxy invasion of eastern Ukraine is anyone’s guess. NATO ally Lithuania, for its part, is making due preparations. The small Baltic country—a former Soviet territory of about three million people—has published a handbook for its citizens to be used in event of a Russian invasion. “Keep a sound mind, don’t panic and don’t lose clear thinking,” advises the manual. “Gunshots just outside your window are not the end of the world.” While Lithuania, which shares a border with the Kalingrad Oblast, a Russian state, in theory enjoys

“...don’t panic and don’t lose clear thinking,” advises the manual. “Gunshots just outside your window are not the end of the world.” General Martin E. Dempsey said that the battle against ISIL and Islamic militants in general was likely going to take at least three decades. “I think this threat is probably a 30-year issue,” he said. Given that Osama bin Laden’s original declaration of war against the West occurred in 1998–which is as good a start point as any for this current cycle of violence–perhaps history will come to remember this as the 50 Years War? Given that perspective, the ongoing—and mostly political— linguistic dust-up might not be of very high importance after all.

In news from Canada’s nonshooting conflict—its Cold War— with Russia, HMCS Toronto returned from its lengthy deployment to the Black Sea and beyond (see

the protection of the NATO alliance under its mutual defence pact, authorities there have instructed their citizens in this manual to resist the Russians with disobedience, demonstrations and, if all else fails, by “doing your job worse than usual.” HMCS Fredericton has deployed to replace Toronto in the Black Sea, which will hopefully mean the Lithuanians won’t be reduced to defeating the Russian invasion by taking extra-long lunch breaks. In any event, Fredericton joins a considerable Canadian task force in the area as a part of OP Reassurance, which consists of four CF-18 fighter jets and a rotating assortment of ground forces, all mainly based in Lithuania, Poland or Romania. Fredericton is due back in Canada in the late spring or early summer.

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eye on defence BY DAVID J. BERCUSON

CANADIAN PRESS IMAGES

VIEWS

CIA Director John Brennan answers questions from reporters following the release of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report in December.

angle to the story. And without any tangible evidence that Canadian security agencies ever received such tainted evidence from the CIA, or used it to catch any potential terrorists on Canadian soil, advanced some suggestions about how Canada should treat U.S.-originated intelligence in the future. Probably the silliest of these suggestions was that Canada should not accept intelligence from the U.S. that could be tainted by the use of torture, as if intelligence emanating from the United States is marked in some way to show which is obtained by torture, and which is not. One academic even suggested that Canada should simply stop accepting intelligence from the U.S. because Canadian security services could never really know how it was obtained.

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In the last month of 2014, the United States Central Intelligence Agency was accused by the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee of having engaged in torture in the six or seven years or so after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. There were several days of reaction in the U.S. press, and among contemporary and past political leaders and intelligence operatives, about the necessity, morality and usefulness of such “enhanced interrogation techniques” as waterboarding. The uproar was surprisingly short, partly because the news cycle quickly moved on to other stories and partly because almost everyone knew or strongly suspected that these techniques had been used all along. For example, they were depicted graphically in the movie Zero Dark Thirty, which purported to tell the story of how Osama Bin Laden was found and killed. The practice was outlawed by the current U.S. administration right after President Barack Obama was inaugurated. Some Canadian journalists, academics and other experts were determined to find a Canadian

CALGARY PARKING AUTHORITY

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Now, decades of counter-intelligence practice have provided ample proof that the sort of torture used—legally or not—by countries such as the United States and Great Britain simply doesn’t work. These practices are not the sort of sadistic assault on bodies and minds once used by the Gestapo or the KGB, but they do most certainly violate what we would regard as moral or even useful, which are really two separate questions. During the Second World War, Britain’s MI5 never resorted to torture because information so obtained was quite simply unreliable. Careful interrogation by skilled questioners who were able to establish a rapport with the men and women they were interrogating, combined with prodigious memories that caught lies told even days apart, was far more effective in extracting information and, as far as we know, it still is. And many American intelligence operatives know it just as well as Britons and Canadians. Admittedly, the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were ripe with fears of more even greater assaults on the United States. With the tacit approval of the George W. Bush administration,

“enhanced interrogation techniques” were used to deal with so-called “ticking time bombs.” It was wrong for them to do so, but almost all nations under extreme stress, including this one, have exceeded moral principles in pursuit of security from time to time—the expulsion of perfectly loyal Japanese Canadians from the West Coast after Pearl Harbor is only one example. The problem with suggestions that Canada should hold the CIA at arm’s length in any way is that Canada’s ability to gather intelligence, especially foreign intelligence, is very limited. Canada gains human, signals and other kinds of intelligence through its membership in an international consortium, known as the Five Eyes, which is a community consisting of the United States, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The Americans, the Brits and the Australians all have foreign intelligence services that are legally separate from their internal security services. Canada does not. Although the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has sent operatives abroad for years in rather limited operations directly connected with ongoing investigations

in Canada, these limited missions provide nowhere near enough information for an adequate defence against operations designed to do Canadians harm. And even if Canada were to initiate a foreign intelligence service, it would of necessity be limited in scope and focused tightly on perceived threats to Canada. Canada simply has not the resources to do otherwise. All this is to point out that if Canada decided to subject intelligence gained from the U.S., or any of the Five Eyes nations, to its own possibly more rigorous standards of what qualifies as “properly obtained” and what is not, we will poke our intelligence eye with a sharp stick. Our small intelligence-gathering abilities make important contributions to the Five Eyes picture, but we are not an intelligence powerhouse. The United States is. So if anyone here takes some of the suggestions that were advanced at the end of 2014 regarding some sort of full or partial embargo on accepting U.S. intelligence seriously, the question remains to be answered: where else should we be looking for intelligence that can warn us of foreign and domestic threats to our country or to one of our allies?

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Mail your high quality photographs (no photocopies) to Find-Share-Discuss c/o Legion Magazine, 86 Aird Place, Kanata, ON K2L 0A1. (Photographs will not be returned). Or e-mail a large JPEG to magazine@ legion.ca. Include your daytime phone number and mailing address along with a brief description of the photo. Have questions? Call us at 1-613-591-0116.

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Veterans Benefits Guide 2015

Veterans 2015 Benefits Guide Inspired by the original charter

by TOM MacGREGOR

S

hortly before Canadian troops began the attack on Vimy Ridge in April 1917, Prime Minister Robert Borden told them, “The government and the country will consider it their first duty to see that a proper appreciation of your effort and of your courage is brought to the notice of people at home that no man, whether he goes back or whether he remains in Flanders, will have just cause to reproach the government for having broken faith with the men who won and the men who died.” Living up to that promise turned out to be a more difficult matter than expected. Out of a country with fewer that 7.8 million, 620,000 men and women signed up to fight for King and country. Of them, 66,600 were killed and more than 172,000 were wounded. At war’s end, the country was flooded with men seeking jobs when jobs were hard to find. The only support for veterans and their families at the beginning of the war was a patchwork of pensions and charities. As the men, healthy and wounded, began returning home, veterans groups formed across the country bent on making sure the government lived up to the prime minister’s promise. Foremost in leading that charge was the Great War Veterans Association, which eventually merged with other veterans groups to form what today is The Royal Canadian Legion. Their efforts and the general public’s support led to the passing of the Pension Act, which provided pensions to those who came back disabled, and a system of veterans’ hospitals across the country, providing much-needed medical care. Still, finding a job and making that transition to civilian life was not that easy as Canada’s economy slowly changed from one based on agriculture to one based on industry.

It was a different story in the Second World War. Many veterans of the First World War were part of the federal civil service in Ottawa and the Legion and other groups were organized to have a strong voice. That led to a suite of veterans legislation which collectively was called the Veterans Charter. Much of the legislation was aimed at giving an able-bodied veteran a reasonable start in life. There was the Veterans Land Act, which provided land to veterans willing to establish a farm or fishing business. The Reinstatement of Civil Employment Act gave “veterans preference” to returning sailors, soldiers and airmen and airwomen when it came to hiring within the civil service of Canada.

“I struggled through the system. I did not know where to get assistance when I was applying for benefits 30 years ago.” For those who came back disabled from their service, there was the Pension Act, originally introduced after the First World War, and for those who could not make a go of things when they returned, there was the War Veterans Allowance Act to provide funds for the needy. The mission was clear. The Veterans Charter was to provide opportunity with security for those who had made a commitment to serve the country in wartime. As Veterans Affairs Minister Ian Mackenzie said in 1947, “Not for 10, perhaps 20, years will it be known how much ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen have been able to contribute to a MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEGION MAGAZINE

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Veterans Benefits Guide 2015

Simply put, this suite of 14 acts of Parliament helps Canadians help themselves. purpose of tHe legislAtion To assist veterans’ return to civilian life

legislAtion Veterans Rehabilitation Act War Service Grants Act Veterans Business and Professional Loans Act Veterans Land Act Reinstatement of Civil Employment Act (giving “veterans preference” in the civil service)

To provide compensation

Pension Act Civilian War Pensions and Allowances Act

To provide income support

War Veterans Allowance Act

To provide life insurance

Veterans Insurance Act

For physical rehabilitation

Treatment regulations

To establish entitlement with respect to other Veterans Charter legislation

Allied Veterans Benefi ts Act Special Operators War Service Benefi ts Act Women’s Royal Navy Services and the South African Military Nursing Service (Benefi ts) Act

the Korean War veterans. As the First World War veterans aged and the Second World War veterans caught up to them, Veterans Affairs Canada changed. Its federally run hospitals were dealing with patients who needed chronic and longterm care. The hospitals were gradually transferred to provincial control. The new programs it developed were aimed at the aging veteran population and programs such as the Veterans Independence Program (VIP) were designed to help the aging veteran to stay at home. Under the Pension Act, pensions had come to serve a number of purposes: income support, compensation for pain and suffering, and a gateway to other benefits and programs, such as VIP and long-term health care.

Supervisors War Service Benefi ts Act

As the years passed, Veterans Affairs clients from the current Canadian Armed Forces increased but dissatisfaction was growing. In 2000, VAC released a discussion paper called, “Sir, Am I A Veteran?”, saying: “At Veterans Affairs Canada, veterans enjoy a privileged status. They are regarded as heroes and are, in effect, put on a pedestal.… On the other hand, members of the Canadian Armed Forces are not regarded as veterans with the result that they are not afforded the hero status conveyed through the veteran designation.… From the program and benefit perspective, there is no doubt that VAC looks after wartime veterans better than it does today’s members of the Canadian Armed Forces. There is a perception that weak pension claims from World War II veterans are more likely to be ruled on favourably than those submitted by Canadian Armed Forces members. CAF clients feel that they have to provide proof beyond a reasonable doubt in submitting pension claims, instead of being afforded the benefit of the doubt.” In reaction to that and other reports, the VAC–CFAC Council was formed, chaired by Western University professor Peter Neary and

Firefighters War Service Benefi ts Act

Canada at peace as a result of these re-establishment measures.… When that accounting is made, I know the program laid down in the Veterans Charter will appear in true perspective as a social investment of unmatched success.” The research paper, The Origins And Evolution of Veterans Benefits In Canada 1914–2004, by the Veterans Affairs Canada–Canadian Forces Advisory Council (VAC–CFAC) states, “Canada’s evolving program for its Second World War veterans had a clear purpose: to build morale for the war effort and ensure a smooth and constructive transition to peacetime conditions once victory was won. It had clear goals: to look after those who could not be expected to look after themselves while preparing the able-bodied for work in the market economy through the philosophy of ‘opportunity with security,’ a concept that respected the basic social and economic realities of the country.” These measures were modified over the years to accommodate Newfoundland veterans when the province joined Confederation in 1949 and

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Frequently including members of the military, VAC, veterans organizations and health professionals. Their work led to the New Veterans Charter (NVC) in 2006. The Royal Canadian Legion was represented by former lieutenant-general Lou Cuppens. As the council found over the years after the Second World War, “The relationship of Canadian Forces veterans and Veterans Affairs was confined to limited use of the Pension Act. This eventually produced adverse consequences which have not yet been fully addressed. Although all the statutes relating to the Veterans Charter remained on the books, Veterans Affairs Canada did not concern itself with the rehabilitation and re-establishment of former members of the Canadian Armed Forces. The forces themselves eventually produced programs to fill some of this gap, but this was not the main business of National Defence. While the need for rehabilitation and re-establishment benefits continued, the government’s commitment to deliver these through Veterans Affairs atrophied.” The council recommended a new approach, which after two years of planning led to new legislation and a variety of programs inspired by the original Veterans Charter. Officially, The Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Reestablishment and Compensation Act, known as the New Veterans Charter, was a new approach to wellness for the Canadian veteran. Instead of the existing system designed to compensate for disability and create a gateway to other health benefits, the NVC is a suite of compensation and rehabilitation programs not for those who had signed up during wartime but for those who had chosen a career in the Canadian Armed Forces. Many of these veterans had served and then found themselves released, for medical or other reasons, at an average age of 36. The New Veterans Charter provides a tax-free payment—up to $306,698 in 2015—in compensation for pain and suffering. Other payment programs were designed to compensate for loss of income and to support ill or injured veterans while they are in rehabilitation programs. THE RESULT WAS A SEVEN-PRONGED PROGRAM: Disability award Death and detention awards and other allowances Rehabilitation services and vocational assistance Financial support Career transition support Group health benefit, family support Case management It was stickhandled through Parliament by Veterans Affairs Minister Albina Guarnieri in 2005, one of the few pieces of legislation passed in the brief tenure of Paul Martin’s government. In asking for quick passage of the bill, Guarnieri said, “What we are presenting here is what was negotiated and what was acceptable at this point in time. My attitude is that this is a living charter. It is malleable and open to improvements down the road.” The charter’s coming into effect on April 1, 2006, was hailed with much fanfare by the new government of Stephen Harper at a ceremony in the Reading Room on Parliament Hill. Speaking to veterans in the room, Harper said, “Because brave men and women

Used Terms (in alphabetical order)

AttendAnce AllowAnce A non-taxable benefi t for totally disabled benefi t recipients who need an attendant to help with self-care such as dressing, eating and bathing. bureAu of pensions AdVocAtes Lawyers within VAC who provide free legal help for people who want to appeal decisions about disability benefi t claims. Website: www.veterans. gc.ca/eng/department/organization/ contact. Phone: 1-877-228-2250. cAnAdiAn Armed forces income support Financial support for those who have completed the rehabilitation program but are unable to find a post-military career or job or have a low-paying job.

cAnAdiAn Armed forces members And VeterAns re-estAblisHment And compensAtion Act The legislation covering CAF members and veterans applying for benefi ts for illness or injury related to military service since April 1, 2006, also known as the New Veterans Charter. cAse mAnAgement serVice Is available to CAF members, veterans, RCMP members, and their families dealing with a crisis, who have complex needs, or are having trouble making the transition to civilian life. Case managers have access to medical and rehabilitation specialists and other support services. clotHing AllowAnce A non-taxable benefi t for either specially-made clothing or for a condition that causes exceptional wear and tear on clothing. disAbility Assessment Is based on severity of the medical condition and how much it affects quality of life. It is expressed as a percentage. (continued on page 21)

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Veterans Benefits Guide 2015

“I have to admit if it was not for the assistance I receive from VAC, I would not be able to stay in my home.” like yourselves have stood up for Canada both at home and abroad, our government is committed to standing by you today by moving forward on the New Veterans Charter. The charter will offer comprehensive levels of support to those men and women who are injured or disabled while serving Canada. In the future, when our servicemen and women leave our military family, they can rest assured the government will help them and their families transition to civilian life.” The fact that this would be a living document was reiterated by Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson. “This is just the start,” he said. “It is a living document. It is an open charter. We are totally committed to improving this as required. It is a foundation that can be built upon as needed. The book is never closed.” If the charter is a living document, then it is often in need of resuscitation. Five years passed before any change at all was done to the document. As Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent said in his 2013 report, Improving The New Veterans Charter: The Parliamentary Review, “At the time the New Veterans Charter came into force in 2006, it represented a fundamental shift in the approach to the care, support and compensation of injured and ill veterans compared to the Pension Act. It changed the legislative approach from one that inadvertently encouraged veterans to focus on disability (the greater the disability, the greater the financial benefit) and did little to address the transition needs.” Veterans groups appeared before parliamentary committees, wrote letters and supported the Veterans Ombudsman’s Office in calling for changes, such as allowing the lump payment to be taken at once, received in annual payments or a combination of both. Other measures called on programs to provide compensation

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of at least $40,000 a year. In all, more than 200 recommendations for improvements to the NVC were proposed in various consultations. Yet there has been only one updating of the living document since it was introduced. That was in 2011 and many recommendations were not acted upon at that time and many more have arisen since then. After that, the living document remained static despite numerous calls from the ombudsman and parliamentary committees for more changes to keep up with the needs of the current veteran, especially in light of a spate of suicides in 2013–14 (The Veterans Revolt, November/December). The House of Commons Standing Committee chaired by MP Greg Kerr released a report in June making 14 specific recommendations, but when the required time for the government to respond arrived, it was met with vague promises and no timetable (Government Response To Charter Changes Disappoints Veterans, November/December). The Royal Canadian Legion spearheaded a letter-writing campaign to Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino and members of Parliament calling for three major changes to the New Veterans Charter. Within the first month, there were more than 10,000 letters (LetterWriting Campaign Launched By The Legion, January/February). Just before being castigated in a report from the Auditor General on mental health for veterans and serving members, the government announced an extra $200 million for the mental health of veterans, but that money was to be spread out over a number of years. The New Veterans Charter does need improving, but in the clamour it should not be lost that the charter was something fought for and supported by veterans and the Legion. As the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs said in its report, “The committee members unanimously agree that the principles of the NVC should be upheld and that these principles foster an approach that is well suited to today’s veterans.… The legitimate criticisms of various aspects of the NVC should not overshadow the fact that it is a solid foundation on which to help veterans transition to civilian life when a service-related medical condition prevents them from continuing their military career.” The government needs to act, but the foundation is there for a benefits program to rival the quality of that which followed after the Second World War. As we enter the centenary period for the First World War, it is important to remember that looking after veterans is a job that has continued to this day and will continue as long as there are volunteers willing to wear the country’s uniforms.

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How RCMP members fare by SHArOn ADAMS

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fter Sergeant. J. Claude Scott retired from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in 1988, he dismissed his back pain as arthritis. He didn’t connect the pain with his 22 years of service, even though he spent a year and a half in and out of hospital recovering from a motor-vehicle accident in 1973, when he swerved his police car to avoid a head-on collision. Eventually Scott, who now lives in Rockland, Ont., returned to duty. “Sometimes I had difficulty, but I could walk, I could run.” After leaving the RCMP he went on to a career in the civil service, but the pain steadily worsened. “I didn’t know what was going on in my body. “In 2000, a good friend of mine, also a retired sergeant, asked me ‘Why don’t you apply for a disability pension with Veterans Affairs Canada?’” said Scott. “I said ‘What are you talking about? I’m not from the Canadian Armed Forces.’” What Scott didn’t know is that Veterans Affairs Canada adjudicates and administers disability pension claims on behalf of the RCMP. He is not alone. “Many of our members and veterans don’t know about VAC services and benefits available to them,” said Ron Lewis, national advocate for the RCMP Veterans Association. Scott applied for and was awarded a disability pension for damage to his arm and spine. He is now one of VAC’s 10,600 RCMP clients. In order to increase knowledge about these benefits, VAC began conducting RCMP transition interviews in April 2014. But some older veterans, particularly those who retired decades ago, may not realize they are eligible to apply. Others may not connect to their service the slow development of health problems such as hearing loss, joint problems or post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental-health issues. RCMP members, veterans and certain civilian employees with permanent service-related illnesses and injuries are eligible for disability pensions and benefits authorized under the RCMP Superannuation Act and the RCMP Pension Continuation Act and awarded and administered under the Pension Act. The Pension Act also covers some Canadian Armed Forces veterans, largely from the Second World War and Korean War. While Canadian Armed Forces members released after 2006 fall under the New Veterans Charter, the RCMP did not opt in to that legislation. “The process for RCMP members, former members and survivors who are applying for benefits is similar to that of CAF members and veterans,” said VAC spokesperson Janice Summerby. “VAC can assist with the preparation of applications, and redress mechanisms [for appealing decisions] are in place through the department and Veterans Review and Appeal Board.” Application forms are available from VAC district offices, Royal Canadian Legion provincial or Dominion Command service officers, Service Canada locations across the country, Veterans Affairs district offices, online at www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/services/after-injury/ disability-benefits/how-to-apply, or by opening a My VAC Account at www.veterans.gc.ca/myvacaccount. Scott opted to deal with VAC on his own, as do most veterans. “I’m a perseverant son-of-a-gun,” he said. “That’s why they made me

disAbility AwArd A tax-free cash award (commonly called the lump-sum payment) for CAF members or veterans with an injury or illness related to military service. It can be paid as a lump sum or in instalments. The award is adjusted for cost of living annually. disAbility pension A monthly tax-free payment for disabilities caused or worsened by service in the Second World War or Korean War; merchant navy or some civilian support occupations during wartime; by current RCMP members and veterans; and by Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans who applied for benefi ts prior to April 1, 2006. eArnings loss benefit Ensures compensation for loss of income of those in the rehabilitation and vocational assistance programs does not fall below 75 per cent of pre-release military salary. educAtion AssistAnce progrAm Provides financial assistance for four years of post-secondary education for children aged under 25 of a CAF member or veteran who died as result of military service or who was receiving disability benefi ts rated at 48 per cent or more. entitlement eligibility guidelines Policy used by VAC adjudicators in determining entitlement to disability benefi ts. The guidelines help determine if there’s a link between a medical condition or disability and a claimant’s military or RCMP service. eXceptionAl incApAcity AllowAnce A non-taxable allowance for recipients of disability benefi ts (including prisoner of war benefi ts) of 98 per cent or more and is based on shortened life expectancy, pain and loss of enjoyment. medicAl impAirment rAting A percentage rating based on the severity of medical condition and degree to which it affects daily activities. It is added to the Quality of Life rating to determine disability assessment. (continued on page 23)

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Veterans Benefits Guide 2015 an investigator.” But not everyone has the patience or eye for detail, and there is lots of free help available, said Lewis. “I recommend Royal Canadian Legion provincial or Dominion Command (not local branch) service officers,” said Lewis. The service is free and you do not have to be a Legion member to receive help. “Command service officers are full-time professionals, security cleared, and have expedient access to RCMP health records.” In fact, he said, “Legion service officers can get our health records quicker than we can, because members need to file personal information requests under the Privacy Act in order to obtain their health records, a process that could take weeks or many months.” In addition, Lewis said, “service officers know the system and know what VAC is looking for.” The success rate on first application is higher if documents are in order, “and a service officer can make sure of that.” Forms must be filled in completely and correctly and the right support documents need to be included. An applicant statement is required for each condition. Only one application is required. Having a personal file of health records has become increasingly important, said Lewis. In 2014, RCMP members began receiving basic health-care services through their province of residence. When the RCMP

“The problem is not one with a political party, it is the unaccountable bureaucracy.” administered and paid for its own health-care system, doctors’ appointments and treatments were billed directly to the RCMP, with accompanying paperwork. “As a result, the RCMP had your health record and all we had to do was go look at the file.” Now that basic health-care information stays with the family doctor. Doctors keep records, but they move, retire and die and the member may not be able to retrieve records easily or cheaply. Members can be posted in several provinces during their careers, and may not remember the name of the doctor. As well, veterans may not realize health problems they develop later in life are related to earlier injuries, illnesses and conditions experienced while serving. “As a result, your files are going to be scattered, lost, forgotten. You need to be diligent every time you go to the doctor, and keep your own file,” said Lewis. Such records are important because they help prove an applicant has a permanent, medically

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diagnosed disability and that it is linked to service. Incident reports, witness statements and notebook entries from the time of the incident may also be helpful. Scott had maintained such a file over the years, which helped him with his first application and subsequent appeals, which have increased the total amount of his disability pension. Once the application is filed with Veterans Affairs Canada, an adjudicator is assigned to determine if the applicant is entitled to benefits, and if so, how much. This is a complex and often user-unfriendly process. A percentage is assigned reflecting the degree to which each condition is attributable to service, the severity of the disability and how much it affects quality of life. Rank and years of service have no impact on the amount of the disability pension. To help come up with those numbers, adjudicators consult VAC Entitlement Eligibility Guidelines, (www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/services/afterinjury/disability-benefits/benefits-determined/entitlement-eligibility-guidelines/ az-intro), the Table of Disabilities (www. veterans.gc.ca/eng/services/after-injury/ disability-benefits/benefits-determined/ table-of-disabilities) and Quality of Life Determination Table (www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/ services/after-injury/disability-benefits/ benefits-determined/table-of-disabilities/ ch-02-2006#t01). The more complete and detailed the descriptions on the application form, the easier it is for an adjudicator to make assessments. Applicants are advised to be as specific as possible about duties, tasks and work requirements. For instance: “In order to meet requirements for firearms certification, I went to the shooting range for an hour every month for 15 years. No ear protection was provided.” There is also room to describe how the disability impacts applicants’ lives—how they care for themselves, socialize, keep fit, work, take part in community life or enjoy personal relationships. For example: “I can’t drive anymore because I can’t hear sirens. There is a constant, loud buzzing in my ears that makes it impossible for me to concentrate on anything for very long, and causes me to be short-tempered with my wife and children.” Or “I don’t like to go to community events because of constant pain in my knees and hips that make it impossible for me to walk far, stand for long, or sit on pews or folding chairs.” Once entitlement is proven, it means the veteran or member is covered for life by benefits for that condition, which could include a pension, treatment, therapy, medications and assistive equipment, even if there

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is no or only a small financial benefit at first. Conditions can be reassessed every two years, and may lead to increases in financial benefits over time. “A lot of members and veterans don’t realize that once you’re on the books as a VAC client…you may be eligible for an attendance allowance if you later become disabled—and the disability does not have to be related to the pensionable condition,” said Lewis. “You may receive a pension for hearing loss and get an attendance allowance later in life after developing [a health condition such as] MS (multiple sclerosis) or Parkinson’s.” “No receipts are required to be submitted to VAC, so the veteran may choose services at their discretion,” said Lewis. The Attendance Allowance “is not for home maintenance, housekeeping or mowing the lawn or shovelling snow—if you mention these words, VAC will advise you that you don’t qualify,” he said. Those services are provided to military veterans under the Veterans Independence Program. Despite years of lobbying and promises that approval is just around the corner, RCMP veterans still do not have access to the VIP, which provides financial assistance to Canadian Armed Forces disability pensioners for such things as grounds-maintenance, housekeeping and personal services. The program was designed to allow veterans to stay in their homes as long as possible as they age, which is good for the veterans’ health as well as that of provincial long-term care plans. The force continues “to analyse current disability benefits and services to determine how best to meet the needs of RCMP disability,” said spokesman Corporal David Falls. RCMP veteran Gerry Pumphrey maintains that disabled RCMP veterans deserve VIP services as much as military veterans. “Our battlefield is every day,” he said. “The enemy could be anyone at any time. You never know when it’s going to boil over, or why.” After retiring from his 30-year career, Pumphrey became an advocate for the Nova Scotia RCMP Veterans’ Association and spent years lobbying for the VIP. Ironically, he could use those services now himself. At 70, he can no longer cope with the groundskeeping on his acreage in Middle Sackville, about 40 minutes from Halifax, where he and his wife have lived for 19 years. He gets nerve blocks every six months so he can deal with the constant pain from injuries suffered in a fall from a horse at the beginning of his career. He receives benefits for hearing loss and back injuries. “Generally the people that I speak with are happy with the service and a lot of them don’t see any difference with the cutbacks,” said Pumphrey. “They’re happy to get service and the amount of time it takes to get their service.” Retired sergeant Glynn Norman reports his application process went smoothly—even though he applied for benefits 20 years after retiring in 1986. He had been warned prior to retirement that he might suffer hearing loss due to years of firing practice at an indoor range without hearing protection. It was not bad when he retired, but worsened over the years. “I thought maybe too much time had passed” to apply for benefits, but he did so after encouragement from some buddies. Not only was his application approved, but a couple of years ago a reassessment showed his hearing loss had worsened, and his benefits were increased. “If you have any health issues at all that appear to or could have resulted from your service, check into it,” he advises.

NEW VETERANS CHARTER See Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act.

PENSION ACT The legislation governing benefits for service-related illness and injury to veterans of the Second World War and Korean War, merchant navy veterans and certain civilians with wartime service, members and veterans of the RCMP, and CAF members and veterans who applied prior to April 1, 2006. PERMANENT IMPAIRMENT ALLOWANCE (PIA) A taxable monthly allowance for lost job opportunities due to permanent and severe impairment. PIA SUPPLEMENT A taxable monthly benefit for those in receipt of the PIA and who are not capable of suitable gainful employment. QUALITY OF LIFE Is determined by ability to live independently, maintain relationships, take care of oneself and participate in community activities. QUALITY OF LIFE LEVEL Is a measure of how much a medical condition has affected quality of life, rated on a scale from one to three. REHABILITATION AND VOCATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM Is available to injured and medically released CAF members and veterans who need medical or psycho-social rehabilitation or assistance in training and searching for a post-military job or career. ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION SERVICE BUREAU Operated by Dominion Command of The Royal Canadian Legion, the bureau provides advice to those applying for VAC benefits, help in filling out and filing applications for benefits, and support through the application and appeals process, as well as benevolent assistance. The service is free of charge and you do not need to be a Legion member to receive help. E-mail [email protected]. Website: www.legion.ca/we-can-help. Phone: 1-877-534-4666. (continued on page 29)

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Veterans Benefits Guide 2015

Filling in the forms by SHArOn ADAMS

M

ore than 70 per cent of applications are approved on the first try. Most unsuccessful applications either have not included a medical diagnosis or have failed to link the disability to military or RCMP service. To ensure success, make sure the form is completely filled in. Include details that will help the adjudicator determine that your disability is connected to your service, and how that disability affects your day-to-day life.

wHo cAn Apply?

Serving members and veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP and their dependants; those with wartime service in the merchant navy, Allied Forces and in some civilian support roles.

How do i Apply?

Application forms are available by: VISITING VAC district offices and Service Canada sites PHONING Veterans Affairs Canada at 1-866-522-2122 Royal Canadian Legion at 1-877-534-4666 DOWNLOADING forms at www.veterans. gc.ca/eng/services/disability-benefits/ how-to-apply OPENING a My VAC Account and registering online at www.veterans.gc.ca/ eng/e_services/register.

Am i eligible?

To obtain VAC benefits, you must have a chronic disability or health condition caused or aggravated by your service. Spouses and children of veterans receiving benefits, or who should have been receiving them, are also eligible for some benefits.

PArT

A

Tell VAC staff who you are and how they can reach you.

InFOrMATIOn ABOUT APPlICAnT

Th is information makes sure they’ve got the right person (someone else may have the same name) and that you have only one account, regardless of how many times you apply. Identify who has helped you gather information and fi ll in the form.

Additional documents: First-time applicants need to provide proof of identity such as a photocopy of your passport, birth certificate or driver’s licence. Serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces need to provide the Member’s Personnel Record Resume (MPRR).

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“The Veterans Affairs people have been very good to me over the years. I just hope they ‘smarten up’ for the new veterans.” PArT

B

APPlICAnT STATEMEnT You may want to refer to VAC’s Table of Disabilities online at www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/services/ disability-benefits/benefitsdetermined/table-of-disabilities. determined/table-of-disabilities

Information on this page helps prove you are eligible for benefits. You may need to add a second sheet.

Be as specific as possible about duties, tasks and work requirement. For example: “I was in the infantry for 12 years and was required to march weekly up to 80 kilometres wearing a pack weighing 44 kilograms.” “The ligaments in my left knee were ruptured in a parachute jump on a training exercise Oct. 14, 2014.”

You will need an Applicant Statement for each claim, i.e. right knee, left knee.

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Veterans Benefits Guide 2015

PArT

C

QUAlITY OF lIFE QUESTIOnnAIrE

This information will help pinpoint services you may need and determine the amount of disability pension or award.

Be specific about how your disability affects day-to-day life, your ability to take part in recreational or community activities, perform at work and enjoy personal relationships. For example, “I cannot bend my knees so cannot drive or take public transportation. I have been stuck in the house for months.” “I can’t walk up stairs or stand steadily, so I can no longer help with grocery shopping and household chores.”

PArT

D

InFOrMATIOn ABOUT SPOUSE/ COMMOn-lAW PArTnEr/ DEPEnDAnTS

Be specific. “Due to multiple sclerosis I am not capable of walking or feeding myself and need 24-hour care.”

Th is information helps ensure your dependants receive benefits to which they are entitled and makes it easier for survivors to apply for benefits should you die.

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PArT

E

DEClArATIOn

Provide names and contact information.

Do you want VAC to have access to your whole medical fi le, or particular reports and test results?

When you sign, you are indicating you’ve provided accurate information, and that you understand the provisions for sharing your information and keeping your information private.

Consent for Veterans Affairs Canada to Collect Personal Information from Th ird Parties. Th is form allows VAC to contact doctors, specialists or consultants who have examined or treated you to obtain information that will determine your eligibility and benefits.

How tHe decision is mAde

The adjudicator will determine if you are eligible by reviewing the application form and additional documents you provided and contacting doctors and specialists for information if you have given permission for them to share your medical records. Then he or she will determine the amount of the disability pension or disability award by considering how much of the disability is attributable to your service and how badly it affects your life. This will be expressed as an assessment percentage for each claim. Monthly pensions are awarded for assessments of five per cent or higher for those covered under the Pension Act. A single payment will be given for pensions assessed at four per cent or less. Additional amounts are paid for spouses and dependent children. Currently, the maximum disability award is $306,698.21. The award can be paid in annual instalments, a lump sum or combination of the two. The disability award calculator can be viewed online at www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/services/ after-injury/disability-benefits/disabilityaward/da-calc.

Unhappy with the decision? You have the right to appeal. Most unsuccessful initial applications are due to lack of medical diagnosis of the disability or failure to link the condition to military service. Fill in the gaps and apply again. If you’re not successful, you can appeal. The first step is a VAC departmental review, which allows you to bring new evidence or point out errors in fact or law. The department may confirm, amend or rescind the initial decision. Unhappy with that decision? You can ask for a Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) review hearing. You will get to tell your story face-to-face with a review panel. Still unsatisfied? You may request a VRAB appeal hearing, during which a panel will reconsider evidence from the hearing. Although the appeal hearing decisions are usually binding, the panel’s decision may be reviewed if there is new information or there has been an error in fact or law. In rare cases, the Federal Court will review a VRAB decision due to error in fact or law or overlooked factors that may affect a larger class of clients. MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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Veterans Benefits Guide 2015

Educational assistance for veterans’ families

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f you are a child of a deceased Canadian Armed Forces member or veteran looking to further your studies at a post-secondary institution, you may qualify for the Educational Assistance Program (EAP) funded by Veterans Affairs Canada. The Children of Deceased Veterans Education Assistance Act provides financial assistance for four years of post-secondary education for children whose parent died as a result of their military service or who was receiving disability benefits rated at 48 per cent or more. To qualify, you must be entered into a full-time educational program before your 25th birthday and remain a full-time student to continue receiving benefits. Assistance is provided until the academic year in which you turn 30 years old. Applicants should note that EAP “does not provide retroactive funding or the reimbursement of education costs to students who have already started

or completed their academic studies.” Rather, funding from EAP is provided on a “go-forward” basis. Students can submit their application prior to starting their academic year (which is recommended) or at any point during their current academic year. Applicants must also include with their submission their high school graduation certificate, a letter of acceptance from the post-secondary institution, calendar description of proposed program of studies and invoice or receipt from the aforementioned postsecondary institution detailing tuition costs and associated fees. To apply, contact the staff at the nearest Veterans Affairs Canada office or Integrated Personal Support Centre for assistance. The application form, called Application for Special Benefit (Current Students), can also be downloaded directly in a PDF format from the VAC website at www.veterans.gc.ca/ eng/forms/document/183.

Using skills and education to make the transition by Ellen O’Connor

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f you are medically releasing for any reason or are a Canadian Armed Forces veteran released with a service-related disability or illness, you may be eligible for vocational services. A Veterans Affairs Canada case manager will look at the skills and education you used in your military career and see how they can be transferred to a civilian job. You may then be referred to CanVet Vocational Rehabilitation Services, which provides the vocational components of VAC’s Rehabilitation Program to help modern-day veterans smoothly and effectively adjust to civilian life by achieving their employment goals and returning to the workplace. It works with a network of service providers and experts across Canada and is comprised of WCG International HR Solutions, IRC Innovative Rehabilitation Consultants and March of Dimes Canada. WCG International HR Solutions is based in Victoria and works with governments, businesses and community partners to help people who receive financial assistance or with disabilities find long-term employment. Since 1995, it

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has placed more than 56,000 clients in longterm employment positions across Canada. WCG’s vocational-rehabilitation team expanded in 2008 when it began operating CanVet. IRC Innovative Rehabilitation Consultants is a Saskatchewan-based company that has operated since 1997. IRC believes in a proactive approach to help veterans return to work and offers individualized services, such as medical and vocational case management, job-search assistance and transferable-skills analysis. March of Dimes Canada has provided programs and resources for people with physical disabilities, beginning with its movement in the 1950s to fund the development of a vaccine to end polio, dime by dime. Its programs range from employment and business services to assistance devices and polio/ post-polio services. The vocational services provided by CanVet are executed in three steps. The first step in determining your vocational goals is assessment—which includes analyzing information regarding potential to return

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to the workplace, and discussing work history, existing skills, ability to learn new skills, interests, and specialized assessments. The second step is planning, which includes identifying goals and your next steps in achieving them. The third step is developing a personalized plan to provide you with the tools and training to succeed. This can include educational upgrades through college or certifications, work trials and improving interview and job-search skills. Throughout the vocational preparation process and even continuing on into the workplace, CanVet provides full support to help veterans develop the skills and abilities to find and secure a job and will work with veterans and employers to ensure a successful working relationship. In some cases, vocational services for veterans are offered to a veteran’s spouse, common-law partner or survivor.

A long way to go by ADAM DAY

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he results are in and they are conclusive: Canada’s veterans are not happy with the way Veterans Affairs Canada handles their treatment. Just as we did last year for our annual March/April special issue on veterans in Canada, Legion Magazine again has conducted a nationwide survey of its readers to better understand how veterans perceive VAC and its handling of their cases. Of the 449 responses we received, 90 per cent were veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or were currently still serving. Of those respondents, 84 percent are currently receiving benefits from VAC. Last year when we asked veterans whether they were being well-served by VAC, the response was clear and certain: No. In fact, during our last survey an overwhelming 77 per cent of respondents expressed some degree of unhappiness with the way VAC treats them, with nearly half of the veterans selecting the most negative answer possible to indicate they are being “poorly served.” This year, however, things have gotten a little bit better. Just as we did last year, we asked a simple question: “Are Canadian veterans wellserved by VAC?” The answers are clear: Things need to improve. A total of 153 respondents—34 per cent—indicated they are being poorly served, the most negative answer possible. An additional 146 veterans indicated they are being adequately served—33 per cent—while only 91 veterans selected ‘well served’ to describe their treatment from VAC. So, that’s it, the numbers are in—only 20 per cent of surveyed veterans feel they are being well-served by VAC, with 67 per cent indicating that VAC needs to do a better job. While this is a slightly better report card for VAC than last year’s survey, it’s still far from a passing grade. In addition to the overall assessment of VAC’s performance, we also asked our readers some more-specific questions to determine if there are any other possible issues. For example, Canada’s veterans continue to find VAC’s services too complex, its bureaucracy too confusing. When asked how easy it is to understand the application process for a benefit or service, 205 out of 449 respondents said it was ‘not easy,’ while only five per cent gave the most positive answer, that it was ‘very easy’ to apply for benefits or services.

SISIP The Service Income Security Insurance Plan provides replacement income for CAF regular and reserve members medically released due to long-term disability. The plan includes a vocational rehabilitation program. SURVIVOR’S PENSION For the first year following death, spouses receive the full amount of the pension. After one year, spouses of pensioners rated at 48 per cent or greater disability continue to receive the maximum survivor’s pension while spouses of pensioners rated between five and 47 per cent receive half. TABLE OF DISABILITIES A list of conditions used to assess extent of a disability in order to determine eligibility and amount of benefits. VETERANS AFFAIRS CANADA Manages disability benefits programs. E-mail: [email protected]. Website: www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/ services/disability-benefits. Phone: 1-866-522-2122. VETERANS INDEPENDENCE PROGRAM Designed to help veterans remain in their own homes as they age, the VIP provides financial assistance for housekeeping, groundskeeping and personal care services to those receiving VAC disability benefits, their spouses and frail veterans. VETERANS REVIEW AND APPEAL BOARD Provides reviews and appeals of VAC decisions about eligibility and assessment for disability benefits. WAR VETERANS ALLOWANCE Provides financial assistance for low income Canadian, Commonwealth or Allied veterans who served overseas during the Second World War or Korean War, and their spouses. The amount provided is based on income, marital status and number of dependants. There are similar allowances for merchant navy veterans and civilians who worked in support of the military in wartime.

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Veterans Benefits Guide 2015 We also asked our readers if they had received assistance from various sources to apply for benefits. Many respondents had assistance from more than one source. VAC itself had assisted in 66 per cent of cases while The Royal Canadian Legion rates second, assisting in 33 per cent of cases. The CAF had assisted in only three per cent of cases while 12 per cent had used other services such as Service Canada or other veterans associations. Many of our respondents also included short notes with their anonymous surveys to provide even more information. While the notes varied from very positive to seriously negative, there were a few that seemed to summarize some of the feelings out there among Canada’s veterans. Many noted that VAC is a large bureaucracy, with its own interests, and that dealing with it can be challenging. “When dealing with VAC,” wrote one reader, “the advice you receive varies with each employee that you speak to!” On a less critical note, one reader wrote: “I wish to be fair to VAC. Initially [their service] was slow and passive, recently it was really good. What a difference!” The big picture, however, is not overwhelmingly positive and it’s clear VAC has some work to do if they are to satisfy Canada’s veterans. Right now, the data indicates that only a small minority—20 per cent— feel they are currently being well served by VAC.

Are you in from Ve receipt of be nefit teran s A ff a irs Cana s da?

Are y o u s in the V atisfied with s e e Program terans Indepe rvices ndence (VIP)?

Another notable sore spot in our survey concerned financial support and whether it was keeping up with the always-rising cost of living. While 30 per cent of respondents were not satisfied with the support they receive from VAC, 38 per cent indicated they are satisfied, and only 19 per cent noted that they are very satisfied. A whopping 174 respondents—39 per cent—indicated that their income from all sources is not keeping up with the cost of living, with only eight per cent saying their income has kept up ‘very well.’ There are definitely some bright spots in veterans care too, however. For example, the recent changes to the Veterans Independence Program, wherein VAC provides a grant rather than paying the service provider directly, generated a positive response, with 245 respondents indicating that they prefer this new system. Indeed, the VIP service is itself quite popular with veterans and is one of the most highly rated programs in our survey, with 63 per cent of respondents saying they are either very or somewhat satisfied, and only 15 per cent saying they are not satisfied. Another bright spot was the response to VAC’s case-management services, with 47 per cent of respondents noting they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the service, while only 27 per cent were unsatisfied.

2015 Veterans benefits survey results Following are some of the results from the readers’ survey which appeared in the Legion Magazine’s November/December issue and on our website. We wanted to know what our readers thought of their experiences applying for and receiving veterans

benefits. We had 449 responses, but respondents didn’t answer every question and some questions allowed for more than one answer. We would like to thank those readers who took the time to fill in the survey.

375

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69

Poorly served

Are Ca n a served dian veteran s b w y Canada Veterans Aff ell airs (VAC)?

Yes

No

Are Canadian veterans well served by (VAC)?

153

Adequately served

146

How f a m and pro iliar are yo g veteran rams relat s with a disa

Do y o u li more th ke the new VI P a where V n the old prog grant ra A How Canadian s provide C paid the ser m a t is fiAere d aed vic r direc re yby casse ceeipt of benefit o Veti u in re t rv u yo ly m se re w A ? a emeda ffairs Canada? nagCa nant s(V erAvC) from Veterans A ic

Are you in receipt of benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC)?

Not sure

53

Well served

91

2015-02-03 3:11 PM

15

71

Yes

245

Not sure

129

Not satisfied

153

Very satisfied

Very well

27

38

Satisfied

117

Fair

89

e you in re ceipt of be nefits m Vete ra n s A ff airs Cana da?

152

How satisfied are you with the VAC reassessment process?

If you answered yes to the last question, how would you rate the service you received?

Poor

42

Excellent

110

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MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

Have y o u u s of Nationa ed the Departmen t l Defence (DND VAC c a re e r tr ansition s ) and ervice?

If pr em

tisfie Are you sa po p C Are you satisfied with se nancial su ou with VA fi rv y ice Are Canad s re a Do yo u like the sfiPedgra in the Veterans Indepen ia sawtiVI Howne nt services? om VAC?you de fr t nc served by n veterans well t n e n e e m Ho w mo sa ili tis m agem re than the fie VIP gra wdfa are angra Program (VIP)? Veterans Ho yoaru ar with VAd e mpro casold Ho well e the new ns k w A ra li Cana te fa ff u ve a o late m an ir re y di m ca s il s o se d na m ra ia wh ma ra D a Ca g e ere na ognt r (V Ar ge VA ro a d pr me C p A re pa an C id se ld the rv y )? s o ices? b service fit e ne a be th n airs of t n d ip ce p rogservices ou with theyo inare ice oreuth ra e h p pro ed?by Veterans Aff rv m o m rv vid e li s se s er c dir ie re veterans with a disa ec tly la ? da ted to aAr tisfied wit aid Hai rseeCa oth C pAff w Asns ssis Ve asna ereteVra Are you sa veteransndence y e ti h w m nada (VAC)? rans Indep ith a disability?frow ngider direcatlpyp?lica is it to undeCa rstand the tion proce in the Vete )? prov ss fo IP d is a b il it Program (V y benefit or r a VAC service?

No

Not sure

205

149

Adequate

227

21

150

Other

52

Canadian Armed Forces

15

How well has your income from all sources kept up with the cost of living?

Not well

174

Have you used the following to assist you in applying for benefits?

Good

151

Veterans Affairs Canada

297

Are you someon eligible t services

If you answe question, ho service you

Pg17-33_Pensions.indd 31

Service Canada

The Royal Canadian Legion

21

Easy

Very easy

you r arewyitohu the pro Have you w us s cess? ith the p o e r d e li la c th t e e fo d aies llowing to t h a disa o assisting ssist yHoouwineaaspypis ly Are you actively caring for If to it in b y t g il o o me u it fo inco u r y a a r you n n has p ? b l d s wel e p used the following w How n u li r e e yo c s re fi ve a is t the or ts h Ha a t wit ives d io ? n rece sfie o sati wh d n e t p som to e h q nefits? th r u e oceAre theall ith eon VAC estioHna, vheo y d yes from h d are you w lasou ss foyou dh isa st rces keptwup How satisfied are you wit u in applying for be tisfie bil ra sawit st yo ivewo u s and it Ho assiefit w you u t y por o A ive ben s sup rece l u b C to e ld ible e d s n D y e t efitfinanciaV o any ohue ra rvicerece ess? of t procelig D o g? N en te e livin r y m o of a t p ss o f s th cos t se case management services? u th the a e io as e r r re re e n t C v m c fo VA a ic e llowserv e VAC or DND? ? ? from VAC ing ices y ouIf?yI am descfrom VAC care ivl eDde?fence (DND ent ribe es, how ) and er tra n s it io n program useful have th service? es s employ been in finding e ment? new

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sfied with s e ns Indepe rvices Do any o Do you ndenc last a li I e e k ? e Ho u w o th P)? sa y tis e fie d n are ew VIP gra you with the d yes to th te the more th Have u answere ar ra o a d yo y u n fie u us o tis VA th sa C rea w e sse fol Ho u o t ss se ment process? o ld program nt ing the eIflow gryan hav Pld fulthe toed where owwwVI How sa If yesll,ohow yo Ifas u an nto,ehne winguse swered liktieoth artment V s Dep yo sis ye ti e the fo em A t s d Do yo s to u ag C the fi in q an e ap p las th m ? Hav d t e se d ing a ca e e ? for re e new ivqu benefitsre ing m yoyou use fits find rades seervices ubee es inply ou usith ? ceog nen pr u y w provider d aid theas c ms e d e d u gra a e ol w rv the b pro o fie e s v tion, how would you rat and r y tis th e a ic erst sa e an fo H und m and e u to D) it ic V g is (DN y a A in enc nagem Ar moresth Def Ceeyo erv alith ir How plyen ofeNat e th apnd ce nt sion h the you in pe nt? A e service e How familiar are you with the policies ectly?lication process for a VAC de me it t In rv re ploy is w ns s ic ra y u s te o e a ice? Ve s u e serv ? n th s re yo sitio in atiem where VAC paid th service you received? tran app er care sfied wit VAC satisfied a s? h fi s and programs related to assisting e ? th c ly Howice? a ct e n re di c ia l support y Program (VIPn)? providHerow disability benefit or serv ssment pro o u w fr veterans with a disability? re om VAC? e VAC reasse ll c e ha iv e from all s s your income ou the cost o rces kept up with f living?

Do you like the new VIP grant more than the old program where VAC paid the service provider directly?

How easy is it to understand the application process for a VAC disability benefit or service?

Veterans Benefits Guide 2015

Pensions, awards, allowances for 2015 Veterans Affairs Canada raised pensions, awards and allowances paid under the Pension Act by 1.8 per cent in 2015. VAC adjusts the rates for disability pensions and allowances on Jan. 1 each year. The amount is based on the Consumer Price Index in accordance with the Pension Act. readers who think they may be eligible for a benefit related to military service should contact Dominion Command or a provincial command service officer through your local legion branch. DISABIlITY PEnSIOnS UnDEr THE PEnSIOn ACT The extent of disability is expressed as a percentage, with a total disability assessed at 100 per cent. When a pensionable disability is assessed at less than 100 per cent, the pension is proportionally less. The following are examples of the 2015 pensions paid monthly.

100% Assessment

50% Assessment

10% Assessment

Single pensioner

$ 2,663.76

$ 1,331.88

$ 266.38

Married pensioner

$ 3,329.70

$ 1,664.85

$ 332.98

Pensioner, spouse, one child

$ 3,675.99

$ 1,837.99

$ 367.61

Pensioner, spouse, two children

$3,929.05

$ 1,964.52

$ 392.92

Pensioner, spouse, three children

$ 4,128.83

$ 2,064.41

$ 412.90

Payment to a pensioner whose disability is assessed at less than five per cent is made on a one-time-only basis.

One per cent Two per cent Three per cent Four per cent

$ 860.06 $ 1,720.08 $ 2,580.16 $ 3,440.19

SUrVIVOr’S PEnSIOnS UnDEr THE PEnSIOn ACT mAXimum rAte 50–100% Assessment

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10% Assessment

Survivor, no dependants

$ 1,997.82

$ 166.49

Survivor, one child

$2,690.40

$ 183.81

Survivor, two children

$ 3,196.51

$ 196.47

Survivor, three children

$ 3,596.07

$ 206.46

Orphan, first child

$ 692.58

$

Orphan, second child

$

$ 12.66

Orphan, each additional child

$ 399.56

506.11

$

17.32 9.99

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MONTHLY ALLOWANCES PAID UNDER THE PENSION ACT NOT LESS THAN

NOT EXCEEDING

Exceptional Incapacity Allowance



$ 470.06



$ 1,410.13

Attendance Allowance



$ 282.11



$ 1,762.62

Clothing Allowance



$ 22.15



$ 199.73

WAR VETERANS ALLOWANCE ACT War veterans allowance paid to low-income clients, is adjusted quarterly on Jan. 1, April 1, July 1 and Oct. 1. The following are the maximum rates per month as of Jan. 1. MAXIMUM MONTHLY PAYMENT Single or survivor



$ 1,441.98

Married



$ 2 ,186.99

Each additional dependent child



$ 241.01

DISABILITY AWARDS UNDER THE NEW VETERANS CHARTER Disability awards under the Canadian Forces Members and Veterans Re-establishment and Compensation Act, known as the New Veterans Charter, may be paid as a lump sum, annual payments or in a combination of these options. 100% OR DEATH BENEFIT

10%

50%

$306,698.21

$153,349.11

$30,669.82

OTHER CANADIAN ARMED FORCES ALLOWANCES UNDER THE NEW VETERANS CHARTER EARNINGS LOSS BENEFIT This income replacement provides 75 per cent of gross pre-release military salary while the veteran is participating in rehabilitation services. This ensures a pre-tax income of at least $42,426 per year (with the exception of some reservists).

Canadian Forces Income Support

SINGLE

MARRIED

EACH ADDITIONAL CHILD

$ 1,441.98

$ 2,186.98

$ 336.93

NOT LESS THAN Permanent Impairment Allowance

Eligible veterans may also receive the PIA supplement of $1,074.



$ 470.06

NOT MORE THAN

$ 1,753.97

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WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER WAR AFTER

WAR AFTER WAR PART TWO:

THE AFTERMATH OF A CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH THE RUSSIAN BEAR AND A CONSIDERATION OF SOME VERY DANGEROUS ALLIANCES Last year, when Russia annexed Crimea and covertly invaded Eastern Ukraine, NATO kicked into gear and mobilized a land, air and sea deployment of multinational forces to stare down the Russians and deter them from continued aggression. As part of this mission, HMCS Toronto sailed the Black Sea, meeting Russian fighter jets head-on in one of the tensest confrontations since the Cold War’s end. What’s at stake here? Maybe not much. But it also may be the start of another cycle of conflict and war the outcome of which no one can predict. At the centre of the crisis is a little-known clause called Article 5, a NATO treaty commitment that enrages Russia and binds Canadians to a life-or-death defence of countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY ADAM DAY

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T

TWO STEAK NIGHTS AT SEA

A Sea King helicopter lands aboard HMCS Toronto. The frigate patrolled the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea as part of NATO’s Operation Reassurance.

My trip to the front lines of a war against Russia that hasn’t happened yet turned out not to involve any Russians at all. That’s not to say it didn’t involve any unsavoury characters, because it did. Throughout my stay on HMCS Toronto, there were enduring rumours of a large malevolent rodent onboard who stalked sailors at night, earning a nickname that made it sound even scarier than the Russian Bear: Gary Laser-Eyes. According to a certain lieutenant in the officer’s mess, Gary didn’t actually exist, or at best there had been one unconfirmed sighting. My sources on the third deck repudiated this, claiming Gary Laser-Eyes not only existed, but that he’s a scoundrel and a rogue. These are the kind of things that consume a person’s attention when they’re stuck aboard a warship for 10 days. And 10 days, it must be noted, is absolutely no time at all compared to the six or more months the crew of HMCS Toronto spent on the ship during this deployment. For them, time really loses the meaning it has for those of us ashore. One young sailor asked me how long I’d been aboard, and when I told him the date I embarked, it clearly didn’t help. “How many steak nights have you been aboard for?” he asked. “Two,” I replied. “Oh, you just got on!” he laughed. Steak nights were every Thursday and despite my efforts to convince him that nine days was a long time, he wasn’t hearing it. In any case, the ship was only a few weeks from its encounter with the Russians in the Black Sea—when it had

been overflown by two fighter jets—and the buzz was still in the air. It had been a close encounter with the fabled Russian Bear, the long-time Cold War enemy turned ally, now apparently an adversary again. “I was pretty convinced we were going to interact with Russian surface units and air assets,” said the ship’s captain, Commander Jason Armstrong. “Canada sailed 5,000 nautical miles to the Black Sea and we hadn’t been there in 22 years, so it was expected that they would demonstrate their presence.” Armstrong reflects the general attitude aboard HMCS Toronto, which was that the Russians had come out to meet them in an aggressive way that was largely appropriate, given the circumstances. “It was a slightly provocative gesture, and that would be an accurate term to use,” said Armstrong. “It was slightly provocative. They could have stayed farther away, but that’s what they chose to do. All our reactions were what we trained for, and we didn’t escalate a tense situation.” Armstrong did acknowledge that there was a threshold beyond which things would be in danger of escalating. “Two fighters is OK. Three is OK. Four? That’s a lot of weapons. Six? Did all their surface vessels start to scatter? I had to ask myself: ‘What would be the triggers?’” As it turned out, there were only two fighters and after flying around the Toronto for about 30 or 40 minutes, they just left. At no point did Armstrong think it was necessary to ratchet up the ship’s response. MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEGION MAGAZINE

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“RUSSIA WANTS TO REWRITE THE RULES. IT DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT ITS NEIGHBOURS SHOULD MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS ABOUT THEIR GEOPOLITICAL FUTURE.” “If anyone thinks my decision to not use the fire control radar was anything but careful and calculated, they’re foolish,” said Armstrong. “We never used our fire control radars because we had a linked picture with another ship. We never needed to.” The other NATO ship sailing with them, the Spanish frigate Almirante Juan de Borbón, “had them the whole way in,” said Executive Officer Lieutenant-Commander Sheldon Gillis. “And the Russians knew it. The Spanish had long-range surface-to-air missiles.” While it’s clear that the leadership of the Toronto felt the pressure of their deployment to the Black Sea—after all, they were NATO’s canaries in the coal mine—in the end it was nothing to worry about, all part of the job. “The government makes a statement by sending a warship somewhere and when somebody acknowledges that arrival, it’s to be expected,” said Gillis. “It’s classic gunboat diplomacy.” “Being in the Black Sea was the coolest thing, the most operational thing I’ve done,” said Armstrong. “We were at the forefront of NATO’s Operation Reassurance. We had international press focused on us. And not just Canada but NATO focused on us. We were being looked at all the time to make sure we were meeting our objectives and not going to spool this up anymore. All the stuff we talk about and all the history, it’s the one where it all really mattered. I wanted to make sure that what I said was correct. The reactions from the ship to that Russian aircraft? It mattered.”

THE NATO STRATEGY OF EMPIRE What to make of this conflict is an interesting question. Why did Russia annex Crimea and covertly invade Eastern Ukraine? Why is the NATO alliance so intent on getting involved in what Russia is doing with its neighbouring states? These are loaded questions, essentially a geopolitical Rorschach test. It is a complex situation, open to various interpretations and there are multiple ways to understand it. The first and most natural position is to look at Russian President Vladimir Putin as the culprit. A former KGB agent with strong authoritarian tendencies, Putin has declared that his intention is to create a new Russian empire, expand Russia’s influence and power, and restore its place among the world’s great powers. There is ample support for this view among professional observers. “Russia is a revisionist power,” said Edward Lucas, senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy

36

Analysis in Washington, D.C. “Accommodating Russian interests is not about changing outcomes within an existing set of rules. It is about accepting new rules dictated by Russia. This is hard for many Westerners to understand, because we believe implicitly that the European security order we have known for nearly 40 years is fair, and therefore stable. Russia regards it as unfair and ripe for change.” Lucas goes on to argue that Putin’s Russia presents a growing danger to Europe and the West and that confrontation is not only inevitable, but will get harder and more costly with the passage of time. “The West won the Cold War and the Soviet empire was dismantled,” he said. “But Russia wants to rewrite the rules. It does not believe that its neighbours should make their own decisions about their geopolitical future.” However, Russia’s aggression against its neighbours, while undeniable, is only part of the story and it is a mistake to see this conflict only from that one perspective. One of the factors that caused the First World War was that each state resolutely failed to see things from the perspective of other states. The result of this was a situation of inequality, where one state felt permitted to act in certain ways which other states were not permitted to do. This sense that the rules only apply to some— commonly called exceptionalism—leads to oddities such as Britain attempting to defend its right to have the world’s strongest naval fleet. And so it is easy to imagine, from the Russian perspective, an entirely different understanding of the current situation. In 1949, NATO was set up to help fight and win the Cold War against the Soviet empire. However, since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the NATO alliance has in

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HMCS Toronto’s boarding party prepares to intercept a barely seaworthy boat filled with North Africans en route to Sicily.

many ways continued to manoeuvre against its old enemy. Consider the countries that have joined the NATO alliance since the end of the Cold War: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania and Croatia. In addition, several countries have advanced partnerships with NATO, and have variously declared their intentions to join: Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine and Georgia. These states, all formerly within the Soviet Union or in its sphere of influence, have now switched sides and declared their allegiance to the North Atlantic alliance. NATO member countries are automatically entered into a mutual defence treaty—Article 5—which declares that an attack against one is an attack against all. From Russia’s perspective, NATO expansion is perceived as a threat and as a continuation of NATO’s Cold War policy of containment. “Russia particularly begrudges the former captive nations of the Soviet empire their freedom, their prosperity, and their independence,” said Lucas. “These pose an existential challenge to the stagnant and autocratic model of government pioneered by the Putin regime.” Putin not only wants to restore Russian power, but he wants to end the “big institutional threats to its interests… the Atlantic alliance. This provides a framework for what it regards as American meddling in Europe,” said Lucas. And therein lies what is likely the strategic hinge—the centre of gravity—upon which the Toronto’s mission to the Black Sea depends. The heated rhetoric and aggressive deployments, including Operation Reassurance, are not intended to create conflict with Russia, but are instead

intended to deter Russia from turning its attentions to Latvia or Estonia, which would either trigger Article 5 and provoke widespread conflict or prove Article 5 is toothless, which would deeply undermine the NATO alliance. “A security crisis in the Baltic region is the single most dangerous threat facing the Atlantic alliance,” said Lucas. “Reckless behaviour by Russia could face us with a choice between a full-scale military confrontation (including the potential use of nuclear weapons) or surrender, with the collapse of our most fundamental security arrangements.” In effect, Russia is playing chess with America and NATO. If Putin moves to secure a Russian-speaking populace in a neighbouring country such as Estonia— as he did in Eastern Ukraine—it will be a gambit that exposes our precarious position. Either NATO goes to war to defend Estonia, or the alliance is radically undermined by its failure to keep its promise and perform its core responsibility of defending its allies.

TERRORISTS IN THE MACHINE Back on HMCS Toronto during its transit of the

Mediterranean, there are no Russians in sight. That’s not to say there are no bad characters who could possibly contribute to global disorder. After some particularly salient intelligence tips from an undisclosed source, the Toronto runs across a group of young men navigating from North Africa to Sicily aboard a small, dubiously seaworthy boat. Before making any rash moves, we spend an hour or two tailing the boat. Standing near the bridge, looking through huge binoculars at the dozens of men crammed onto the vessel, it’s easy to imagine how much freaking out is happening as they all look back and see the nearly 440-foot-long Toronto lurking behind them. Eventually, Gillis takes a rigid-hull inflatable boat over with a boarding party armed with assault rifles. On the small boat are maybe 50 fighting-age males who all clap mysteriously in unison as the boarding party approaches. Besides demanding that no pictures be taken of them, the men offer very little information. With no clear idea of who they are and having only a shaky legal right to detain them, the suspicious immigrants are allowed to go on their way. The Toronto follows them for a few hours, until they reach Italian territorial waters, and then turns away. Gillis later said that his assessment was that the men were “sketchy,” and any attempt to board the small vessel would likely have resulted in violence. MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEGION MAGAZINE

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Beyond that small glimpse into global instability, the ship’s company received further surprising news during the regular morning news broadcast: Canada was at war. Air strikes against Islamic militants in Iraq would soon begin. The morning report was read by Toronto’s astute communications officer, Captain Sandy Bourne: Good morning, Toronto. Your headlines for this morning: Yesterday, in a rare speech to the House of Commons, the prime minister tabled a motion for Canada to join its allies in conducting air strikes against Islamic State militants for up to six months, in addition to the continued training mission underway by 69 special forces operators on the ground training forces in northern Iraq. Neither opposition party is supportive of Canada joining this war. In related news, a British aid convoy volunteer was beheaded on a film that was released late Friday, entitled “Another message to America and its Allies.” Nine UN peacekeepers have been killed in Mali. The convoy of peacekeepers, from Niger, was ambushed Friday by a group of heavily armed gunmen on motorbikes. Those have been your headlines. Have a nice day.

DIPLOMATIC DOOMSDAY MACHINE So the question that led me to accompany HMCS Toronto on its Mediterranean cruise must be re-asked: more than 100 years after the First World War, is it possible the world could again stumble into an uncontrollable conflict? The answer is yes. It may not be likely, it may be improbable, but the underlying conditions for conflict seem to exist now just as they did early in the 20th century. The entangled alliances that led to the violence of August 1914 were famously referred to as a “diplomatic doomsday machine” by the American diplomat Henry Kissinger. It is a bold but accurate phrase. It was this system of alliances, inevitably made during peace when the prospect of conflict was unimaginable, that helped draw countries from around the world—including Canada— into a war they neither wanted nor needed to fight. Beyond the alliances, a second pre-condition is present. The annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by the AustroHungarians in 1908 led most directly to the conflict in 1914. And while the annexation of countries is currently rare, the general climate of geopolitical power struggle remains. Now though, annexation is not done by force but by treaty. Does Estonia belong to Russia or to NATO? It belongs to NATO. And for the sake of historical symmetry, it should be noted that Bosnia-Herzegovina is also scheduled to join NATO in the near future. Why is NATO pursuing this course? Why take all the former Soviet countries into the alliance? What is the purpose of that, if not to corner Russia and diminish its power? And how is it not obvious that the closer we get 38

to taking all these countries, the more agitated Russia will become? American diplomat George Kennan, who was himself responsible for elements of the strategy that won the Cold War, laid out this view in a 1998 interview, right after the U.S. Senate approved the first round of NATO expansion. “I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies,” he said. “I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anyone else. “We have signed up to protect a whole series of countries, even though we have neither the resources nor the intention to do so in any serious way. Our differences in the Cold War were with the Soviet Communist regime. And now we are turning our backs on the very people who mounted the greatest bloodless revolution in history to remove that regime. Of course there is going to be a bad reaction from Russia, and then the [NATO expanders] will say that we always told you that is how the Russians are—but this is just wrong.” It is widely understood that the harsh peace terms imposed on Germany after the First World War contained within them the seeds for future conflict. It is entirely possible that NATO expansionism into Russia’s neighbourhood in the post-Cold War era is having a similar effect. History has shown that it pays to be humble in victory. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper derides Putin’s aggression, recklessness and expansionism, saying they represent a threat to Canadian values and the greater peace. Who is acting aggressively, recklessly? Is it solely Putin, or doesn’t NATO’s expansionism—it’s annexation by treaty—also amount to aggression? While the underlying strategic rationale for entering into mutual defence pacts with countries such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania may be evident to policy planners and NATO generals, average Canadians—such as those who frequent pubs in Ottawa on snowy winter nights— are nonetheless shocked to discover that the government has pledged on their behalf to defend Estonian territorial integrity with Canadian lives. That the situation doesn’t pass the test of common sense is almost self-evident; which is exactly what makes it extremely dangerous. In 1914, Britain narrowly chose to enter the Great War and its decision to do so was based largely on a treaty it signed in 1839 to defend Belgian neutrality. And as Britain joined the war, so did Canada. For its part, Germany couldn’t believe the British and Canadians would fight a war over such a distant treaty, a “mere scrap of paper.” It could happen again.

FOR PART 1 OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT

WWW.LEGIONMAGAZINE.COM

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A truck filled with Canadian Corps’ troops returns from action after the victory at Vimy Ridge in April 1917.

FACETOFACE TO ON

WAS VIMY

RIDGE

THE CANADIAN CORPS’

GREATEST VICTORY? The story of how Canadian soldiers captured Vimy Ridge in April 1917 has become almost mythological in Canada’s public consciousness. Should this victory hold the place it does in the annals of the Canadian Corps? Author John Boileau says YES. Author Andrew Iarocci says NO.

DND/LAC/PA-001270

Boileau, a retired army colonel living in Halifax, has written several books and numerous newspaper and magazine articles on Canadian military history. He is also a frequent radio and TV commentator on military issues. Iarocci is an assistant professor of history at Western University in London, Ont., and is the author of Shoestring Soldiers: The First Canadian Division, 1914-15. His research interests include military transportation and procurement. PORTRAIT ILLUSTRATIONS BY TERRY SHOFFNER MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEGION MAGAZINE

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FEATURES

ANDREW IAROCCI

T

HE CAPTURE of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Corps in 1917 has assumed mythical proportions in popular culture. In an April 2012 broadcast of “Coach’s Corner” on CBC television, hockey icon Don Cherry said that Vimy “made us a nation, as they say.…” He explained that the “French and English tried to take Vimy Ridge for three years” without success and that in April 1917, the four Canadian divisions, under Major-General Arthur Currie, finally captured it, operating separately from the “French and English” for the first time. Many Canadians would nod approvingly at Cherry’s appraisal. Some might add that Vimy was a strategic turning point in the war. But if these are the reasons that we believe Vimy matters, we had better think again. Vimy was not uniquely Canadian. The capture of the ridge was a component of the British (not “English”) and French spring offensives in 1917. On Canada’s right flank, the British Third Army delivered a major attack to the east of Arras. The Canadian Corps, under British First Army command, was reinforced with British infantry, supported by British heavy artillery, and supplied largely through British infrastructure. Canadians never fought independently of the British Expeditionary Force— certainly not at Vimy.

40

NO.

Victories such as Vimy may have We need to stop insistinspired national pride, but heavy ing that Canadians succasualties convinced Ottawa to ceeded where the British impose conscription through the (or French) had earlier August 1917 Military Service Act. failed. British forces had This piece of legislation, arguably not attempted to capture one of the most controversial in the ridge before 1917. The our history, very nearly tore the French had crested the ridge in nation apart. 1915–16, with fewer resources than Looking back on Vimy, Currie were available to the Canadians doubted that it was Canada’s most and British in 1917, but could not important battle. “In my mind,” he hold it. The French did, however, wrote in April 1922, “that is very overcome imposing German far from being a fact. We fought defences along the western base of the ridge, as well as the neighVIMY RIDGE WAS A GREAT VICTORY bouring heights at Notre Dame FOR THE CANADIAN CORPS. BUT AS de Lorette to the CURRIE OBSERVED IN 1922, IT WAS NOT north. Without these hard-fought MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN OTHERS. gains, the 1917 offensive may not other battles where the morale have been feasible in the first place. and material results were greater Currie, who was born near and more far-reaching than Vimy’s Strathroy, Ont., did not lead the victory. There were other victories Canadian Corps in April 1917. He also that reflected to a greater assumed command later that year degree the training and efficiency from Lieutenant-General Sir Julian of the Corps.…” Currie went on to Byng, the British general who did explain that Vimy did not demand lead the Canadians to victory at the initiative and resourcefulness Vimy. (Currie commanded one that marked Canada’s final battles, of the four Canadian divisions from August to November 1918. at Vimy.) Recent research shows Vimy Ridge was a great victory that many key staff positions in for the Canadian Corps. But as the Canadian Corps were held Currie observed in 1922, it was not by British officers in April 1917. more significant than others. And it Vimy was no strategic turning was not important for the reasons point. While the ridge’s capture that many Canadians now take for was impressive in operational granted. Our Vimy mythology interms, the Allied spring offensives spires pride, but scarcely reflects a were costly, strategic failures. They well-informed memory of the Great did little to bring victory closer; War. We ought to do better, first by the war continued for another getting the facts straight. We owe 20 months. at least that much to the soldiers of The impact of the Great War on Canada who sacrificed so much. Canadian nationhood is debatable.

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YES.

JOHN BOILEAU

T

that occurred there deHERE ARE SEVERAL First serve the place it holds World War victories by in Canadian history? the Canadian Corps that The answer is a deserve recognition for the resounding yes. extraordinary efforts of Canada’s To be held in the highest citizen-soldiers. The major successesteem, any battle should es are distinguished by a series of have involved the entire Canadian official monuments on the Western Corps of four divisions in a victory Front in France and Flanders. in an offensive operation. After the war, the Canadian While several of the memorialized Battlefields Memorials Commission battles (and some that are not, such formally recognized eight of the as Hill 70) can claim this distincgreatest victories by the erection tion, only Vimy has the honour of monuments. Six of these are of being the first. Additionally, it inscribed granite blocks that was only at Vimy that the entire represent, chronologically, the Canadian Corps of four divisions battles of Hill 62, the Somme, attacked simultaneously against Passchendaele, Amiens, Drocourta single objective. Quéant Switch/Hindenburg Line The battles at Second Ypres and and Canal du Nord/Bourlon Wood. Hill 62 were mainly defensive and The seventh memorial cominvolved fewer than four divisions. memorates the Canadian Division’s On the Somme, 4th Division only heroic and determined stand during the gas attacks at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915. It is VIMY ALSO MARKED A TRIUMPH the famous statue of the IN AN OTHERWISE BLEAK ALLIED “Brooding Soldier” at LANDSCAPE AT THE TIME, AT Vancouver Corner near St. Julien. During the A PLACE WHERE PREVIOUS competition for a monuFRENCH AND BRITISH ATTACKS ment to commemorate Canada’s contribution to HAD FAILED DISMALLY. the war, it placed second behind Walter Allward’s joined the battle after the three winning submission. other divisions had left the area, The last memorial is, of course, while at Passchendaele all four Allward’s great monument on Vimy divisions did not attack together, Ridge, designated as the Canadian but generally two at a time. National Vimy Memorial. In both The remaining three memorialcomposition and setting, it is unized battles are part of “Canada’s questionably the most inspiring and 100 Days,” the series of individual striking of all war memorials of all nations on the entire Western Front. actions that, taken together, comprise our nation’s greatest feat While the Vimy Memorial is of arms in our history, when the the finest of these eight monuCanadian Corps led the Allied way ments, does the brilliant victory

to victory from Aug. 8 to Nov. 11. While the 100 Days produced incredible results, in none of the individual battles did the entire Corps assault and fight as one. The advance was usually led by two or three divisions, while the other one or two were in reserve and later assumed the lead. These two unique distinctions at Vimy clearly set it apart from every other Canadian battle. This magnificent achievement stands alone and negates any requirement to invent—or defend—myths about Canada coming of age on the ridge’s slopes. Vimy was also the first time that several tactical improvements recommended by Major-General Arthur Currie and used successfully during the rest of the war were implemented under the direction of Lieutenant-General Sir Julian Byng, the result of Currie’s fact-finding mission to the French. Vimy also marked a triumph in an otherwise bleak Allied landscape at the time, at a place where previous French and British attacks had failed dismally. Finally, Vimy was the greatest British victory of the war up to then, with no greater Allied success until Amiens more than a year later. It marked a turning point for the Allies: a year and a half later, the war was over. And the storied success at Vimy Ridge led the way. MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEGION MAGAZINE

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Borden’s By Graham

t a e r G

Chandler

Gift

O

ON JAN. 1, 1916, Canadian Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden had a New Year’s message. The Globe headline summed it up that day: “CANADA’S GREAT GIFT TO BRITISH EMPIRE’S CAUSE: Dominion Army to be Increased to Half a Million Men.” It wasn’t Borden’s first commitment of Canadian troops to the war, but it was his biggest. Just two months earlier, his order-in-council increased the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) from 150,000 to 250,000 men. Ottawa had little choice: events like the 6,000 Canadian casualties at Ypres in April 1915 were showing the war wasn’t going to end soon. Half a million volunteers out of a country population of less than eight million wasn’t to prove easy. Enlistments were dropping precipitously; January 1916 had seen 28,185 recruits, but by June had dropped to 10,059. Fortunately, a patriotic public got behind massive efforts to lure more recruits. But the pool of available men was shrinking. “We are really in a total war effort in late 1915,” says Canadian historian Tim Cook. “We are almost at full employment. The munitions factories are pumping out those shells, the contracts are being distributed to hundreds of industries. There’s work for everybody.” The

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farms are having bumper crops, “and the government has been telling them that to win this war we need you to grow the food.” All this was a massive drain on available manpower. “There are only about two million adult males between 18 and 45,” says Cook, “and a million of them are in farming.” Moreover, most of those keen to volunteer had already done so. The rest would have to be somehow compelled.

ONE WAY WAS to appeal through the nation’s wom-

en. An advertisement in a small-town newspaper near Toronto presented some questions and arguments that patriotic citizens could use to pressure women. “Three Questions for the Women of Peel County,” it read. The advertisement appeared in the May 11, 1916, issue of the Streetsville Review and Port Credit Herald, a southern Peel County newspaper. A variation also became a poster for wider appeal—now in the Queen’s University archives—entitled in bold print: To The Women Of Canada. It asks four questions including

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CLOCKWISE FROM OPPOSITE PAGE: A recruitment band marches in Toronto in November 1915; soldiers join a parade in Toronto in March 1916; a poster from the Women’s Canadian Club in Ottawa; a recruitment poster aimed at women; a poster in Chicago appeals to Britons and Canadians living in the United States.

“Do you realize that the one word ‘GO’ from you may send another man to fight for our King and Country?” and “When the War is over and someone asks your husband or your son what he did in the great War, is he to hang his head in shame because you would not let him go?” “The public recruiting meeting, long a staple of the voluntary system, was now regarded as useless, for the able-bodied male rarely turned up to be publicly harangued,” writes historian Jonathan F. Vance in his 2011 book Maple Leaf Empire: Canada, Britain and Two World Wars. “When voluntarism slowed, local committees turned increasingly to shaming young men into volunteering. Although militia officials had long condemned the practice as unproductive, citizens and local recruiters continued to use it with a vengeance. Some distributed leaflets asking women to ‘make your son, your husband, your lover, your brother join now…get the apologist, the weakling, the mother’s pet into service.’” Such strong messages to women were important, because earlier in the war a married man needed his wife’s permission to enlist. Many women had refused to grant it, in part fearing loss of the

breadwinner. In attempts to undo that mindset, these types of tools tried to make Canadian women feel guilty for not offering their men to the war effort. Women were also more proactive in the rallying effort. Reports of Work Done 1916–1917 by the Women’s Canadian Club notes at its mid-day meeting on June 22, 1916, at Connaught Place in Ottawa, “Mrs. Brooke, whose elder son is a PoW [prisoner of war] in Germany and Mrs. S.J. McLean, who has four brothers in the army; made eloquent pleas for new recruits.” Imbuing the patriotic spirit, women got together regularly across the country with knitting and sewing bees and held social functions under the banner of such groups as the Homemakers’ Clubs. The Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE) were reported by one M.A. thesis researcher to have been called “the government’s best recruiting agents.” The group raised vast sums of money for the Red Cross, operated soldiers’ clubs, and produced many soldiers’ needs, including first-aid supplies.

JOHN BOYD/LAC/PA-071689; JOHN BOYD/LAC/PA-072528; LAC/PA-125229; LAC/1983-28-834; LAC/C-131327

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THESE EFFORTS may

not have directly contributed to recruiting, but “if you were a young man and everywhere you turn there is a poster and a speech and a woman and a tea and a fundraiser and this and that. That is the kind of growing pressure that is talked about,” says Cook. Boy Scouts in Toronto pitched in by distributing leaflets designed to shame men into signing up. Lines included “Do you feel happy when you walk along the streets and see other men wearing the King’s uniform? Do you realize that you will have to live with yourself for the rest of your life? What would happen to Canada if every man stayed at home?” Soon after Borden’s announcement, new policies aimed at visible minorities changed recruitment efforts. “Initially it was a white man’s war,” says Cook. “In 1914, there were more than enough people volunteering so they can be choosy—and it is largely Anglo-Saxon white guys.” So few visible minorities were taken. First Nations were an exception. “Some of them were allowed to enlist because they had different martial skills as hunters and traditional warriors,” he says. “By 1916, when recruitment dips down, they begin to loosen restrictions, which is everything from height and people with disabilities and flat feet—more of those who were turned down initially. They begin taking in more ethnic Canadians, Japanese, Ukrainians and Russians, because they need the manpower now.” Priests, missionaries and residential schoolteachers encouraged and influenced First Nations individuals to consider enlisting. Many were driven to sign

A rally in front of Toronto’s city hall (ABOVE) attracts a crowd, many of them potential recruits. One poster (LEFT) uses shame as a recruiting tactic.

up to escape reserve poverty or residential schools. In 1915, the Canadian Japanese Association raised an exclusively Japanese unit, the Canadian Japanese Volunteer Corps, enlisting 227 volunteers at their own expense. In March 1916, the association formally offered the government a full battalion. The offer was rejected. But by the summer of 1916, when minorities were being actively recruited, militia authorities encouraged other battalions to accept the trained Japanese volunteers; the association was pleased. After rejections early in the war, members of the black community formed the No. 2 Construction Battalion on July 5, 1916, but weren’t allowed to fight; instead they dug trenches and repaired roads. The allvolunteer unit included Canadians and Americans. Songwriters and performers joined the fray to attract new volunteers. Joseph Lawson, a Toronto insurance broker who was seconded to the 204th Battalion of the CEF to help at recruitment rallies, wrote the lyrics to the patriotic song “Home Sweet Home, For You We’re Fighting.” Thompson Publishing Company released it in 1916. Just a year earlier, in another song aimed at capturing the essence of the citizen-soldier ideal, “Canada, Fall In!” by Edward Miller, included the patriotic line “Close up the ledger and put down the pen, Hark to the trumpet call.” The Citizens’ Recruiting League initiated an appeal to Americans to come and sign up early in 1916.

LAC/E010697301; JOHN BOYD/LAC/PA-072627

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One of their Sunday meetings in Toronto was held in conjunction with the American Legion at Loew’s and the Star theatres. Speakers included Canada’s Finance Minister W.T. White, senior army officers and enlisted men fresh from the front with “some gripping stories to tell.” Topping off the meetings were to be “motion pictures of the fighting in Flanders.” To stoke some fervour, the band of the 92nd Battalion provided rousing military accompaniment.

IT ALL HELPED with the momentum. Schools got

into the act too, using pageants and plays to champion patriotism and civic duty. Vance cites an example of a Nova Scotia schoolgirl recording in her notebook the songs she sang in school during the war, including “Soldiers Of Canada.” And the Nova Scotia Council of Public Instruction agreed to proclaim Feb. 25, 1916, as Nova Scotia Schools Recruiting Day, where schoolchildren were instructed to use “their influence in this very urgent and important work for the empire and civilization,” and took home letters pleading for volunteers among their fathers, brothers and cousins. While universities were patriotically engaged right from the declaration of war in 1914, efforts sped up after the 1916 half-million commitment. For example, in 1914–15, McGill University formed the McGill Regiment and Universities Companies to be used as reinforcements for units including the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. It also provided intensive training courses “imbuing the spirit of service” on the campus. “Universities stepped up to the plate and did an enormous amount of work for the Allied cause for

Saskatoon’s first volunteers (ABOVE) form up in 1914. A recruitment poster (LEFT) aims at those not already enlisted.

Canadian participation in terms of research and recruitment,” says Paul Stortz, associate professor of history at the University of Calgary. “The Canadian Officers Training Corp for example. They considered themselves to be part of the war machine.” He says some universities abbreviated their degree programs to accommodate service time. According to historian Barry Moody, Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., was also highly patriotic. In June 1916, its president, the Reverend Dr. George Cutten, donned a khaki army uniform instead of his traditional academic robes for the Baccalaureate Sunday sermon. In that convocation address, he said “the call [for recruits] has been heard by her men and they could not help responding to it, for the spirit which prompts the response is embodied in Acadia’s teaching.” Earlier that year, a military band led the parade to Acadia’s Baptist Church, and the evening service was capped off with a personal appeal for volunteers. To bolster recruiting efforts for Borden’s New Year’s call, the universities of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba formed a special Western Universities Battalion, the 196th, in February 1916. It was intended to enable university men from Western Canada to fight as a unit rather than being spread among other units. The battalion embarked for Europe in the fall of 1916, when talk of conscription was emerging. Into 1917, much of the recruiting pressure was eased by conscription. But the citizens’ efforts had clearly proved effective. “What strikes me is we made the 500,000; eventually about 630,000 enlist,” says Cook. “Only about 100,000 are conscripts, so that means about 530,000 enlisted voluntarily.”

WESTERN DEVELOPMENT MUSEUM/LAC/PA-038513; LAC/1983-28-2327

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The

forgotten

front

In maY 1943, the British

and Americans had finally liberated North Africa by defeating Germany’s Afrika Korps. But where would the Allies strike next? The Americans had wanted to invade France in 1942 and still had hopes for an early assault, but the British remained wary. Could Italy be next? In the “soft underbelly” of Europe, as Prime Minister Winston Churchill called it, the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini was war-weary, and an invasion of Sicily might bring Il Duce (the leader) to the ground. The British hope was to force the Germans to deploy in strength in Italy, thus weakening their campaign in the Soviet Union and depleting their numbers in France. President Franklin Roosevelt agreed, and plans were drawn up for Operation Husky, an assault on July 10, 1943. The Canadian government wanted a place in the Sicilian operation. The first Canadians had landed in

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J.L. Granatstein

England in December 1939. By mid-1943, the First Canadian Army, consisting of three infantry divisions, two armoured divisions and two armoured brigades, was in place under General Andrew McNaughton, its General Officer Commanding-in-Chief. The general wanted his troops kept together for the invasion of France, to spearhead the assault under his leadership. But McNaughton’s tactical skills were being questioned by senior British officers, and the government in Ottawa, feeling public pressure to avenge the disaster at Dieppe in August 1942, wanted its army to get into battle. Over McNaughton’s protests, the 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the 1st Canadian Armoured Brigade were assigned to Husky in April 1943. McNaughton acceded only because the Canadians were to return to England after Sicily. Getting to Sicily was no easy task. The Canadians left Britain on two convoys, one fast, one slow. The fast one reached Sicilian waters unharmed; the slow one lost three ships to U-boats, killing 58 soldiers and sinking more than 500 vehicles and 40 guns. The 1st Division’s headquarters, under Major-General Guy Simonds, would

Lieut. JACK h. SMith/DnD/LAC/PA-151748

Canadians fought continuously on Sicily and the Italian mainland from July 1943 to February BY DON GILLMOR 1945, losing more By than 5,000 men. Why then is the Italian Campaign so overlooked today?

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Lieut. JACK h. SMith/DnD/LAC/PA-151748

A crew with the 2nd Field Regiment of the Royal Canadian Artillery fires a 25-pounder at enemy positions near Nissoria, Sicily, in July 1943. This regiment served in Italy until January 1945.

“We approached the objective ready for all hell to break loose until we saw a tiny white flag at the first house. Inside it we found four very poor Sicilian peasants.”

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Seaforth Highlanders, under Lieutenant-Colonel Bert Hoffmeister, and the Three Rivers Regiment married up successfully, the tanks carrying the infantry close to Germany’s 3rd Parachute Regiment positions, and the Shermans providing fire support. “The whole thing,” Hoffmeister said, “was tied in extremely well.” Fighting the Germans in Sicily provided some hard lessons, but the infantry and armour did well and some commanders proved themselves. Simonds led his division with skill in Montgomery’s view, and Brigadier Chris Vokes fought his brigade with tenacity. So too did Hoffmeister, who was soon to receive a brigade command.

The Germans pulled their troops back to the Italian

mainland after some 25,000 were killed, wounded or taken prisoner. The Allies lost 19,000. The Canadians had 2,310 casualties, including 562 killed. The government now sensibly decided it made no sense to bring the 1st Division back to England, so it remained in theatre. Indeed, within a few months, Ottawa deployed the 5th Armoured Division and I Canadian Corps headquarters to the Italian campaign, which began on Sept. 3 when the Allies landed on the mainland. Initially, marching up the Italian boot was relatively easy, even though the Germans, now occupying Italy and completely running the battle after Italy switched sides on Sept. 8, fought a succession of delaying actions. Some were costly, as at Morta Montecorvino, Castelnuovo and Colle d’Anchise, but the Germans clearly had the intention of establishing a winter defensive line south of Rome. This defensive position was strongly held, and it would sorely test the 1st Division, which had been ordered to fight on the east in the heavily ridged coastal plateau cut by rivers. Under fire, the Royal Canadian Engineers struggled to replace destroyed bridges over one river after another, and the division had a tough fight on the Sangro River in late November. Then there was the much harder battle at the Moro River, a few kilometres south of the town of Ortona, in December. CBC war correspondent Matthew Halton described the slugging match there as “little Passchendaeles of mud and blood.” A deadly cycle of attack and counterattack occurred, with heavy casualties on both sides before the Canadians got across. After the Moro came “The Gully,” a deep fold in the ground that cost scores of Canadian lives as eight attacks by battalion after battalion battered against the

Troops with the Royal 22nd Regiment (left) are ready to disembark at Villapiana, Italy, on Sept. 16, 1943. Members of the Carleton and York Regiment (opposite) advance up a side street to rescue a comrade felled by a sniper’s bullet in Campochiaro, Italy, on Oct. 23, 1943. 48

Lieut. Alex M. Stirton/DND/LAC/PA-115197; Canadian war Museum/19920085-1030

go ashore without its vehicles and signals equipment. The Canadians landed in Sicily on July 10, 1943, as part of British General Bernard Montgomery’s Eighth Army, fresh from its victories in North Africa, and alongside American forces. Montgomery had worked with Simonds in England when he was Chief of Staff in I Canadian Corps, and he had decided that he was “the real brains” (in historian Doug Delaney’s words) at the Canadian headquarters. He was not wrong. The Italian defenders on the Sicilian coast put up weak resistance everywhere in the first few days, and the troops quickly moved inland. The 1st Armoured’s Three Rivers Regiment, with its new Sherman tanks, received orders to support the Carleton and York Regiment in an attack on the village of Burgio. “Zero hour arrived,” wrote Major Jack Wallace, “and the attack rumbled forward with 35 tanks and a regiment of infantry.… We approached the objective ready for all hell to break loose until we saw a tiny white flag at the first house. Inside it we found four very poor Sicilian peasants.” As Italian troops readily capitulated, the Canadians soon developed the reputation of being light-fingered. A surrendering general complained to Simonds that his soldiers had stopped his car and taken his flag. Then, as the general was being escorted into captivity, one of his staff “told him,” or so the division’s historical officer recorded, that a Canadian officer had lifted his pistol. “Come, let us go from here quickly,” the general said, “before they steal the very shirts from our backs.” As the division marched up the island’s mountainous winding roads, they soon bumped into light German rearguards that forced the infantry into time-consuming deployments. On July 17 and 18, however, a German panzer grenadier regiment and armour stood and fought near Valguarnera, and the Canadians learned that the enemy had better machine guns and mortars and all the advantages the terrain provided. The town was taken, but at the cost of 145 casualties. The next 17 days brought more of the same, with major actions at Assoro, Leonforte, Agira, Regalbuto and Catenanuovo that helped break the centre of the German defences. The campaign ended for the Canadians with a successful combined armour and infantry attack at the Simeto River on Aug. 5. The

92,757

served

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1

Lieut. Alex M. Stirton/DND/LAC/PA-115197; Canadian war Museum/19920085-1030

The enemy boobytrapped some houses and left attractive objects behind to entice looters. One explosion caught an entire Canadian platoon. enemy atop the high bank. Crossing The Gully took from Dec. 11 to 19 and cost 1,000 Canadian casualties. As Christmas neared, the 1st Division entered Ortona, defended by Germany’s elite 1st Parachute Division. The paras had created defensive positions in the houses and blown up other residences to create interlocking fields of fire. Even tanks had been placed hull down in bombed-out houses. The only way to move was through the walls of connecting row houses, clearing one and mouse-holing into the next and tossing grenades to the floors above and below. The enemy booby-trapped some houses and left attractive objects behind to entice looters. One explosion caught an entire Canadian platoon. On Dec. 25, men who were able to do so left the line for a roast pork dinner and a bottle of beer in a ruined church, then returned to their positions to fight again. Not every man was able to break free. Major Jim Stone of the Loyal Edmonton Regiment remembered that “I was on the main street of Ortona, directing a local attack ordered by my C.O. Three of my men were killed on the street before 0900 hours. My Christmas dinner was a cold pork chop brought forward on a Bren Carrier. A most unhappy day.” “If it wasn’t hell, it was the courtyard of hell,” the CBC’s Halton described the Ortona inferno. “It was a maelstrom of noise and hot spitting steel. Perhaps 30 or 40 Canadian machine guns were brrppping at once. It sounded like hundreds.… And the enemy’s anti-tank shells and mortars were crashing into the buildings everywhere.…” The enemy pulled out silently on Dec. 27, with two of its divisions as badly battered as the Canadians.

19,486 wounded

“If any Canadian soldiers ever had any doubts about the Germans’ abilities as soldiers,” wrote army dentist Captain Harry Jolley, “his experience here has undoubtedly set them at rest.” “The Germans were superb…and when that is said, our Canadians were better,” said Halton. “The Boche had all the cards: the prepared positions, the hundreds of booby traps and mines. We had to seek him out and kill him man by man.… The attacking Canadians beat two of the finest German divisions that ever marched.” But the Canadians had also lost 176 officers and 2,163 men killed, wounded and captured, along with more than 1,600 evacuated because of illness or battle exhaustion. Half their fighting strength had been gutted, and the 1st Division had shot its bolt. “Everything before Ortona was a nursery tale,” said General Vokes, the general officer commanding (GOC) since November. “I am compelled to bring to your attention,” he told his British corps commander, “that in my opinion the infantry units of this division will not be in a fit condition to undertake further offensive operations until they have had a period of rest.…”

The I Canadian Corps had become operational in November 1943, but did not fight a full-scale action until May 1944, in the Liri Valley south of Rome. The corps, commanded by Lieutenant-General E.L.M.

1,004 26,254 captured casualties

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The fighting didn’t stop, however. The next major

Canadian battle took place north of Florence in the Appenine Mountains. The Germans had built yet another defensive position, the Gothic Line, and I Canadian Corps had the job of breaking the eastern edge of it and opening the road north to Rimini and the Po River valley. As the Canadians reached the Gothic defences on Aug. 27, Hoffmeister went forward on reconnaissance before the scheduled attack on Sept. 1–2. Startled to observe that the enemy positions were still largely unmanned (the Germans having been convinced by an Allied disinformation campaign that the main attack would come farther west), he persuaded Burns to advance the date of the attack. The Germans quickly manned their positions when the Canadian assault began, and there were very heavy casualties again. But Hoffmeister’s coup and his and Vokes’ soldiers’ cracking of the Gothic Line forced a German withdrawal on Sept. 1. Most Canadian military historians now agree that it was the finest feat of the

50

Heading to the front in high spirits, troops in the Governor General’s Horse Guard move through the Liri River valley in central Italy on May 26, 1944. war by Canadian soldiers. The 5th Armoured Division was now “Hoffy’s Mighty Maroon Machine,” so-called for the maroon divisional patch they wore. Burns had won a victory, but he was soon sacked: Vokes and Hoffmeister could not work well with him, and the Eighth Army’s commander similarly found him difficult. The equally dour Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes replaced Burns. The Canadians remained in Italy until February 1945, fighting almost continuously and taking casualties every day, until they were ordered to Northwest Europe to rejoin First Canadian Army. I Canadian Corps had been one of the very best formations in Italy, and its soldiers would add their strength and experience to that of their comrades in Holland and Germany. Their role in Italy had lasted more than a year and a half and involved 92,757 Canadians. Remaining behind in Commonwealth War Graves cemeteries were 5,764 officers and men, while 19,486 Canadians were wounded and 1,004 captured. In all, there were 26,254 casualties, more than one in four of those who served. The goal of the Italian Campaign had been to tie down German forces, and it did. But to do this, the Allies devoted substantially more of their own resources than the enemy to the brutal slogging match. For the Canadians, the long supply lines from Canada and Britain stretched very thinly, and infantry reinforcements had become scarce through the summer and autumn of 1944. It was a long, hard war, and it was far from over. It would be won only by more men and more machines. The forgotten Italian front remains largely neglected today. There are some fine books on the Canadian role, but the campaign is not taught in schools and is only lightly examined even in the few universities that teach military history. The Canadian focus—even Veterans Affairs Canada’s focus—remains almost completely fixed on the First World War, the fighting in Normandy, the clearing of the Scheldt, and the liberation of Holland from June 6, 1944, to V-E Day on May 8, 1945. It is long past time to remember the gruelling, costly campaign in Italy more clearly. The veterans of Ortona, the Hitler Line and the Gothic Line deserve nothing less.

Lieut. Strathy E. Smith/DND/LAC/PA-168026

“Smiler” Burns, so dubbed because he never smiled, had the still largely untried 5th Canadian Armoured and the 1st Canadian Infantry divisions under his command. The Fifth’s GOC was now Major-General Bert Hoffmeister. A mid-level lumber manager in Vancouver in civilian life, Hoffmeister had been a success as commander of the Seaforth Highlanders, and his brigade had taken Ortona. Now this able officer, who led from the front, had a division. The big British-led push up the Liri Valley aimed to breach the Gustav and Hitler lines. In addition to the strength of the enemy’s superbly fortified defences, the difficulty was that the Liri was a constricted valley with too many units trying to use too few roads. The Canadians entered the battle on May 16 and advanced slowly. On May 23, the corps launched a set-piece assault near Pontecorvo, running into intense enemy fire, “worse by far than the fire in front of Ortona,” one Seaforth officer wrote. The Hitler Line was breached, but the casualties again were terrible: 3,300 killed, wounded or taken captive, and another 4,000 injured and ill. The advance was a success, but the Eighth Army commander, General Oliver Leese, complained bitterly about Canadian trucks jamming the roads and slowing the advance, something perhaps more attributable to his staff’s incompetence than the Canadians’. Leese tried to sack Burns, but the top Canadian brass refused to agree, and Smiler stayed in place. The advance rolled toward Rome, seized by American troops on June 4, 1944. It was the first Axis capital to fall and it made headlines everywhere. But the Normandy invasion on June 6 grabbed the top spot and never gave it up. The quickly forgotten warriors—“the D-Day Dodgers in sunny Italy,” as their rueful song had it—soldiered on. If it had been something of a sideshow before, the Italian campaign all but disappeared from the public’s view after D-Day.

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CANADIAN MILITARY HISTORY IN PERSPECTIVE / BY TERRY COPP

PART

ARMY

117

DEADLY

GREEN FOG

On the third day of the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans unleashed another chlorine gas attack. Canadians were the target this time

T

he Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium began on April 22, 1915, when thousands of German soldiers, advancing behind a ground-hugging cloud of chlorine gas, seized control of the northern half of the Ypres Salient, the bulge in the battle line projecting into German territory. The attack exposed the long left flank of the 1st Canadian Division. British and French generals were unable to exercise overall command and the Allied response was chaotic and uncertain. The Canadians, in their first major action, were ordered to launch poorly prepared counterattacks while holding their improvised front to the last man.

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After 36 hours of continuous combat with minimal assistance, the Canadians still held a patchwork of positions along the road from Ypres to Poelcappelle. Much of the Allied heavy artillery, so crucial to battlefield success, was short of ammunition and out of range. There was no effective counter-battery fire and few aircraft to contest the skies over Ypres. The 2nd and 3rd Canadian Field Artillery brigades were still within range of much of the front, but were so short of shells they could only respond to emergencies. The shrapnel shells provided to the 18-pounder gun batteries could be used to break up German attacks, but could do little to suppress enemy machine-gun or artillery fire. “The enemy’s aeroplanes were continually circling over us and flying low up and down the trenches,” recalled Canadian medical officer Captain W.M. Hart. “At one time I counted four German observation balloons, anchored at the corners of a large square of which we apparently formed the centre. It was noticeable to all of us that, in spite of the terrific shelling at the hands of the Germans from all sides of the salient, either our artillery was failing to make any effective reply or had been withdrawn.”

LIEUT. CYRIL HENRY BARRAUD/CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM/19710261-0021

The watercolour “First Glimpse of Ypres” depicts the ruins of the Cloth Hall in Ypres, Belgium, which Canadian troops defended in April 1915. The crude shelter in the foreground provided respite for soldiers.

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“They seemed to have hoses in their hands and immediately there was a hissing sound, and a

commemorate the Canadian soldiers who fell at Second Ypres, including HartMcHarg, who was mortally wounded while attempting a reconnaissance of German lines.

As dawn broke on April 24, the 4th German Army was ready for a new thick fog moving across no man’s land.” attempt to win control of the salient. Gas cylinders not used on the first day were dug in opposite the Canadian front and an additional brigade was The situation on April 23 called allocated to the 51st German Division for a thinning out of the lines for the attack. and a nighttime withdrawal to a A company of “Buffs” (Britain’s Royal new defensive line anchored on East Kent Regiment) was the only reinGravenstafel Ridge. Instead, adforcement to reach the Canadians at the ditional rifle companies were sent apex of the salient, and they helped the forward to occupy positions that Black Watch defend the sector between could not be held if the Germans the 7th and the 15th battalions. This renewed offensive operations. shallow line of scratched-out trenches The Black Watch, positioned bent back from the original front, exat the narrow apex of the salient, posing the flank of the 15th Battalion, were allowed to withdraw a short which had been ordered to hold its distance. But, as Lieutenantpositions “to the end.” Colonel F.O.W. Loomis of the 13th The 15th Battalion was recruited Battalion (Royal Highlanders almost entirely from Toronto’s of Canada) reported, the enemy 48th Highlanders, representing kept up “continued fire with mathe city’s large and influential Scotschine guns during the night and The Germans barraged the Presbyterian community. Their comwith artillery, machine guns and Canadians with “continued fire with manding offi cer, Lieutenant-Colonel rifle fire during the day. One of machine guns during the night and John Currie, was one of the less-fortuour machine guns was blown to with artillery, machine guns and nate choices made by Minister of Militia pieces and the crew killed.… The rifle fire during the day,” wrote Lieutenant-Colonel F.O.W. Loomis. and Defence Sir Samuel Hughes. It was other two were completely burwidely reported that Currie broke down ied and most of the crew killed. and fled during the battle. Fortunately, These latter two guns, however, effective leadership was provided by the were dug out and taken back to senior major, William Marshall, a Boer War veteran and a new position.… The men were all night entrenching.” militia instructor who toured the front-line positions and The Black Watch linked up with the 7th (British arranged evacuation of the wounded. Columbia) Battalion, which had been sent to the village The German artillery burst into action before first of Keerseleare to occupy the gap east of St. Julien. The light and continued firing for close to an hour before 7th had been recruited in Vancouver from militia regi“men wearing mine-rescue helmets appeared over the ments and British army veterans. Lieut-Col. William F. German parapet; they seemed to have hoses in their Hart-McHarg and his second-in-command, Major hands and immediately there was a hissing sound, and Victor Odlum, were both Boer War veterans from the a heavy greenish-yellow cloud rose slowly like a thick Duke of Connaught’s Own Fusiliers, which provided the fog moving across no man’s land,” according to Kim bulk of the recruits. Other volunteers came from Lower Beattie’s history of the 48th Highlanders. Mainland regiments and the Kamloops-based Rocky The gas struck the 48th Highlanders and the left flank Mountain Rangers. Hart-McHarg was an effective leadcompany of the 8th Battalion. A few survivors escaped er despite an illness that had “reduced his diet to bisto the reserve trenches, where “men on top of the parapet cuits and milk…a shadow of his former self. At 5'11", he were working several rifles each. The Ross rifle bolts weighed no more than 145 pounds,” according to a regiwere jamming and so they were having them loaded by mental history. others in the trench below, who hammered the jammed Hart-McHarg left one of his companies back to defend bolts out with entrenching tools.” Gravenstafel Ridge, while the other three dug in across Those not affected by the deadly green fog were a 700-metre front along a slight rise at a crossroads that subjected to accurate shellfire and aggressive German became known as “Vancouver Corner.” After the war, the infantry, which overran the position. What was left famous “Brooding Soldier” memorial was placed here to MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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Lieutenant-Colonel William F. Hart-McHarg (left) and Major Victor Odlum were Boer War veterans who led the 7th (British Columbia) Battalion. Hart-McHarg was killed while on reconnaissance of German lines.

DND/LAC/C-051983; DND/LAC/PA-002118

of the 48th Highlanders, fewer than 200 of the 912 available before the battle, withdrew through British units arriving at the front. They reached the general headquarters line and slept the sleep of utter exhaustion. Once stragglers had been accounted for, the 48th reported 675 casualties, 640 of them classified as killed or prisoners of war. Most of the 8th Battalion escaped the full impact of the gas and held the forward lines, constructing a new position to protect their open flank. Raised in Winnipeg from the famous “Little Black Devils” (officially the 90th Winnipeg Rifles) and with additional recruits from the Lake Superior Regiment and the most experienced commanding officer in the division, the 8th Battalion was highly regarded. Lieutenant-Colonel Louis J. Lipsett was a regular British officer who had served in Canada training militia officers. Lipsett would command a brigade before taking on the task of leading the 3rd Division in battle. If Lipsett had been Canadian, he might well have become the Corps Commander in place of Currie, his former pupil. Instead, he rejoined the British Army and commanded a British division until he was killed in action. Lipsett and his company commanders withstood the enfilade fire from the exposed flank using their Colt machine guns to avoid encirclement. According to the battalion historian, when ordered to retire onto Gravenstafel Ridge, Lipsett “consulted his company commanders, saw his men standing to arms, eyes heavy, lips cracked, bodies racked but with spirits unconquerable” and replied that the 8th Battalion would hold its line. This heroic version of events leaves out the key sentence in the actual message Lipsett sent to Currie: “I am not uneasy about being able to hold my line if the Germans are prevented from working round my rear.” A German advance that would work around the 8th Battalion’s rear was already in progress, as Currie was in a position to know. Lipsett, who thought a daylight withdrawal might be more costly than holding firm, believed his men could protect the left flank until the expected reinforcements arrived. Unfortunately, the few reinforcements available were needed elsewhere. German attacks on St. Julian threatened to cut off all the Canadian and British battalions still holding the original front. The 7th Battalion at

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Keerseleare and the mixed body of troops holding St. Julian were repeatedly attacked and forced to withdraw. Despite the heroic efforts of Lieutenant Edward Bellew, who won the Victoria Cross for valour in protecting the retreat of his battalion, losses to the British Columbians reached a total of 500 men. Lipsett’s 8th Battalion and the neighbouring 5th Battalion retired under the cover of darkness. By mid-afternoon, hundreds of Canadian soldiers, some shell-shocked, some lightly wounded, many simply unwilling to remain in exposed positions under continuous fire, made their way back to the rear. A Canadian engineer officer, Lieutenant Edison Lynn, deployed his men to intercept and organize roughly 800 men. Currie collected those from his brigade and led them back into action. The others dug in to defend the general headquarters line. After the British official history criticized the actions of the Canadian brigadiers, historians began to focus on the unauthorized withdrawal, on Brigadier Richard Turner’s decision to abandon St. Julien, and on the apparent conflict between Currie and Lipsett. Both Currie and Lipsett were acting on the best information available to them and the apparent conflict only came to seem important when Canadian historians weighed in on this debate, examining tactical decisions without always addressing the larger issues of strategy and doctrine—the real problem at Second Ypres. The British Army had gone to war with officers drawn from a professional army organized to police a colonial empire and fight colonial wars. This is in contrast to the Royal Navy, which had long focused on the challenge of German naval power and methods of imposing a close blockade. The army was ill-prepared for a European war. To make matters worse, the British army shared the view of the French generals, who in the face of much contrary evidence, argued that an Allied offensive could win the war in 1915. From this perspective, the Ypres Salient was a base for launching an attack, not a sector to be fortified and defended. The Second Battle of Ypres ended for the 1st Canadian Division after a few days of intense combat, although four more weeks passed before both sides, out of sheer exhaustion, stopped fighting. More than 18,000 British and 1,672 Canadians were killed in action at Ypres. Some 16,000 were reported missing, a quarter of whom were prisoners of war, including 1,767 Canadians. German losses were less than half the Allied casualties, reflecting the long drawn-out attempts to restore the original salient by repeated attacks.

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CANADIAN MILITARY HISTORY IN PERSPECTIVE / BY HUGH A. HALLIDAY

PART

AIR FORCE

IN AND OUT OF SOUTHEAST ASIA Canada’s air force had a tentative role in defending Australia, Burma and India

Nepalese soldiers, called Gurkhas after the district of Gorkha in Nepal, prepare for a parachute jump with help from RCAF aircrew in a DC-3 Dakota transport aircraft.

“What would have happened if…?” Wartime history is replete with speculative questions, and one example of this involves co-operation between the Royal Canadian Air Force and Australia, which was relatively modest during the Second World War. Yet it might have been greater. On Jan. 20, 1942, the Australian High Commissioner to Canada transmitted an appeal from Canberra for assistance “in its present emergency.” In order of priority, he requested (a) equipment, such as aircraft, anti-aircraft weapons, radio direction finding gear, armoured fighting vehicles, anti-tank weapons and torpedoes; (b) establishment in Australia of a Canadian Army force to act as a general headquarters mobile reserve; and (c) transfer to Australian naval stations of a number of fully manned and equipped naval units suitable for local defences. The Canadian government was reluctant to help even then, having its own priorities at home and in Europe. MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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Moreover, the view was expressed by headquarters that “independent action on the part of Canada” would simply complicate arrangements being worked out between Britain and the United States. The most positive step reassigned nine Royal Australian Air Force pilots and nine RAAF observers who were undergoing operational training in Canada to Ferry Command in order to move Catalina flying boats to Australia. By March 4, Canada’s air force chiefs concluded that little could be done for Australia. “Personnel could only be made available at the expense of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan,” said Air Marshal Lloyd Breadner. “No equipment is available without depleting home defences, which are presently inadequate.” The possibility of transferring two Kittyhawk fighter aircraft squadrons to Australia was discussed by Air Vice-Marshal N.R. Anderson on April 10, although he feared this would weaken Canada’s own defences, particularly by taking away most of the RCAF’s operationally trained fighter pilots who would otherwise be needed “to form the experienced nucleus of new fighter squadrons.” If this had gone forward, the units dispatched would have been No. 111 Squadron and No. 118 Squadron (in the Western and Eastern air commands respectively). Seasoned pilots to replace those sent to Australia would have to be obtained from operational squadrons in Britain—a classic case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Two months before the Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands, the Canadian decision had been made—to do nothing. By August, Canada was feeling a bit more generous, suggesting that perhaps some 50 Hurricane fighter aircraft could be sent to Australia. In the end, they were not. Two radar sets had been sent in May and more were contemplated, subject to production levels and the needs of Canadian and American radar stations. No further sets were shipped directly to Australia, but several RCAF radar personnel subsequently went there via Southeast Asia. In July 1943, the Australians suggested that one or two RCAF squadrons be sent to the southwest Pacific to cooperate with the RAAF and the United States Army Air Forces there. This could only have been done by sending units from the Canadian Home War Establishment. When the HWE was reduced later that year, it was to send squadrons to Europe rather than the Pacific. The idea was revived in March 1944, when the new Chief of the Air Staff, Robert Leckie, suggested transferring a HWE Catalina/Canso squadron to that region. “A token force of this nature in the Southwest Pacific theatre would be extremely well received in Canada, as well as in Australia and the United States, as representing the vanguard of the forces which this country will send

against Japan,” he wrote. Again nothing came of this, although in 1944, Catalinas from the Boeing (Canada) plant were being diverted from British to New Zealand forces.

By late December 1943, the RCAF was beginning to con-

template operations in the southwest Pacific and Southeast Asia theatres. Group Captain William I. Clements travelled to the region as part of a British mission to study conditions and anticipate problems that might confront the RCAF. The air force had almost no experience in mobile operations (as opposed to fixed-base) in this pre-D-Day period. Many questions existed: What buildings were needed in that region? Were supplies available locally or must they be imported? What runway surfacing methods were applicable? Could local labour be used without too much initial instruction? Would there be problems with sewage, water supplies and power? A Canadian Army mission proceeded to the Pacific early in 1944. On June 8, an order was issued for the formation of the Canadian Air Liaison Mission to Southeast Asia (CALM). Its objectives were to (a) investigate the use of air forces against Japan and make recommendations on which to base decisions for Canadian air operations in Southeast Asia; (b) provide experienced RCAF officers to assist in organizing formations and units in Southeast Asia, should their formation be considered desirable; and (c) establish liaison with United Nations naval, military and air formations in Southeast Asia. The phrase “should their formation be considered desirable” demonstrates just how uncertain the RCAF was about future plans and developments. The mission, headed by Air ViceMarshal L.F. Stevenson, included 25 officers and two clerical NCOs. Seven of the officers represented aircrew; the others covered administration, intelligence, accounts, aero engineering, armament and general equipment. Two Dakotas were allocated to CALM, each with a four-man crew. The group arrived in India in July 1944 and returned to Canada in November. During their presence “in theatre,” the officers split into groups, visiting formations and units relevant to their particular specialties. Correspondence suggests that while the officers dispersed, the two Dakotas were involved in some “special operations.” Whether these were routine, combat or clandestine is not known. The members of CALM were not impressed by Royal Air Force standards of accommodations, health, rations, sanitation and welfare. They recommended that the RCAF should not participate in Southeast Asian operations; if a role against Japan was sought, it should be in the northern Pacific. These views undoubtedly appealed to the Canadian government, but did not prevent the formation of two RCAF transport squadrons in that theatre.

Two months before the Japanese attack on the Aleutian Islands, the Canadian decision had been made— to do nothing.

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RCAF officers assemble at an airfield in Cairo, Egypt, while en route to Asia in 1944. From left are Wing Commander Paul Mathews, Wing Cmdr. H.B. Norris, Squadron Leader W.B. Woods, Wing Cmdr. Lionel Kent, and Sqdn. Ldr. W.W. McKay.

Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, loyal as he was to the Allied cause, opposed the deployment of Canadian forces to assist Britain in the recovery of her Asian colonies. His reasoning was partly dynastic (he never forgot that his grandfather had been a rebel in 1837–1838), partly political (always a backward glance at party standings) and partly suspicious, born of the fall of Hong Kong, when too much faith had been placed in British assessments and assurances. Nevertheless, in the autumn of 1944, the RCAF authorized the formation of No. 435 Squadron and No. 436 Squadron, virtually in a fit of absent-mindedness. Almost at once, the government tried to back out. British authorities, on the other hand, viewed the DC-3 Dakota transport squadrons as vital to the reconquest of Burma in 1945. RAF commanders on the ground ignored RCAF suggestions (never demands) that the squadrons be withdrawn early, then finally dispatched a message that said, in effect, “Leave us alone.” Nos. 435 and 436 squadrons remained in theatre, and were hastily transferred to Britain in September 1945, as soon as replacement RAF squadrons could be found.

CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM/19650071-019_14975

The formation of the RCAF Dakota squadrons in India

was preceded by a strange, related tragedy in Europe. To service and administer the units, the RCAF assembled 300 non-flying personnel, most of them newly arrived in Britain. They were processed through No. 1 Personnel Despatch Centre, the diary of which noted on Sept. 24, 1944, that “the particulars of each passenger, together with the next of kin, were taken immediately on arrival; at 1700 hours, a meal was provided by the Airmens’ Mess; they were briefed in the use of dinghy and tropical hygiene, rested until midnight, called, and given a further meal, grouped into 20s and despatched to the aircraft. The aircraft were despatched by a new route over France, the first stop being Elmas in Sardinia.”

Fifteen Dakotas were assigned to carry the men. By days’ end, 14 had completed the first leg of the journey. One—KG653 with 20 airmen and 3 crew members—was missing. Most of the RCAF personnel were humble Other Ranks, including aero engine and motor vehicle mechanics, a service policeman, a telephone operator, and others. KG653 had taken off from Pershore in Worcestershire at 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 24, 1944. Postwar RAF casualty investigators subsequently interviewed German officials, notably the Burgomeister of Neuleiningen in the Pfalz area of Germany, who reported that on that date a “two motor transport aircraft” crashed nearby at 1:00 p.m. The weather was very bad; dark low clouds, heavy rain, thunder and lightning. Several aircraft were heard. Also, the officials believed they heard machine guns of a fighter. The Dakota had exploded and burned in mid-air, and wreckage and bodies were strewn over a large area. A guard was mounted by local police until Luftwaffe police arrived to collect what they could, including documents. Some articles of tropical clothing were recovered. KG653 had been at least 30 degrees off track, and even allowing for differences in British and German time, the Dakota must have been close to the limits of its endurance. It had been engaged by a Messerschmitt Bf 109G piloted by Hauptman (Captain) Julius Meimberg, who subsequently published his memoirs. He described how sickened he was to be shooting down what was clearly a lost and unarmed transport that refused to land when given a chance. Earlier that day back at Pershore, one RCAF aero engine mechanic, allocated to another aircraft, had asked to be switched to KG653 so that he could accompany a buddy. The loadmaster refused—the lists had been made up and there would be no changes. And so Leading Aircraftman Peter Brennan boarded his assigned aircraft and lived to become an active member of the Burma Star Association and the Canadian Aviation Historical Society. MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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CANADIAN MILITARY HISTORY IN PERSPECTIVE / BY MARC MILNER

PART

NAVY

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FIVE U-BOAT KILLS IN FIVE WEEKS

In the summer of 1942, Canada’s escort fleet excelled at protecting supply convoys from German subs

W

hile the corvette HMCS Oakville battled the German submarine U-94 astern of convoy TAW-15 in the Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico on Aug. 28, 1942, another German sub, U-511 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Friedrich Steinhoff, arrived on the scene. Steinhoff had been summoned by Oberleutnant Otto Ites’s sighting report, and he found the convoy by steering toward tracer rounds arcing through the night sky between Oakville and U-94 (see “Over the side: the courageous boarding of U-94,” Jan/Feb). U-511

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reported contact with TAW-15 at about 4:15 a.m., about 15 minutes after U-94 sank, according to the Royal Canadian Navy’s official history, which differs from Oakville gunnery officer Hal Lawrence’s recollection. In any event, Steinhoff slipped astern of HMCS Snowberry on the port bow, through the place in the screen that Oakville had occupied, to reach a firing position about 1,000 yards from the convoy. At 4:30 a.m., just as Lawrence was preparing to abandon U-94, Steinhoff filled the water with torpedoes, firing all four bow tubes before turning and firing his two stern tubes. The targets were fat, the range was short and it was hard to miss. Lawrence saw the attack from the conning tower of U-94. “Two ‘whumps’ of torpedoes striking home told me other U-boats were attacking,” Lawrence wrote in his memoir. “A pillar of flame erupted, mounted and briefly took the shape of a crooked tree.…” Escorts firing starshells and other illumination flares added to the pyrotechnic display.

GERALD THOMAS RICHARDSON/DND/LAC/PA-166889

A sailor aboard HMCS Skeena scans for German U-boats in May 1943.

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“Two ’whumps‘ of torpedoes

Angus L. Macdonald (centre), the federal minister of defence for naval services, inspects anti-aircraft guns aboard HMCS Restigouche, accompanied by Commander H.N. Lay (left) and Rear-Admiral P.W. Nelles in September 1940.

striking home told me other

Gerald Thomas Richardson/DND/LAC/PA-166889

Steinhoff’s first victim was the 13,031ton British tanker San Fabian, laden with 18,000 tons of fuel oil for the United Kingdom. Only her master, one gunner and 31 crew, from a total crew of 59, were picked up by USS Lea. The second ship struck was the 8,968-ton Dutch tanker Rotterdam, filled with 12,000 tons of gasoline. She settled quickly by the stern, taking 10 of her crew of 51 with her; survivors were rescued by USS SC-552. The last ship struck, the 8,773-ton American tanker Esso Aruba carrying 104,000 barrels of diesel fuel, was severely damaged. She was later beached and salvaged in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. None of the escort made contact with U-511, and Steinhoff did not linger. The U-boat was damaged from her own hasty crash dive and retired to make repairs. Steinhoff had reason to be pleased. Tankers were prime targets and he had hit three. It was enough. TAW-15 arrived at Key West, Florida, without further incident on Aug. 31. After Oakville’s Lieutenant-Commander Clarence King ordered a brief stop in Guantanamo Bay for repairs, the corvette eventually made it back to Halifax on her own steam. At a time when the RCN was being hounded—if not vilified—in the national press for the Andrew D. MacLean affair (“Grumbling from within,” September/October) and for not adequately defending the St. Lawrence River and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the story of Oakville and U-94 was good news. It had all the hallmarks of “newspaper editor’s dream: the Spanish Main; a boarding party; lurking submarines; an American aircraft; an American destroyer; a Dutch tug; gunfire, depth charging, ramming,” Lawrence wrote. So when Oakville arrived in Halifax, “public relations types swarmed aboard with a battery of photographers.” When Lawrence declined to go on a public-relations tour, he “was sent for”—by whom, he does not say. Angus L. Macdonald, the federal minister of defence for naval services, had told the press that Oakville’s victory was “a striking example of the close relationship in which the navies of the United States of America and Canada are working in the Allied cause.” Lawrence was told bluntly to “go and bloody well talk about that striking example.” So off he went, first to Toronto, then Oakville, Port

Arthur (where Oakville was built) and, finally, New York City. He spoke at lunches, shook hands, had his photo taken with women’s groups who knitted for the navy, spoke to the men who had built his ship, and endured endless interviews by the media. In New York, he met Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, gave interviews to major newspapers and radio shows, and was a featured guest on Miles Bolton’s syndicated live radio show “We the People,” which reached three million Americans. Bolton generously gave Lawrence nearly a half hour to tell his tale. But Lawrence was so long-winded that he only got to the point of initial contact with U-94 when the producer signalled two minutes remaining. Lawrence blasted through the high drama of the boarding in those two minutes. The show then went to commercial before simply going off the air, and the cast and crew quickly dispersed. So much for Lawrence’s fame. King earned a Distinguished Service Order for the sinking of U-94, the typical award to the captain of a ship that sank a U-boat. Lawrence received a Distinguished Service Cross, and Stoker A.L. Powell and Stoker David Wilson (who oversaw damage control in the boiler room) each received a Distinguished Service Medal. Lawrence and Powell’s exploits were later immortalized on a dramatic war poster showing the two clambering across the U-boat’s deck, pistols in hand—with Lawrence’s shorts restored by the artist for the benefit of the general public. What the navy got out of all this remains unknown. If the existing literature is any indication, especially the work by Michael Hadley tracking the impact of U-boat depredations in Canadian waters, and Richard Mayne’s revelations about the MacLean affair, the tale of Oakville and U-94 had little impact on the mood of the home front. The navy might have fared better had it trumpeted the fleet’s overall success at sinking U-boats in the summer MArch/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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U-boats were attacking.”

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The sub got under before Hodgkinson could ram, but three depth-charge attacks followed swiftly.… No wreckage or bodies were recovered, but 55 years after the incident, Morden was credited with the kill. of 1942. In July and August, nine U-boats were sunk by Allied warships in the North Atlantic from Gibraltar to the Caribbean and north. Four of those were destroyed by Canadian escorts: U-90 on July 24 by St. Croix; U-558 on July 31 by Skeena and Wetaskiwin; U-210 on Aug. 6 by Assiniboine; and U-94 on Aug. 28 by Oakville. This was an impressive record at a time when not much seemed to be going well for the RCN. And what the navy did not know at the time was that another U-boat, U-756, was sunk by a Canadian corvette in the mid-Atlantic in the early hours of Sept. 1. This U-boat kill was achieved by HMCS Morden, and it remained unknown until 1987. At the time, Morden was an escort for convoy SC-97, which had cleared Halifax Harbour (the departure point for SC convoys had switched to Halifax on Aug. 1) on Aug. 22 with 64 ships destined for Liverpool. The recent RCN official history described SC-97 as a “large and cumbersome convoy,” a characteristic not eased by the dense fog that beset its early days at sea. The

mid-ocean escort group that joined on Aug. 26 was C-2, composed of two RN four-stack destroyers Burnham and Broadway, the British corvette Polyanthus, and the RCN corvettes Brandon, Dauphin, Drumheller and Morden. C2 was augmented on Aug. 29 by two large U.S. Coast Guard Cutters, Bibb and Ingham, from Iceland. Only the British escorts had modern Type 271 radar; none of the escort had shipborne high-frequency direction finding. In the path of SC-97 lay no less than three U-boat packs. “Vorwarts,” composed of nine U-boats, was southwest of Iceland; “Stier,” with six U-boats, was farther south: both were trolling for convoys. The nine subs of group “Lohs” were moving to a refuelling rendezvous southeast of Newfoundland. Vorwarts had narrowly missed a fast convoy on the night of Aug. 30–31 when, in the words of the RCN official history, “SC-97 stumbled into Vorwarts the next morning.” The first U-boat to make contact, U-609, submerged ahead of SC-97, then penetrated the escort screen before attacking from periscope depth in daylight the next morning. Two ships, the SS Bronxville and the SS Capira, were struck and both went down. Morden and the rescue ship HMS Perth picked up survivors while the rest of the escort attacked underwater contacts. U-609 slipped away unscathed. For the next 48 hours, C-2, now aided by the destroyer USS Schenk, held Vorwarts at bay. On Sept. 1, aircraft from Iceland arrived to help. Subsequent attempts to press home attacks and maintain contact were thwarted by naval and air escorts, and several U-boats were damaged. The Germans gave up the chase on Sept. 2. At the time, all the Allies knew was that SC-97 had punched its way through a large U-boat concentration with minimal losses.

FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/16118167@N04/6755827577

HMCS Morden, seen from the deck of HMCS Kamloops. A postwar reassessment credits the Morden with the sinking of U-756 in the North Atlantic Ocean.

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In the 1980s, the British Naval Historical Branch undertook a complete re-evaluation of U-boat losses and Allied claims of destruction. It was a massive and lengthy process, and there were many wartime kill credits awarded on circumstantial evidence. These awards typically went to aircraft, whose claims were less rigorously assessed because it was not always possible to get hard evidence of a kill from the air, such as photographs of men or wreckage in the water, or subs being abandoned on the surface in distress. In the case of SC-97, the only kill subsequently awarded was to a U.S. Catalina amphibious aircraft of Patrol Squadron 73 on Sept. 1. Its attack on that day seemed to coincide with the disappearance of U-756, which German authorities recorded as missing on Sept. 3 and which the Allies also tracked as missing. In the 1980s, a thorough reassessment of the evidence, especially U-boat logs, revealed that the American Catalina had attacked U-91. Through a process of elimination, the only attack that could account for the loss of U-756 was that by Morden. The commanding officer of Morden, Lieutenant

J.J. Hodgkinson, RCNR, reported an attack on a U-boat shortly after midnight on Sept. 1, and felt at the time that his ship had done well. Morden was screening SC-97 when her radar picked up a contact, followed shortly by a U-boat sighting. The sub got under before Hodgkinson could ram, but three depth-charge attacks followed swiftly: two charges were dropped as Morden ran over the swirl of U-756’s dive, five more were dropped in a deliberate attack, and then a 10-depth-charge pattern was dropped on a solid sonar contact. Hodgkinson reported that “it was difficult to imagine that the U-boat could have avoided being hit by the depth charges.” No wreckage or bodies were recovered, but 55 years after the incident, Morden was credited with the kill. The destruction of U-756 capped a highly successful five-week run of U-boat kills by the RCN: five in all. Unfortunately for the RCN, no one noticed—or cared— at the time. And as the summer of 1942 waned and the mid-ocean began to fill up with German subs, the RCN’s public drubbing by U-boats in home waters and by MacLean in the press was about to be mirrored on the North Atlantic run. MArch/APrIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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Crew aboard HMCS Morden demonstrate the ship’s 20-mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun during training off Halifax on Aug. 3, 1943, shortly before sailing to Plymouth, England.

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Part 43: Second World War

the mountains toward Campobasso. (This was just before he was hospitalized, suffering from jaundice, and temporarily replaced By John Boileau by Brigadier Chris Vokes from 2nd Brigade.) Battle Honours: 1 Motta Montecorvino 2 Termoli Led by the commanding officer of the 3 Monte San Marco Calgary Regt., the mobile force consisted of the Dates: 1 Oct. 1-3 2 Oct. 3-6 3 Oct. 6-7 PLDG, the Calgary Regt. (perpetuated by the Location: south central Italy King’s Own Calgary Regt.), 1st Brigade’s Royal Units awarded: 1 King’s Own Calgary Regiment, Canadian Regt. (RCR) (mounted in trucks), Royal Canadian Regt., Hastings & Prince Edward Regt., and the 27th Anti-Tank Battery, with 2nd Field 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards Regt. and 66th Medium Regt. (a British unit) 2 12e Régt. blindé du Canada 3 Seaforth Highlanders in support. Behind the main advance, 3rd Bde. of Canada was in reserve, while 2nd Bde. struck through the rough hill country to the south, covering the division’s, and the army’s, left flank. The advance from Lucera began on Oct. 1, led by the After successful landings on the mainland of Europe mobile force’s vanguard: a PLDG armoured car squadat the tip of the Italian toe and the surprisingly rapid ron, a squadron of Calgary Regt. tanks and an RCR comadvance inland to Potenza in September 1943, the pany. As the vanguard snaked up into the hills toward Canadians continued up the Italian peninsula. Their the village of Motta Montecorvino, the PLDG came objective was Campobasso, an upland city nestled in under machine-gun fire. Patrols sent to the flanks the eastern foothills of the Apennine Mountains. discovered machine guns and 88-mm guns up to eight First Canadian Division operated inland on the kilometres in either direction, defending the long ridge mountainous left flank of Eighth Army’s two-pronged on which Motta perched. thrust northward, while 78th British Infantry Div. The advance guard swung into action to conduct a moved up on the right along the coast. Meanwhile, combined tank-infantry assault against the village in late on the Canadian left flank, 5th British Infantry Div. afternoon. Unfortunately, little artillery support other was advancing and by Sept. 21 was linked up with than from a field battery was available, as the two artilFifth U.S. Army, which landed at Salerno earlier. lery regiments were caught in traffic congestion on the The next day, patrols from the Princess Patricia’s far side of Lucera. Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) and the Royal 22e Two squadrons of tanks charged up the ridge in Régiment (Van Doos) began ranging northward from the face of German anti-tank fire and fought their way Potenza, encountering small rearguards from 1st through Motta. The infantry had no such luck as enemy Parachute Div. The lead was now assumed by two machine-gun fire swept the slopes, keeping the two atsquadrons of the division’s reconnaissance regiment, tacking RCR platoons at bay. At dusk, the tanks were the 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards (PLDG). ordered to withdraw while the infantry reorganized for Canadian units soon reached the Olfanto River, but a night attack. did not cross as 78th Div. took the lead and captured By 9 p.m., two infantry companies had secured the much-needed airfields on the broad Foggia plains. an intermediate position halfway up the main ridge. In preparation for the advance to Campobasso, When a patrol from another company reported the edge Canadian units moved forward to the walled city of of Motta clear of Germans, the remainder of the comLucera, along roads cleared by 78th Div. On Sept. pany advanced, only to run into heavy machine-gun fire. 29, Major-General Guy Simonds established a moThe commanding officer withdrew his men to shell the bile force as the division’s advance guard for its move village, as 2nd Field Regt. had finally broken free of along Highway 17, the tortuous main road through

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traffic and was able to provide fire support. After a quick, heavy artillery concentration on Motta, two more infantry companies advanced into the town in the face of minor opposition, but the occupying German force was already withdrawing westward up Highway 17, their vehicle headlights cutting through the night. By first light on Oct. 2, the RCR were established on the far edge of Motta. Shortly after, a Calgary Regt. tank squadron and an RCR company advanced toward the next objective, a road junction 1,800 metres to the west. They were stopped cold about 550 metres from the junction, with six tanks knocked out by German 88-mm guns and the infantry pinned down by machine-gun and mortar fire. To free the main axis, 1st Brigade’s commander, Brig. Howard Graham, ordered the Hastings and Prince Edward Regt. (Hasty Ps) to make a right flanking attack on the ridge where the road junction was located, while the 48th Highlanders advanced directly on the junction from Motta. When machine-gun fire temporarily held up the Hasty Ps in a wood at the base of Monte Sambuco, they waited until nightfall before storming the steep slopes and driving off the German rearguard. Due to traffic congestion, the 48th were unable to advance as planned. For their role in capturing the town and surrounding area, the units of the advance guard, plus the Hastings and Prince Edward Regt., were awarded the battle honour Motta Montecorvino. Meanwhile, on the extreme left flank of the German line, just north of the “spur” of the Italian boot, the small port of Termoli was weakly held. Concerned about this weakness, the Germans sent 16th Panzer Div. to reinforce the town on Oct. 2, which coincided with a surprise seaborne assault on Termoli early the next day by a British Commando brigade. They seized the port before it could be destroyed. During the next two days, the three brigades of 78th Div. arrived to reinforce the bridgehead and form a defensive perimeter around the town. The German

Armed with a sniper rifle, Private J.E. McPhee ((left) of the Seaforth Highlanders takes aim amid German mortar fire near Foiano, Italy, on Oct. 6, 1943. Infantrymen (below) of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment advance through Motta, Italy, on Oct. 2, 1943. reaction was swift and on the morning of Oct. 5, two panzer grenadier battle groups attacked the perimeter and pushed the British defenders back. The completion of a tank-bearing bridge over the Biferno River to the south allowed Allied armour to come to the assistance of 78th Div. and the Three Rivers Regt. (perpetuated by 12e Régt. blindé du Canada) was placed under the division’s command. On Oct. 6, the British struck, with the three Canadian tank squadrons supporting the attacking infantry. The Germans withdrew later that day and the Canadian tankers went into divisional reserve. For its part in driving the enemy back, the Three Rivers Regt. received the battle honour Termoli. To the south of Motta Montecorvino, the units of 2nd Bde. (temporarily commanded by Lieut.-Col. Bert Hoffmeister of the Seaforths) had been advancing on the left flank of 1st Div., out of support of the rest of the division. When the brigade was ordered to capture a crossroads at the tiny village of Decorata, the Seaforth Highlanders were assigned the task. But to get there, they first had to clear the northern shoulder of two sprawling, windswept hills: Monte San Marco and Toppo Felici. As the Seaforths prepared to leapfrog forward with three companies, two troops of PLDGs who were leading the way came under fire from Monte San Marco, losing five scout vehicles in the process. The Seaforth advance began at 3 p.m., but was soon met with a hail of fire. The commander of C Company, which was leading at the time, called down all available fire support and took the hill by early evening at a cost of 30 casualties. After nightfall, all three companies pushed on to Toppo Felici, but ran into a German armoured car that inflicted several casualties. With their attached anti-tank weapons far behind, the Seaforths withdrew to Monte San Marco. By dawn, no Germans were to be seen and the advance continued to Decorata, which was clear of the enemy. For their role in this operation, the Seaforths received the battle honour Monte San Marco. At this stage, 1st Div. had covered a third of the distance to Campobasso; but more fighting would follow before that city fell.

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LIEUT. TERRY F. ROWE/DND/LAC/PA-141305; LIEUT. JACK H. SMITH/DND/LAC/PA-190823

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New Minister Needs To Win Back Veterans’ Trust by sharon adams

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showed us what right looked like, and all those great men and women who, on my watch, got wounded. I’m there for them. I’m there for their families.” The pair now has the task of rebuilding veterans’ trust, which took a blow just days before the auditor general’s fall report was issued. Fantino and National Defence Minister Rob Nicolson announced $200 million to improve mental health services to serving members and veterans, including a new operational stress injury clinic, expanding mental health education, digitizing records, acquiring new technology, beefing up peer support programs, funding research and trying out extending veterans’ access to military family resource centres. Number-crunching revealed only about $19 million will be spent over the next five or six years, the remainder over decades. Thus the auditor general’s report was delivered to an already skeptical veterans audience. The task of rebuilding veterans’ trust begins with how well the department addresses recommendations in the auditor general’s report, as well as how—and if—it makes substantive changes to the New Veterans Charter as recommended in the June report by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs. While noting Veterans Affairs does a good job with short-term rehabilitation programs, the auditor general’s report criticized the complexity of the process to apply for

Veterans Affairs Minister Erin O’Toole (standing, right) and Deputy Minister Walter Natynczyk (left) visit veterans in the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

disability benefits; the length of time the department takes to decide if a veteran is eligible; as well as the delay in delivering mental health services. The department fell short of its goal to provide decisions to 80 per cent of applicants within 16 weeks of the date the department considers the application to be complete. “This means that 733 veterans did not receive a decision within the 16-week standard,” said the report. Additionally, it points out, veterans start counting from the moment they contact the department, not when VAC deems the application complete. From the veterans’ perspective, it takes 32 weeks for 80 per cent of veterans to receive a decision, “due in part to the barriers veterans must overcome to complete the application process.” As well, many have already waited months before asking for help. The auditor general’s report noted the proportion of VAC clients with mental health conditions has in-

VETERANS AFFAIRS CANADA

With the appointments of Erin O’Toole and Walter Natynczyk, Veterans Affairs Canada now has veterans at both the political and bureaucratic helms. Whether this will help the department ease the tension with Canada’s veterans remains to be seen. O’Toole replaced Julian Fantino as Minister of Veterans Affairs in January, in what Dominion President Tom Eagles of The Royal Canadian Legion described as a “political move.” “The Legion has great expectations that this government and all political parties will put the past behind and move forward to create an environment where veterans know that this country’s obligation to care for them when they need it will be met,” Eagles said in a news release. While some advocates welcomed appointments of veterans who are well-versed in military culture and veterans’ issues, others said it doesn’t matter who sits in those chairs, as they get their marching orders from the Prime Minister’s Office. But both have track records in caring for serving members and veterans. O’Toole was a Royal Canadian Air Force captain who served as tactical navigator aboard Sea King helicopters out of 12 Wing in Shearwater, N.S., and served as a reservist when he launched his law career. He has been a long-time Legion member and is a founder of the True Patriot Love Foundation, which is dedicated to funding support programs for serving members, veterans and their families. Retired general Natynczyk, chief of defence staff from 2008 to 2012, told a forum in November that his appointment gives him the “chance to serve all those great veterans who LEgion MagazinE MARCH/APRIL 2015

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NEWS creased to 12 per cent in 2014 from two per cent in 2002. The department estimated it spent half a billion dollars on mental health programs, but the report noted a lack of means to assess if its mental health strategy matches veterans’ needs. The report made a number of recommendations for Veterans Affairs, National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces, including analyzing VAC’s benefits application and review processes; facilitating timely access to psychological and psychiatric assessments; and developing certain performance measures. In its response, VAC said it is “exploring the potential for new decision models that would support faster, evidence-informed decisions by simplifying the processes and practices associated with the

adjudication of certain disability claims.…” A web portal is being developed to capture and track the time required for disability assessments. VAC will continue to work with the Veterans Review and Appeal Board to analyze processes and amend policies. And the department will add performance measures in the new mental health strategy. Meanwhile, veterans and their advocates await action on four substantive recommendations from the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs’ report. Although Fantino announced steps on non-monetary and in-house items in September, he said “further due diligence” was needed for the more serious recommendations. Those include ensuring the most severely disabled veterans receive financial support for life;

that reservists be entitled to the same benefits as regular forces members; that disability awards (lump-sum payments) be raised to reflect civil court awards; and the earnings loss benefit be calculated on 85 per cent of pre-release income, up from 75 per cent. The Legion wants action prior to release of the federal budget, now delayed until April. “The government is stalling and we need them to act now,” it said in announcing a letter-writing campaign to pressure the government. Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent chimed in, saying a “whole-ofgovernment approach must be taken.” He also urged veterans to write to MPs and cabinet ministers, adding if not addressed in the 2015 budget “change will not happen for several more years.”

Every year, the Quebec Athletics Federation holds an annual gala to celebrate great accomplishments in sport across the province. At the 22nd annual gala held Nov. 22 in Montreal, The Royal Canadian Legion was singled out to receive a special tribute—the Hommage Athlétas award—for its work in running its national sports program in Quebec. More than 200 athletes, coaches, parents, administrators and organizations attended the gala. Among the many, many distinctions handed out that night were awards for top male and female athletes, top juniors and top coaches. The Legion has been running its national track and field program for more than 50 years. It has expanded from a small-scale effort focused on Olympic training to its current form as one of the nation’s leading venues for the discovery and cultivation of world-class athletic talent. “Thanks to our development of both

training and national level track and field competitions, youth across Canada are able to get involved in sports on a level that can lead to international success,” said Dominion President Tom Eagles. The award was accepted by Dominion Command Sports Committee Chairman André Paquette. Beyond the athletes themselves, the Legion has invested heavily in the effort to provide an annual event that brings together the best athletes in Canada for a weekend of top-level competition–the Legion nationals. “The success of this program has resulted in the Legion’s continued commitment to Canadian youth by funding the current Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships since its inception in 1977,” said Eagles. This most recent award for the Legion program is a unique recognition created by Athletics Quebec to recognize special contributions by people or organizations, an

YVES LONGPRÉ

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track program wins award

Dominion Command Sports Committee Chairman André Paquette accepts the Hommage Athlétas award from Quebec Athletics Federation President Sylvain Proulx.

award meant to honour a long period of notable achievement at a regional or provincial level. The 2013 recipient of the award was George Amyot, an official who spent 22 years dedicated to sport in Quebec. The next Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships will be held in Sainte-Thérèse, Que., in August. MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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2014: The Year in review moving forward by bruce Poulin Almost 1,000 delegates at the 45th Biennial Dominion Convention held at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton June 14–18 made it clear that they wanted to ensure that their Legion maintain, if not increase, its membership in order to remain Canada’s largest veterans-based organization with all the duties and responsibilities it entails. To that end, the delegates adopted a series of resolutions mandating the senior leadership to seek out new efficiencies, adopt new online membership practices and complete a thorough review of Legion programs. The following is a brief overview that reflects this new mandate as we prepare to set this new course for the Legion to move forward. Perhaps the most significant changes to the Legion were the result of some of the 118 resolutions considered at the dominion convention regarding both the recruitment and retention of members and reflected in the dominion president’s six-point action plan. For instance, the Legion One-ByOne recruiting campaign entered its second year and attracted 1,031 new members. Our congratulations go out to David McQuillen from Dunnville, Ont., who was the winner of two tickets for the Third Annual Commonwealth Veterans Cruise in the Caribbean. Other recruiting initiatives included a resolution to accept applications for membership by electronic means such as by PDF documents, e-mail, scanned documents or other forms and to update the membership form. The issue of membership retention was addressed including a resolution that authorized members to extend the number of years they may buy back. A lapsed member may now buy

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back the current year and any years of unpaid dues at the branch’s current membership dues rate. Members of the RCMP are now eligible to join the Legion upon graduation from training at Depot. Finally, delegates agreed to create an online membership and electronic and pre-authorization of dues payments system for all members. In light of the number of changes to membership, it was agreed that the newly merged Membership and Outreach Committee hold monthly teleconferences. In keeping with the dominion president’s six-point action plan calling on members and the local community to become more involved in Legion activities and branches to become centres of hospitality, the staff at Legion House successfully negotiated with Industry Canada to have them donate surplus computers to any Legion branch that requests one. Those branches that would like to have a computer are encouraged to contact their respective provincial command which, in turn, will contact the provincial Industry Canada representative. Another important component of this engagement process was an increase in both traditional and social media products from Legion House. There were 90 news releases, media advisories and letters to the editor distributed in 2014. This represents a 66-per cent increase from the previous year. Finally, in terms of media products, a new electronic Public Relations Manual has been uploaded on the Legion website, like all other Legion manuals, so that it may be updated regularly at no cost. The Outreach and Visitation Initiative (OVI) allowed Legion volunteers to visit some 3,789 veterans in long-term care facilities. Given the success of this program in its

inaugural year, Veterans Affairs Canada has extended the OVI contract for another year and has doubled the funding and number of visits for 2015. The inaugural Homeless Veterans Forum was held in April at Legion House. Following this forum, the Legion announced a partnership on homelessness issues facing veterans with the Veterans Emergency Transition Services (VETS) Canada. A letter of understanding is anticipated to be formalized in 2015. In June, delegates at the dominion convention passed a motion to help support the provision of service dogs to assist in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans. Presently, there is no national standard. That said, Veterans Affairs Canada has agreed to sponsor and fund the development of a new National Standard of Canada for Service Dogs with the Canadian General Standards Board. Last September, Dominion Executive Council approved the funding of a master’s degree scholarship specializing in Military and Veteran Health Research for the next three years. This funding, in the amount of $30,000 annually, was awarded to a former reservist, Brigitte Nathalie Phinney of Ottawa, for 2014. Because of the high turnover rate of service officers, the Service Bureau Network adopted monthly command service officer teleconferences. The Dominion Command Service Bureau also held two courses this year at Legion House to train the new service officers. In late October, the Veterans, Service and Seniors Committee authorized a national electronic letterwriting campaign calling on the government to implement the

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than 17.7 million poppies, more than 2.1 million lapel poppy stickers and over 200,000 Lest-We-Forget poppy bracelets distributed. This campaign continues to be the most important Legion fundraising project of the year with approximately $14.5 million being spent annually on veterans in need. The Legion poppy campaign culminates with various Remembrance Day ceremonies across the country and abroad. An estimated 50,000 Canadians attended the national Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa this year. Of note, the National War Memorial was rededicated during the commemoration by the governor general and the Princess Royal, Princess Anne. The dates of the South African War (1899–1902) and Afghanistan Mission (2001–2014) were added, along with the inscription “In Service to Canada.” The Act of Remembrance was recited in English by Dominion President Tom Eagles, in French by Grand President Larry Murray and in Michif by Métis veteran Alex Maurice. The Legion undertook a special project to capture the solemnity and highlight the significance

Participating in the national Remembrance Day ceremony are (from left) Governor General David Johnston, Princess Anne, Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Laureen Harper, Veterans Affairs Minister Julian Fantino and Dominion President Tom Eagles.

of the Two Minutes of Silence through the production of a special video appropriately titled Two Minutes of Silence. The National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother for 2014–15 is Gisèle Michaud of Edmundston, N.B. She is the mother of the late Master Corporal Charles-Philippe Michaud, a member of the 2nd Battalion, Royal 22nd Regiment who was severely wounded after stepping on an improvised explosive device while on patrol in the Panjwaii District, southwest of Kandahar City. He died of his wounds on July 4, 2009. Each November, the recipients of the Legion’s Outstanding Sea, Army and Air Cadet of the Year travel to Ottawa as guests of the Legion to participate in commemorative events during the Remembrance period. The outstanding cadets for 2014 were sea cadet CPO1 David MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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recommendations from the June 2014 House of Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs report. In two months, an estimated 10,000 letters had been sent to members of Parliament. The Defence and Security Committee increased its participation with the Conference of Defence Associations, the Canadian International Council and the National Defence Headquarters command principals. Some of the focal points for 2014 were: cadetfunding cutbacks, awarding of the Arctic Star medal and war brides and citizenship. The Defence and Security Committee also oversaw the Comradeship Awards. This program recognizes one person per basic training course within the military and RCMP who is paramount in contributing to the well-being and morale of their peers. The award also includes a two-year subscription to Legion Magazine. The committee also oversaw the Legion’s involvement in the Nijmegen Marches held every year in July. Dominion Command provided approximately 1,800 gift packages to all deployed Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police personnel on Canada Day. A similar number of “Taste of Home” gift bags were provided as part of Operation Santa Claus. These gift bags contain an assortment of goodies from across Canada. Both the French and English versions of Legion Connect have been completed and will be launched later in 2015. Remembrance has always been a hallmark of the Legion. On Oct. 21, the first poppy was presented to our patron, Governor General David Johnston, by Dominion President Tom Eagles and Grand President Larry Murray. More than 130 veterans attended this ceremonial launch of the 2014 Poppy Campaign at Rideau Hall. The annual poppy campaign saw new records being set with more

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NEWS Fitch of Edmonton; army cadet C/CWO Teegan Martin of Airdrie, Alta.; and air cadet WO2 David Joiner of Winnipeg. The poster and literary contests are well supported by branches and commands with more than 100,000 students submitting entries from across Canada. The senior prizewinners in all four categories attended the 2014 Remembrance Day Ceremony and placed a wreath on behalf of the youth of Canada. The senior winners were Sarah Jessica Butler of Torbay, N.L. (poem); Hareem Masroor of Nanaimo, B.C. (essay); Joo Hee Chung of Langley, B.C. (colour poster); and Darynn Bednarczyk of Cranbrook, B.C. (black and white poster). The 2014 Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships took place Aug. 13–19 at the McLeod Athletic Park located in Langley, B.C., for the second consecutive year. There were 427 Legion sponsored athletes, 35 chaperones and 25 coaches representing all 10 commands. In addition, there were 374 open category athletes. The Royal Canadian Legion was chosen as the recipient of the 2014 Hommage Athlétas award from the Fédération québécoise d’athlétisme. The Legion was selected for the award for its support of training, competition and promotional activities of a national sports program. The curling championships were hosted by Dauphin, Man., Branch in March. The winning team was from Salmon Arm Branch in B.C./ Yukon Command. The cribbage championship play was hosted in April by North Bay, Ont., Branch. The singles competition was won by Cloverdale Branch in B.C./Yukon Command. The doubles competition was won by Prince Edward Branch from B.C./Yukon Command. The team title went to Hon. John Diefenbaker Branch in Laval of Quebec Command. The darts championships were hosted by Orleans, Ont., Branch in

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May. The singles title went to Orillia Branch in Ontario Command while the doubles competition winners were from New Ross Branch from N.S./Nunavut Command. The team winners were from LaSalle Branch in Quebec Command. The Legion’s eight-ball championships were held in May and hosted by Col. Paul Poisson Branch in Tecumseh, Ont. The singles title went to Swansea Branch in Toronto from Ontario Command. The doubles competition winners were from Miramichi Branch from New Brunswick Command. Finally, the team title went to members of Britannia Branch in Victoria from B.C./Yukon Command. The Royal Commonwealth Exservices League granted Bermuda provisional status and now continues its work in 16 Caribbean countries by granting assistance to 118 veterans and 117 widows in that region. Assistance granted was approximately $224,371 including medical grants, administrative grants and poppy material assistance. The Ritual and Awards Committee met monthly to review 134 applications for major Legion awards. Through the recommendation of the committee, a 90th Anniversary Commemorative Medal was struck and made available through our Supply Department to all members for wear on Legion dress as of June 2015. The committee continues to work on new initiatives to benefit our membership, including a National Honour Roll and website seminars that will be available to commands and branches. After careful consideration, the committee combined the former honours and awards, ritual and insignia, national honours and protocol manuals into a new revised electronic Ritual, Awards and Protocol Manual that will only be available online on our website. This year saw an overall increase of seven per cent in sales for the Supply Department. Part of these

sales included a National War Memorial 75th Anniversary pin as well as an Afghanistan War commemorative pin. A new partnership with CANEX stores was formalized this year. As a result, a variety of Legion products are now available at all CANEX stores in their newly branded Tactix section. The Constitution and Laws Committee continued its work of advising the organization and its members on constitutional matters arising from the interpretation of the Act of Incorporation and The General By-Laws as well as provincial command general bylaws. The charter of the Great War Veterans Association was surrendered last year. Although no veterans or branches of the GWVA remain, the Legion committed in 1974 to perpetuate the memory of the association. Making the GWVA name a trademark last year will assist with this goal as we strive to honour the association and safeguard its name. This year saw the Legion adopt several new initiatives to help it move forward so that it may remain relevant in our communities and among our veterans. This was largely a result of the resolutions reviewed by the delegates at the dominion convention and enforced through the dominion president’s six-point action plan. Since then we have reduced the number of members on committees, merged other committees and meetings were reduced in favour of more teleconferences. Programs have also been reviewed bearing in mind that they must be cost effective, national in scope and promote the broader interests of the Legion. The pace at which all of these initiatives are being implemented bears witness to the Legion’s continued commitment to being a service-oriented organization for many years to come and augers well for the 46th Biennial Dominion Convention scheduled to be held in St. John’s, N.L., in June 2016.

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Statue To Honour Author Of “In Flanders Fields” by TOM MacGREGOR

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Sculptor Ruth Abernethy works on a model of the John McCrae statue.

The 100th anniversary of the writing of the poem “In Flanders Fields” will be commemorated in Ottawa with the unveiling of a statue of poet-soldier-doctor John McCrae. The larger than life-sized statue will show McCrae writing the poem in the battlefield, with poppies at his feet. The project has been taken on by the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery. While known as a doctor as well as a poet, McCrae’s heart was with the artillery, where he had served during the Boer War and with whom he went overseas in the First

World War as the brigade surgeon. The McCrae Statue Committee has raised more than $200,000 for the project. Several branches of The Royal Canadian Legion have donated to the project. Dominion Command donated $5,000 and has a representative sitting on the committee. The statue has been designed by sculptor Ruth Abernethy, who also created the statue of Glenn Gould which sits outside the CBC building in Toronto and that of jazz pianist Oscar Peterson outside the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

Although written in May 1915, during the Second Battle of Ypres, the poem was anonymously published in Punch magazine in December that year. The poem became instantly popular throughout the Commonwealth. After the war, it became the inspiration for the Legion’s poppy campaign. McCrae served as a lieutenant in the artillery during the South African War. When the First World War broke out, he went overseas as a major serving as brigade surgeon with the Canadian Field Artillery. He was with the artillery during the Second Battle of Ypres and described it as “seventeen days of Hades.” It was the first major engagement for Canadian troops and was where the enemy used chlorine gas for the first time. McCrae wrote “In Flanders Fields” shortly after his friend Lieutenant Alexis Helmer was killed by an artillery shell. McCrae, who taught at McGill University in Montreal before the war, later transferred to No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) as the officer in charge of medicine with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He had been selected for a promotion to colonel but died before he could take up the position. McCrae died Jan. 28, 1918, and is buried in Wimereux Communal Cemetery, near Boulogne, France. The statue is scheduled to be unveiled May 3 in Ottawa. A duplicate statue will also be placed in McCrae’s home town of Guelph, Ont. More on the project can be found at www.artillery.net. MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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NEWS

Wartime Letters Preserved At High School by TOM MacGREGOR

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The Archive Committee at Danforth Tech consists of (from left) Ron Passmore, Bryan Bennett and Howard Mann.

school when he joined up and Bill has been able to tell us who a lot of these fellows are,” said Bennett. The Tatler kept the readers up to date on school activities but also listed the latest news on the students and staff who were serving in uniform. The school also sent self-addressed cards for the recipients to scribble a quick thank you or an update on his or her service. “Some were just thank you notes for the cigarettes that had been sent. Some of them wrote long letters of where they were and what they had been doing. Some even told of seeing their buddies being killed,” said Bennett. The committee says that 2,235 graduates and students of the school volunteered for service during the Second World War. Of them, 241 died, including one woman. Maud Steane trained as a radio operator in Toronto but, since Canada didn’t allow women to serve on ships, she went to New York where she joined the crew of a Norwegian merchant navy ship. She died on board and is buried in Italy.

One of the standout correspondents was Pilot Officer Jack Cobean Fisher, a navigator in the Royal Canadian Air Force. “He survived five near-fatal crashes. They began to call him Lucky Fisher,” said Passmore. In one letter, used in a Remembrance Day display at the school, Fisher recalls his narrow escape when his aircraft’s engines failed off the coast of Scotland. “The pilot couldn’t hold her up and told me over the intercom to open the hatch and warn the gunner. In about 30 seconds we hit the deck going about 150 [miles per hour]. The next thing I remembered was a scraping and sinking sensation with water pouring in over my head. I took a deep breath and groped around for the hatch. Finally I got a hand on each side and pushed my way up as the water was rushing in. Was it ever a relief to crawl out on the wing and see the pilot on the other wing and the gunner crawling out of his hatch with the dinghy!” Fisher’s letter goes on to describe the sinking of the plane and being rescued by Scottish fishermen about

TOM MacGREGOR

Mail is undoubtedly one of the biggest boosts for morale to any soldier, sailor, airman or airwoman serving in wartime. There is nothing like a letter from home or even a copy of the old school newsletter. Danforth Technical School in Toronto knew the importance of news from home and tried to keep in touch with its former students and staff who were serving during the Second World War. Regular copies of the newsletter, the Tech Tatler, were sent to the ones for whom the school had a current address. In return, the grateful recipients wrote back, expressing thanks and giving news of themselves or others with a Danforth Tech connection. Some of the letters were typed up by the typing classes for all the school to read, but then no one thought more of them until the Danforth Tech Society, an alumni association, discovered them while doing research for the restoration of memorial windows in the library in 2003. “We found all these cards and letters in cardboard boxes,” said Bryan Bennett, chairman of the Archive Committee of the Danforth Tech Society and a member of the Legion’s Highland Creek Branch in Scarborough. The committee consisting of Bennett, Ron Passmore and Howard Mann, all of whom worked in the printing business, sorted through the boxes and found about 500 cards and 1,500 letters. Since then the group has its own room in the school, now known as Danforth Collegiate and Technical Institute. They have been identifying the authors and gathering what information they can find. “When Bill Caskey heard what we were doing, he wanted to be part of it. His older brother had been at the LEgion MagazinE MARCH/APRIL 2015

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45 minutes later. “Incidentally, I was wearing a leather windbreaker that I used to wear to Tech day after day. It has the honour crest on it and some intramural crests on the arm. It was quite a curiosity to the Scotch sailors.” Fisher’s luck ran out once he transferred to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment. He and two crew members were killed when their Albermarle aircraft crashed near Hungerford, England. He was 24. Other correspondents wrote of their hardships with a sense of humour. One letter from Art BazettJones tells of living through the rocket attacks while serving in England. “I had one close call with a V-bomb. The worst part was that they always disturbed one’s slumbers at night and made our room quite drafty by blowing the windows all out of the house.”

Another letter, written from India by Flight Officer M.G. Beverly who was stationed with the Royal Air Force, says “The chap who told us of India when we were in England was either quoting [Rudyard] Kipling, blind drunk or dreamed it because it’s as different as black is to white.” Helping with the research is school librarian Barbara MacKay who has those letters which were typed up by the typing class. Much detail on those who attended the school was kept by Edyth Howison who, at the time of her retirement in 1968, had served as secretary to four out of the school’s five principals. “Each night she would take all three papers—the Star, Globe and Mail and the Tely (Toronto Telegram)—and clip out any reference to someone from the school. She called them ‘her boys’,” said Bennett. Those

clippings are saved in a binder constantly consulted by the committee. Many of the letters are addressed to Roy Foley, an English teacher who was chair of the Enlistment Committee and had encouraged many to sign up. Others were addressed to the principal of the time. The letters and cards have been sorted and filed in 23 binders arranged alphabetically by author. Only six or seven letters remain with the correspondent unknown. The committee is in the process of making a photocopy of each item, but hopes to digitalize the collection for easier research and access. “We hope to present the originals to the Canadian War Museum, or some such institution. We can have a colour party and some Second World War veterans and make a show of it for the school,” said Bennett.

serving you

Serving You is written by Legion command service officers. To reach a service officer, call toll-free 1-877-534-4666, or consult a command website. For years of archives, visit www.legionmagazine.com

Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) is responsible for the care and well-being of qualified veterans accommodated in long-term care (LTC) facilities across Canada. In October 2013, The Royal Canadian Legion (RCL) was awarded the Outreach and Visitation Initiative contract from VAC. This replaced the Long-Term Care Surveyor Program. VAC currently supports more than 7,000 veterans in approximately 1,500 facilities and does not have the available resources to conduct visits with a large number of veterans in long-term care without a contractual agreement in place. VAC recently announced that it has increased its commitment to this initiative and is requesting The Royal Canadian Legion volunteer network to make approximately 8,000 visits on an annual basis to veterans who are receiving financial assistance from VAC for long-term care. This initiative facilitates face-to-

face visits with veterans, providing them with an opportunity to have a conversation and social visit with a volunteer and to raise concerns or identify needs that might be addressed by VAC. The value of this initiative to meet with a veteran in a facility cannot be overstated. As the largest veterans service organization in Canada, The Royal Canadian Legion is uniquely qualified to conduct fieldwork and reach out with social visits to our veterans residing in community LTC facilities. The Legion has more than 300,000 members in more than 1,400 branches in small and large centres across Canada. The Outreach and Visitation Initiative draws on this resource. Volunteer Legion members, who are screened and selected for volunteer training, are assigned responsibility for visits to sites in the geographical area of their

residence. In response to tasking by VAC staff, volunteers conduct visits with veterans and provide completed reports to the head office. The report is sent with the volunteer’s cost-recovery form to RCL Dominion Headquarters. Program overview is maintained by the Dominion Command Veterans, Service and Seniors Committee. Control and co-ordination is carried out by the Dominion Command Service Bureau, which has established a volunteer database for this purpose. The response and performance of volunteers is monitored and they are reimbursed only on the basis of the number of veterans visited. If you have questions about the initiative or as a Legion member would like to volunteer, please contact the Outreach and Visitation Initiative Co-ordinator, Gary Foster, at Dominion Command (1-877-5344666) or at [email protected] MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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NEWS

Fort York Adds Visitor Centre To Site

CITY OF TORONTO

by TOM MacGREGOR The bicentennial of the War of 1812 has given a lift to Toronto’s Fork York with the addition of new visitor centre. The 24,000-square-foot centre, which opened in November, gives the fort a new address on Fort York Boulevard and provides better access to the British-built fort now encroached upon by the Gardiner Expressway and a maze of roads leading in and out of Canada’s most populated city. While the fort dates back to 1793, the new centre is very much part of the 21st century. Designed by Patkau Architects of Vancouver and Toronto’s Kearns Mancini Architects Inc., the state-of-theart centre recalls the steep bluff of Lake Ontario on which the fort was originally built. That topography has changed radically with much of the original harbour filled in to provide land for various industrial facilities. The centre is long and linear. Its west end provides space for administration. The east end holds a café, venue for receptions, lectures and other special events and a gallery where the City of Toronto can mount exhibits from its vast archives. “The part that excites me is that this is all temperature controlled, so that we can display very valuable artifacts,” explained historical interpreter Ewan Wardle. “It is this technology which will allow us to show the original Magna Carta when it visits Canada in 2015.” The exterior is a wall of weathered steel panels suggestive of a defensive structure. A ramp takes you to the roof of the building, which leads to the Garrison Commons in front of the old fort. Moving the administration offices from the fort to the new centre also frees up space which

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can now be used to show more of the fort as it was 200 years ago. Unlike the star-shaped formations of forts such as Halifax’s Citadel, Fort York is very irregularly built to take advantage of the bluffs and cliffs along the Lake Ontario shoreline. The fort has been rebuilt several times since Governor John Graves Simcoe established and named it. Most notably, it was destroyed during the War of 1812. On April 27, 1813, the United States Navy arrived with 14 vessels, 86 cannon and 2,550 soldiers and seamen to attack the city. The attackers rowed ashore two kilometres west of the fort supported by the navy’s cannon. After six hours of fighting, it was clear that the British could not hold the fort. The army withdrew to the east and blew up the fort’s gunpowder supply in a devastating explosion that killed or wounded six defenders and 250 Americans. The attackers went on to loot the city and burn the Parliament Buildings. In retaliation, the British captured

The exterior of the new visitor centre at Fort York in Toronto recalls the bluffs along Lake Ontario.

Washington a year later and burned the presidential residence and the Congress. The fort was rebuilt during the war, which ended in early 1815. It was at times neglected and at other times reinforced in light of other threats, such as the U.S. Civil War and the Fenian raids on Canada. In 1932, the fort was formally given to the City of Toronto and converted into a historic site. While the inside of the visitor centre is complete, the landscaping and exterior remain unfinished. The $25-million project received funding from federal, provincial and municipal governments but the Fort York Foundation is still trying to raise about $4 million to finish the project. More about Fort York can be found at www.fortyorkfoundation.ca.

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NEWS

The Future Of Ste-Anne’s Hospital Still Uncertain by SHARON ADAMS While negotiations continue over the transfer of Ste-Anne’s Hospital, the last remaining veterans hospital still administered by Veterans Affairs Canada, to the government of Quebec, a group of veteran holdouts continues to fight to keep the hospital in federal hands. “It’s been a most frustrating experience,” says Second World War veteran Okill Stuart, a stalwart member of the Save Ste-Anne’s Committee. Current events show why the hospital needs shielding from shifting provincial priorities, group members say. A bill to massively overhaul Quebec’s health-care system is now being debated and is unlikely to come into effect on April 1 as originally intended. Although it had been previously announced that Ste-Anne’s would operate autonomously under its

own board of directors after the transfer, Bill 10 would put the hospital among eight institutions under one board of governors. Group members, including retired colonel Pierre Richard, president of the Legion’s St-Lambert Branch, say this is more evidence there is no guarantee future provincial governments will live up to the bargain, and the group has little faith the federal government will police the agreement once the transfer has been negotiated. In a series of press releases over the years, the federal government has promised that after the transfer the hospital would transition to a geriatrics centre of excellence serving civilians and veterans eligible for long-term care support from VAC. The Operational Stress Injury Clinic would continue to provide specialist mental-health

MEMBERSHIP PICTURE FOR 2014 500

Que 13,291

Alta/NWT 41,320

NB 8,714

Sask 11,065

PEI 2,055

Man/NWO 23,939

NS/NU 21,392

Ont 109,149

Nfld/Lab 4,175

OTHER Dominion US Europe

400

258,007

271,438

280,703

286,683

290,613

231,329

200

100

1,660 647 296

AS OF THE END OF:

300

FEB

APR

JUN

AUG

OCT

DEC

0

MEMBERSHIP IN THOUSANDS

BC/Yukon 52,910

care to veterans of all ages. But if the overhaul goes ahead as announced, veterans fear the Quebec government will “look at Ste-Anne’s like just another hospital,” says retired master warrant officer Rick Cartmel, a reservist for 25 years. “[Board members] may not understand veterans’ unique needs at all.” If the province does go ahead with the new governance structure, he says, at the least some of the board members should be veterans or have knowledge of veterans’ health-care needs. The Ministry of Health and Social Services in Quebec would not comment about the ongoing negotiations. The hospital, located in SteAnne-de-Bellevue west of Montreal, has served veterans since 1917. Federally operated hospital beds are restricted to Second World War and Korean War veterans with overseas service. As that population has dwindled with age, VAC has transferred 17 former federal hospitals to provinces since 1963. A chief reason given for the transfer of Ste-Anne’s is that by this year eligible veterans are expected to fill only about half the 446 long-term care beds. Veterans Affairs Canada has said the policy would not change, citing establishment of universal public health care and modern veterans’ preferences for long-term care in their own communities (Long-term Support For Canada’s Veterans, May/June, July/August). “Veterans who reside at Ste-Anne’s and their families can continue to rely on the expertise and good care offered by this world-class facility,” says VAC spokesperson Janice Summerby. Meanwhile, negotiations for transfer of the hospital from federal to provincial hands continued at press time. MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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the hunt for homeless veterans It is a cold and rainy day, but that doesn’t deter Scott Gaddes and Jim Lowther of Veterans Emergency Transition Services (VETS) from patrolling for veterans among the homeless dotting the sidewalk in front of shops and restaurants along Spring Garden Road in Halifax. They say “hi” or nod to some familiar faces. When they chat with a stranger, one of them always asks, “Have you ever been in service with the armed forces or RCMP?” That simple question has been the first step in helping some 400 destitute veterans and their families since 2010, when Lowther was volunteering in a soup kitchen and happened to serve a meal to an old shipmate. “I was kind of freaked out,” said Lowther. “He pointed out three, four other vets at that same dinner. We took them all to Veterans Affairs and got them help. I thought, ‘How easy would it be to find more if we do an army patrol?’” Five years later, VETS Canada has a cross-country network of thousands of volunteers, many serving or former members of the military or RCMP who find veterans in shelters, under bridges, camping rough, couch surfing or teetering on the brink of homelessness, and give them a hand up to get back on their feet. “We have volunteers in every province, in every major city,” said Lowther, now VETS Canada president. Nobody knows the number of homeless veterans, but it’s suspected they are over-represented in the homeless population, which numbers at least 200,000, according to the Canadian Homelessness Research Network. Between four and seven per cent of homeless people recently surveyed said they were veterans, yet veterans make up just two per cent of Canada’s population, it was revealed at a 2014 forum on homeless veterans hosted by The Royal Canadian Legion

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SHARON ADAMS

by sharon adams

(“Homeless veterans forum starts national approach,” July/August). “One thing military people can do is survive on the streets; that’s a winter exercise for us,” said Lowther. Job loss, addiction and family breakup are familiar paths to homelessness. “They burn through their money, they burn through their family, they burn through their friends and boom, they’re on the street,” said Lowther. Some don’t know they qualify for VAC benefits, others are preoccupied by anger, others can’t bring themselves to ask for help. Sometimes, only the voice of another person who wore the uniform gets through. “We speak the same language,” said Lowther. No one agency can solve this problem. VETS Canada relies on its partners, such as VAC and the Legion. In April 2014, VETS formed a partnership with the Legion which has access to poppy funds and other benevolent funds. Aside from patrolling areas where the homeless congregate, VETS Canada gets referrals from local Legion branches, VAC workers, shelters, churches and buddies. Their volunteers can be reached through its free media app, its 24-hour, toll-free number 888-228-3871, by e-mail at [email protected] or through

Scott Gaddes (left) and Jim Lowther of Veterans Emergency Transition Services talk to a homeless man on the streets of Halifax.

the website www.vetscanada.org. A VETS volunteer immediately responds, regardless of time of day. “We get busy 5:30 on Friday nights, when other agencies shut down,” said Lowther. “First we ask if they want help,” said Gaddes, Nova Scotia boots-on-the-ground coordinator. “Then we ask what are their needs right now? Shelter, clothes, food…we get them stable in a motel or hotel. Then we call everybody in.” The “everybody” varies from case to case, but could include provincial and community services and counselling agencies, VAC, the Legion or individual donors, as needed. “It costs about $1,500 to $2,000 to get a veteran off the street and into their own apartment,” said Lowther. That investment is enough to get some veterans back on their feet, or connected to benefits. Others need more support before they are stable. One family was a mortgage payment away from foreclosure. “We got help with the mortgage, with

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NEWS groceries. The Legion kicked in a tank of oil for heating.” Another family of five living in a sea container was relocated into an apartment. A veteran living under a bridge was reunited with family and within a year was holding down a permanent job— and volunteering for VETS Canada. Some just need a job, others need treatment for addiction or post-traumatic stress disorder, which goes hand-in-hand with homelessness.

“We don’t judge…and we don’t give up on them,” said Lowther. In July, VAC awarded VETS Canada a $300,000, one-year contract, with an option for two renewals, to provide 24-hour, in-person, online and telephone assistance to help veterans who need emergency shelter and access to federal government services. Unfortunately, news of the contract affected donations from other sources. But not all

veterans are eligible for ongoing VAC benefits, so public donations are vital for helping these veterans and their families, said Lowther. Regardless the bumps in their road, VETS Canada volunteers will keep marching along. “What really motivates us and keeps us going is that these are our people,” said Lowther. “We would never leave someone in the field, never. Why would we leave them on the streets?

OBITUARY

1953–2014

He joined the Legion in 1990 and served as president of Clayoquot Sound Branch in Tofino, B.C., and Armstrong Branch. He was a member of the Dominion Command Poppy and Remembrance Committee and became president of B.C./Yukon Command in 2007. He resigned that position in October 2008 and was succeeded by Dave Sinclair. As well as the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, he had received the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation for his work with veterans. He is survived by his wife Bernadette

Bosmans, father Leo Thibodeau, a brother and three sisters.

the Merchant Navy veterans and was on the planning committee for the Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance. In 1995, he accepted a position with the Veterans Review and Appeal Board in Charlottetown. After his three-year term, Gray and his wife, Gloria, settled in Carleton Place near Ottawa. Gray briefly returned to the service bureau on a contract basis. Gray remained active in veterans issues and joined the Canadian Peacekeeping Veterans Association and was a member of the Veterans Affairs Veterans’ Week Working Group. In 2005, he was awarded the Minister of Veterans Affairs’ Commendation. He had also written books on local military history and was a founding member

of the Roy Brown Historical Society. He was also active in the Hall of Honour project in Carleton Place. Gray leaves his wife Gloria, sons Scott, Kevin and Chris and seven grandchildren.

b.c./yukon command

Former British Columbia/Yukon Command president Leon Thibodeau died July 10 following a battle with cancer in Seraing, Belgium. He was 61. The son of two veterans, Thibodeau spent six years in the military, serving with the 1st Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, where he gained the nickname Red. He was stationed in Gagetown, N.B., and Lahr, Germany. After the military, Thibodeau worked for several years with the John Howard Society and with the RCMP Auxiliary in Victoria.

OBITUARY

larry gray 1937–2014

Former Dominion Command Service Bureau director Larry Gray died at home in Carleton Place, Ont., Nov. 8. He was 77. Born in Dresden, Ont., Gray grew up during the Second World War and developed a passion for flying. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1958, becoming a flight navigator. His career took him across Canada, serving in Manitoba, Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. He spent three years in Soest, Germany, and served with the United Nations in the Sinai. During his time in the military he also edited three base newspapers. In 1983, he joined the Dominion Command Service Bureau and was appointed director in 1990. He was active in negotiating benefits for

LEGION MAGAZINE ARCHIVES

SHARON ADAMS

red thibodeau

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British Columbia/Yukon: Graham Fox, 4199 Steede Ave., Port Alberni, BC V9Y 8B6, [email protected] Alberta–Northwest Territories: Bobbi McCoy, Red Deer RCL, 2810 Bremner Ave., Red Deer, AB T4R 1M9, [email protected] Saskatchewan: Stephanie Anhorn, 3079–5th Ave., Regina, SK S4T 0L6, [email protected] Manitoba: Vanessa Burokas, 563 St. Mary’s Rd., Winnipeg, MB R2M 3L6, [email protected] Northwestern Ontario: Roy Lamore, 155 Theresa St., Thunder Bay, ON P7A 5P6, [email protected] Ontario: Mary Ann Goheen, Box 308, Gravenhurst, ON P1P 1T7, [email protected] Quebec: Len Pelletier, 389 Malette, Gatineau, QC J8L 2Y7, [email protected]

The Snapshots section is available online in the Community section of legionmagazine.com.

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Correspondents’ addresses Manitoba-Northwestern Ontario

Alberta-Northwest Territories New Brunswick Quebec Saskatchewan Prince Edward Island

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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:

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In this issue, Legion branches

donate more than

$110,000 to their communities.

United States British Columbia/Yukon Ontario Honours and awards

New Brunswick: Marianne Harris, 115 McGrath Cres., Miramichi, NB E1V 3Y1, [email protected] Nova Scotia/Nunavut: Jean Marie Deveaux, 651 Church St., Port Hawkesbury, NS B9A 2X6, [email protected] Prince Edward Island: Dianne Kennedy, Box 81, Borden-Carleton, PE C0B 1X0, [email protected] Newfoundland and Labrador: Brenda Slaney, Box 5745, St. John’s, NL A1C 5X3, [email protected] Dominion Command Zones: Eastern U.S. Zone, Gord Bennett, 12840 Seminole Blvd., Lot #7, Largo, FL 33778, [email protected]; Western U.S. Zone, Douglas Lock, 1531 11th St., Manhattan Beach, CA 90266, [email protected]. Editor’s Note—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 [email protected].

Rossburn, Man., Branch President Rick Kokiw congratulates winners of the poster and literary contests (from left) Anya Choy, Laney Dunits, Cole Muir, Zachary Bilinsky and Gabriel Beasley.

Technical Specs For Photo Submissions (1) Glossy Photos—To get good magazine-quality reproduction we need photos that scan well. Glossy photos from a photofinishing lab are the best answer because they do not contain a dot pattern. We will do our best with prints coming from a digital camera but some will not make the grade, so, if you can, please submit digital photos electronically. (2) Electronic 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, black-and-white JPEGs would have a file size of 200 kilobytes (KB) or more, while colour JPEGs would be between 0.5 megabytes (MB) and 1 MB.

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Coach Dave Turner and Keewatin, Ont. Branch First Vice Gerry Kasprick pose with the girls’ bantam team of the Lake of the Woods Girls’ Minor Hockey Association. The branch provided new jerseys for the team.

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At the Deloraine, Man., Branch, cenotaph sentries Sgt.-at-Arms Jim Sanders and retired RCMP corporal Bob Carlson stand guard on the day of the funeral of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo.

In Lower Sackville, N.S., Calais Branch President Roy Spencer (left) presents $5,616 to Cobequid Centre for Cardiac Care representative Joseph Mackinley.

HArOLd MACKeNZie

JeAN MArie deVeAux

A hot lunch, a magician and a visit from Santa made for good cheer at the annual children’s Christmas party at Norwood-St. Boniface Branch in Winnipeg, organized by the special events committee (front, from left) Bette Vance, Larry Baillie (as Santa Claus), Lou-Ellen Jeanson, (rear) Jackie Allen, Norm Dupuis and Linda Schatkowski.

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A.H. Foster MM Memorial Branch in Kingston, N.S., has completed extensive renovations.

Christopher Sinclair (left) of St. Mary’s Academy accepts a $500 bursary from Sherbrooke, N.S., Branch President Gregor Lambourne.

At the presentation of a donation from Port Hawkesbury, N.S., Branch to the Stora air cadet squadron are (from left) Sgt.-at-Arms Walter MacMillan, poppy chairman Dernie Gillis, Capt. Rob Digou and cadets Malcolm MacMaster and Daniel MacGregor. In back is service officer Sylvester MacInnis.

Charles Llewellyn (left) accepts his 50 Years Long Service Medal and a certificate from former president Earnie Harrison of Calais Branch in Lower Sackville, N.S. march/april 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

ArNie MACASKiLL

snapshots

In Canada Square below Château-Musée de Dieppe in France, the mayor of Dieppe, city officials and museum volunteers pose with the Red Deer Legion Pipe Band.

Sgt.-at-Arms Len Mainville (left) and former president Andy Meggitt of Beaverlodge, Alta., Branch present certificates to Yasmin Prudnikou for her black and white poster, which won first place at branch level and second place at district level in the poster and literary contests.

CADET GROUPS BENEFIT • Herman Good VC Branch in Bathurst, N.B., donated $1,300 each to the local sea, air and army cadets. • Miramichi Branch donated $1,000 each to the Mount St. Joseph Foundation and the Miramichi Senior Citizens Home. Caraquet, N.B., Branch donates $1,000 to Caraquet’s cadets, wheelchairs to eight local churches and two bursaries. At the presentation are (from left) Naval League vice-president Rufin Cormier, cadet Xavier Galien, cadet commanding officer Elide Chiasson, Father Regent Landry, President Armel Lanteigne, bursary recipients Gabriel Lanteigne and Frederic Pallo, and vice-president Fernand Dumaresq.

Dalhousie, N.B., Branch First Vice Clarence Harquail (left) and President Edward Poirier present $500 to Capt. Raymond Chiasson for the Dalhousie air cadet squadron.

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At Lower Southampton Branch in Nackawic, N.B., poppy chair Joyce Hape presents literary contest awards to (from left) Benjamin MacLean and Ramin Imran.

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Petitcodiac, N.B., Branch President Charlene McCully (right) presents $1,000 to SPOT (Support People of Today) manager Vicky Crossman.

VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

In Saint John, N.B., George Stackhouse (left) receives his 50 Years Long Service Medal from Lancaster Branch President Larry Lynch.

At the presentation of 50 Years Long Service Medals at Lancaster Branch in Saint John, N.B., are (from left) Sgt.-at-Arms Al Wickens, recipient Lorraine Speight, President Larry Lynch and recipient Lloyd McIntee.

Secretary Juanita Nason and First Vice Richard Mott of Gladstone Branch in Fredericton Junction, N.B., present poster and literary contest prizes to Kaley Garrett (left) and Taylor Bakker.

Sackville, N.B., Branch President Doreen Richards presents $500 to RCMP Constable Adelle Rossignol for the Fallen Officers Fund.

Victor Sears (second from right) of Sackville, N.B., Branch presents 50 Years Long Service Medals to members (from left) George Anderson, Keith Estabrooks and Otis Phinney.

Poppy chair Joyce Hape of Lower Southampton Branch in Nackawic, N.B., presents poster and literary contest awards to (from left) Kiersten Braydon, Peyton Dore and Mataeo Brooks.

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CHANTAL de LONGCHAMPS

VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

BriAN dArLiNG

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At the presentation of $5,000 to the Lakeshore General Hospital Foundation from Pointe-Claire, Que., Branch are (from left) secretary Brian Darling, poppy chairman André Lalonde, foundation managing director Heather Holmes and President Margaret Thomas.

At the presentation of $300 from Trois-Rivières, Que., Branch to the Richelieu-Louiseville army cadet corps are (from left) President Gérald Picard, Serge Pothier, Capt. Nancy Lambert and Richard Keep.

TRACING OF VC RECIPIENT’S HEADSTONE PRESENTED • Student Julia Schofer presented a tracing from the headstone of Robert Combe to Robert Combe VC Branch in Melville, Sask. She made the tracing during a school tour of Second World War sites. The branch presented District Deputy Commander Wayne Reinson with a Certificate of Merit. • Grenfell Branch presented Gordon Haylock with a 60-year pin.

Past President Wayne Reinson of Robert Combe VC Branch in Melville, Sask., presents the Legionnaire of the Year Award to branch padre Rev. Susan Manning.

Naicam, Sask., Branch long-time member Selmer Reierson (left) and President Rodger Hayward cut the cake celebrating the branch’s 75th anniversary.

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Steve Guliak (right) of Robert Combe VC Branch in Melville, Sask., presents $1,000 to Paul Chaban of Melville and District Donors Choice Appeal, which funds local charities.

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VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

Wellington, P.E.I., Branch hosts the local Terry Fox Run.

At Pinellas County Post in St. Petersburg, Fla., Vice-Commander Dann Oliver (left) and Commander Gordon Bennett (right) present Scott Maxim with a donation for the John Brooks Fund to assist veterans in need.

Keith McNeill Clearwater Times

Prince Edward Island Command Finance Chair Lynda Curtis (centre) presents donations to Western Hospital Foundation chairman Dave McKenna (left) and O’Leary Hospital Foundation chair Eva Rogerson.

At the presentation of $2,500 from Wellington, P.E.I., Branch to Prince County Hospital are (from left) David Gallant, Dave Redmond, Theresa Gallant, Gerald Arsenault, Les Chipperfield, Rook Shield, Paul Gallant, Austin Poirier, President Albert Hashie and Simon Arsenault.

In Clearwater, B.C., Vavenby Branch vice-president Calvin Lutz (left) presents $500 to Hans Wadlegger, president of Clearwater and District Minor Hockey, as players (from left) Nate Wadlegger, Dorian McGill and Hannah Wadlegger look on. The money will help children who otherwise could not afford to play hockey.

South Burnaby, B.C., L.A. President Dianne Barnes (right) presents $2,000 to Ashleigh Gulkiewich of the B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation.

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VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

Cranbrook, B.C., L.A. donates a total of $7,500 to representatives of community groups, including the Lord Strathcona army cadets, Kimberley and Cranbrook air cadets, the Women’s Resource Centre, B.C. Senior Games Society and Cranbrook Mental Health.

President Dave Doskoch of Mount Arrowsmith Branch in Parksville, B.C., presents $1,000 to Lieut. (N) Brittany Thurber of the Esquimalt sea cadet corps and MS Shannon Pennington of the Admiral Yanow navy league cadet corps.

Poster contest winners (from left) Sage Dziekan-Gwilt, Kimmy Shulze, Akshey Sharma and Simon Zhang are congratulated by Sandi Patterson (left) and Tim Murphy of Alberni Valley Branch in Port Alberni, B.C.

At the presentation of $900 from Mount Arrowsmith Branch In Parksville, B.C., to the Esquimalt sea cadet corps are (from left) Lt. (N) Brittany Thurber, poppy chairwoman Shona Rowe and CPO2 Janaya Jesperson.

Poster contest co-ordinator Sandi Patterson (left) and honours and awards co-ordinator Tim Murphy of Alberni Valley Branch in Port Alberni, B.C., present Jordan Simpson with the first place award for her junior colour poster.

Vancouver TVS Branch First Vice Barb Walter Venne (left) presents $850 to Meghan Carrico of the Transforming Education Society.

Vice-president Calvin Lutz, of Vavenby Branch in Clearwater, B.C., presents $1,000 to Pat Stanley, treasurer of the Clearwater Food Bank.

George Bentham, of Courtenay, B.C., Branch, shows off his 50 Years Long Service Medal at a branch party.

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VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

Veteran Catherine Schaff of Vancouver TVS Branch presents students at Admiral Seymour Elementary School with certificates for their participation in the poster and literary contests.

Comox, B.C., Branch presents a new ceremonial cutlass to the Port August sea cadet corps during unveiling of the new ship’s badge. The cutlass is engraved with the old and new ship’s badges. At the presentation are (from left) Sgt.-at-Arms Gerry Mailett, President Stu McKinnon, PO1 Brad Cottrell and Lt.-Cmdr. Steve Cowen.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson (left) joins Councillor Steve Desroches, Zoe Desroches and Barrhaven Branch President Ernie Hughes in holding up a sign for the new Vimy Memorial Bridge in Ottawa.

President Roy Wright (left) of Agassiz, B.C., Branch and youth chairman Jim Johnson congratulate winners of the poster and literary contests from Chehalis School (front, from left) Trevor Cave, Tori Charlie, (middle) Jasmine Cardinal, Avery Rempel, (rear) Robert Joseph, Valerie Paul and Dyson Batenchuk.

Kemptville, Ont., President Ray Ansell and poppy chairman Joanne Dudka present $5,000 to Bayfield Nursing Home representative Patrick Shafer (centre).

In Ottawa, Barrhaven Branch membership chairman Ross Kerr (left) presents the 50 Years Long Service Medal to Maynard Whitlaw.

AT H.T. Church Branch in St. Catharines, Ont., bursary chairman Neil O’Farrell (left) and President Tom Townsley present a $1,000 bursary to Cody Wright.

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Long Sault, Ont., Branch poppy chairman Noella Whorrall presents $500 to St. Lawrence Medical Centre office manager Stephen McCann.

In Corunna, Ont., Leslie Sutherland Branch public relations chairman Kevin Harris (right) presents $500 to the Petrolia army cadet corps. Accepting the cheque are CWO Mark Richter (left) and commanding officer Tom Wiggins.

VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

In Windsor, Ont., Walkerville and East Windsor Branch Past President Ron Bastien (left) presents Joe Tanguay with the Legionnaire of the Year award.

Public relations chairman Kevin Harris (centre) and member Sid Thompson of Leslie Sutherland Branch in Corunna, Ont., present $500 to Capt. Janet Erickson for the Sarnia Imperial air cadets squadron.

In St. Catharines, Ont., H.T. Church Branch President Tom Townsley (in back) and membership chairman Mila Townsley welcome new members (from left) Grant MacDonald, Sherri Townsley, Cathy Taylor, Rhonda Chorance, David Patterson, Anne Bereford and James Richardson.

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Michael Erskine/Manitoulin Expositor

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Little Current, Ont., President Maggie King (right) and District H public relations chairman Roy Eaton present the 50 Years Long Service Medal to Jeff Marshall (centre).

At East Toronto Branch, Zone D-3 Commander Hetty Tyrrell (left) presents the Legionnaire of the Year award to branch treasurer Gordon Pearce.

At Long Sault, Ont., Branch, poppy chairman Noella Whorrall (left) and poppy treasurer Marge Clarke present $500 to Care for Hospice fundraising co-ordinator Sandy Collette (centre).

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VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

Pte. Joe Waters Branch in Milton, Ont., presents $15,000 to the Milton District Hospital Foundation. At the presentation are (from left) President Pat Thompson, First Vice Bob Elliot, hospital foundation representative Anne Ondercin and poppy chairman Kathleen Blane.

Streetsville Overseas Veterans Branch in Mississauga, Ont., donates $1,500 and use of the banquet hall for a Santa’s Brunch Fundraiser for the Mississauga Food Bank. Joining Santa are (from left) Councillor George Carlson, director of marketing and development for the food bank Meghan Nicholls, secretary-treasurer Benjamin Pearce, Mississauga—Streetsville MP Brad Butt and Meadowvale Rotary President Mark Cashin.

At Almonte, Ont., Branch, acting president Rob Madore and youth education chairman Jane Torrance pose with winners of the branch level of the Legion’s poster and literary contests.

At Richmond Hill, Ont., Branch, Rudy Nardini (with walker) and William Harris receive the 50 Years Long Service Medal. Extending congratulations are (from left) Tom Mastorakas, President Sheelagh MacDonald, Richmond Hill Mayor David Barrow and honour and awards chairman Sharon Carvery.

During Legion Week at the Renfrew, Ont., Branch, member Randy Dowell teaches local students about military items. At Talbot Trail Branch in Fonthill, Ont., youth education chairman Cliff Driscoll (back row, left) and First Vice Rick Hatt present awards to winning students in the poster and literary contests. march/april 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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In Toronto, Mount Dennis Branch President Doug MacNeil (left) presents $1,000 to Salvation Army Major Royal Senter and his wife Donna Senter.

At Highland Creek Branch in Toronto, Zone D-5 Commander Joyce Geddes (left) and Zone D-5 Deputy Commander Wayne Powell (right) accept $1,500 from Mount Pleasant group of cemeteries representative Neil O’Bright to support a veterans dinner.

Michael Erskine—Beach Photography

Dunnville, Ont., Branch President Garry Frost presents $15,000 to Dunnville hospital Executive Director Shelli Rollo.

VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

In Hepworth, Ont., Hepworth-Shallow Lake Branch treasurer Joyce Wettlaufer and President Elmer Brown present $500 to the Sauble firefighters for the children’s toy drive.

In Kincardine, Ont., MacDonald Branch First Vice Mary Farrell and secretary Bob Grey (back left) present $1,000 to (from left) Kincardine Pipe Band representative David Hamilton, $1,000 to Kincardine Paddy Walker Association representative Laura Haight and $150 to Kincardine United Church chaplain Jim Weir.

At the Linhaven long-term care home in St. Catharines, Ont., Thorold Branch members (from left) Norm Fowler, President Peter Daniels, Second Vice Dan Cuthbert, executive member David Handley and poppy chairman Eric Cuthbert view a demonstration of equipment by director of care Denise Murphy while home administrator Andrew Adamyk observes following the donation of $5,185 from the branch.

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Pembroke, Ont., Branch secretary Debbie Coughlan receives the Legionnaire of the Year award. Extending congratulations are (from left) Lt.-Col. Richard Deschambault, President Bob Denault and Lt.-Col. Louis Lapointe.

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VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

At Carleton Place, Ont., Branch, new members (from left) Ken Wilson, Marcel Coultier, Janet Edwards and Greg Black receive a warm welcome from Zone G-6 Deputy Commander George Wood (left) and President Brian Comeau (right).

Belleville, Ont., Branch President Andy Anderson presents $1,500 to Salvation Army representative Wil Brown-Ratcliffe.

At the presentation of $1,000 from Renfrew, Ont., L.A. to Hospice Renfrew are (from left) Hospice Renfrew executive director Diane Caughey, L.A. President Irene Power, L.A. treasurer Susan Fleming, and hospice resident care manager Mandy McGregor.

Goderich, Ont., Branch poppy chairman Ben Prouse (left) and President Paul Thorne present $3,690 to Capt. Christine Haylow of the Maitland air cadet squadron.

White River, Ont., Branch participates in the Winnie the Pooh festival parade. Roland Belanger (left) and Cameron McLeod ride in the ATV. The bear that inspired the Winnie the Pooh books was found at White River.

Heart and Stroke association representative Maureen Corrigan accepts a $500 donation from Belleville, Ont., Branch President Andy Anderson.

In Cornwall, Ont., army cadet commanding officer Richard Rowe (left) and cadet Ava Cleary accept $1,500 from John McMartin Memorial Branch President Linda Fisher and Third Vice Hugh Primeau Jr.

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John McMartin Memorial Branch in Cornwall, Ont., donates $3,500 to Stormont-DufferinGlengary Lodge. At the presentation are (from left) First Vice Hugh Primeau Sr., President Linda Fischer and lodge representative Anne-Marie Breuers.

VOLUNTEERING IN THE COMMUNITY

Kemptville, Ont., Branch President Ray Ansell and poppy chairman Joanne Dudka present a cheque for $2,000 to Leitrim army cadets training officer Mark Bedard.

Port Elgin, Ont., L.A. President Joyce Chapman (centre, left) presents $1,000 to cenotaph chairman Mike Atkinson (left) while branch manager Norma Dudgeon and President Dan Kelly look on.

President Diane Condon of A.C. McCallum Branch in Niagara Falls, Ont., participates in the Ohsweken Six Nations Veterans Association annual parade and service.

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Frances Learment

Poppy chairman Marjorie Kanis (left) and President Margaret Rose of Galt Branch in Cambridge, Ont., present $10,000 to Lisaard House development co-ordinator Janet Willard.

Port Elgin, Ont., Branch collected $252 and toys for the Salvation Army Christmas drive. At the presentation are (from left) Chad Little, Berry Biederman, Erin, Oliva and Harper Little, Angela Hupalo, Rhonda Harrison, (standing, rear) President Dan Kelly, Nancy Smith and Bob Harrison.

In Welland, Ont., Rose City Branch President Gerry Noel (front, right) and membership chairman Barbara Cimek (rear, right) welcome a group of newly initiated members.

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HONOURS AND AWARDS

At the presentation of $3,000 from Hepworth-Shallow Lake Branch in Hepworth, Ont., to the Salvation Army food bank in Wiarton are (from left) food bank representative Mary Millar, President Elmer Brown, secretary-treasurer Joyce Wettlaufer and First Vice Bill Robertson.

At Lt.-Col. G.B. Cousens Branch in Georgetown, Ont., President Jack Harrison presents the award for intermediate essay to Jordyn Kroezen.

Ripley-Huron Branch in Ripley, Ont., dedicates a plaque in memory of Sub.-Lt. John A. MacLeod. At the dedication are (from left) treasurer Martin Phelan, poppy chairman Don Large and brother of the fallen servicemen, Jim MacLeod.

In Lefroy, Ont., Lefroy-Belle Ewart Branch Second Vice Norman Knowles presents $1,500 worth of food vouchers for Camp Borden soldiers. Accepting the vouchers are Capt. Daniel Bos (left) and Capt. Medhi Imtiaz.

Ontario Command District D Deputy Commander Karen Moore (right) gets assistance from Ontario Command Vice-President Sharon McKeown with the delivery of Christmas gifts to the Veterans’ Wing of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Long Service Awards

Emanual Gaudet, Rogersville Br., N.B. 70 years

Albert Cassie, Rogersville Br., N.B. 70 years

Gordon Goebel, Hespeler Br., Cambridge, Ont. 70 years

John Todd, West Ferris Br., North Bay, Ont. 50 years

Gwen Mathers, Niagara Falls L.A., Ont. 60 years

Jack Dougherty, Renfrew Br., Ont. 70 years

Joe McCarroll, Alliston Br., Ont. 70 years

Simon Kingston, Miramichi Br., N.B. 70 years

Norma O’Neil, Niagara Falls L.A., Ont. 65 years

Jean Roberge, Quebec North Shore Br., Baie Comeau, Que. 60 years

George Markell, Streetsville Overseas Veterans Br., Mississauga, Ont. 70 years

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HONOURS AND AWARDS

MSM AND MSA (L.A.) Life Membership

Lorraine Salkus, Trafalgar/Pro Patria Br., Victoria

Robyn Zettler, Ontario Command

Ella Box, Renfrew Br., Ont.

George Burrows, Maj. W.D. Sharpe Br., Brampton, Ont.

palm leaf

Carolyn McCaul, Pembroke Br.

B.C./YUKON

Murray Remus, Petawawa Br.

David Bell, Courtenay Br.

John Toms, Waterford Br.

Bruce Stewart, Courtenay Br.

Larry Batherson, Whitby Br.

John Williams, Courtenay Br.

Lorraine Duncan, Whitby Br.

Harvey Truax, Nakusp Br.

Cheryl Saint, Wingham Br.

ALBERTA/NWT

NEW BRUNSWICK

Jane Calkins, Strathmore Br.

Richard Mott, Gladstone Br., Fredericton Junction

Albert Knappe, Strathmore Br.

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

David Schumann, Strathmore Br.

Mitch MacDonald, Borden-Carleton Br., Borden

SASKATCHEWAN

Roy Crozier, George Pearkes VC Br., Summerside

William Smith, Arborfield Br.

Leroy Gamble, George Pearkes VC Br., Summerside

Kenneth Box, Grenfell Br.

Arthur Hiscock, George Pearkes VC Br., Summerside

MANITOBA/NWO Rev. Ron Mosley, Bridgewater Br., N.S.

James Simpson, Leamington Br., Ont.

Lloyd Michon, Robert Frost Br., Geraldton, Ont.

ONTARIO Ted Scott, Beachville Br. Earl Scott, Lower Southampton Br., Nackawic, N.B.

Victor Hape, Lower Southampton Br., Nackawic, N.B.

Betty Scott, Beachville Br. Bram Eberhardt, Col. Tom Kennedy Br., Mississauga Terry MacIntyre, Col. Tom Kennedy Br., Mississauga Carol Phillips, Col. Tom Kennedy Br., Mississauga Margaret Cook, Goderich Br.

Dave Gordon, Ontario Command

Joe LeBlanc, Almonte Br., Ont.

Allan Livingstone, Goderich Br. Dennis Schmidt, Goderich Br. Shirley Csordas, H.T. Church Br., St. Catharines Howard Cull, H.T. Church Br., St.Catharines Neil O’Farrell, H.T. Church Br., St. Catharines

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DEPARTMENTS

lost trails BOISSONEAULT, Gladys P.—Teletype Op., RCAF. Stationed St. Jean, Que., and Clinton, Ont., 1960, and Trenton, Ont., 1961. Lived in Saint John, N.B. Sought or info. David Chisholm, 8219 Madison Ave., St. Louis, MO 63114, U.S.A., 314-935-6588, [email protected]. CARON, Robert—RCAF, WW II. Born Bienville, Que., Sept. 22, 1922. Parents Wilfrid and Alice. Last known in retirement home, Mont St. Hilaire - St. Bruno, Que., area. Info or relatives sought. Serge Caron, 2146 rue Cezanne, Quebec City, QC G2A 3V6, 418-843-8584. HANN, A.E.—R53189. RCAF. Trained, Fort Benning, Georgia, 1941-42. Sought or family to return ID bracelet. Christopher Clarke, 575 Small Reward Rd., Huntingtown, MD 20639, U.S.A., 410-535-3110, [email protected]. HMCS HURON—Collided with French destroyer Maillé-Brézé, November 1958. French-speaking crew sought by French sailor. Duncan Carmichael, 3 Foothills Dr., Ottawa, ON K2H 6K2, [email protected].

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snapshots WEATHERALL, Archie—754954. Joined 119th Bn., Gore Bay, Manitoulin Island, Jan. 3, 1916. Overseas August 1916. Family sought to return WW I medal. Roy Beaudoin, 466 Secord St., Espanola, ON P5E 1K8, 705-869-3409. 59TH (NFLD.) HEAVY REGT. RA— 1940-45. Those who served, espec. with 23rd. Bty., sought. Ronald Rosenberg, 212-280 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill, MA 02467-1902, U.S.A., 617-244-6356, [email protected].

rEQUEsts Book: Book on 419 Moose Squadron wanted. Nellie Pitman, 1006 N. Cypress Way N., Regina, SK S4X 4R5. Cdn. grave registration units, grave concentration units and cemetery construction companies, WW I and WW II: Researcher seeking photos, diaries, correspondence, scrapbooks, etc., concerning these units. Eric Brown, 960 Mountainview Ave., Ottawa, ON K2B 5G4, 613-721-3851, [email protected]. Holten Cdn. War Cemetery, The Netherlands: Photos (.jpegs) wanted of those buried at cemetery sought for Face for Every Name project. Peter Gower, Box 54, Kingston, ON K7L 4V6, [email protected]. Info and contact with Newfoundlanders who served on rescue tugs in WW II wanted by historian. Ian Dear, 25 Broad Ln., Cottenham, Cambridge CB24 8AJ, U.K., icb.dear@ blueyonder.co.uk. Italian Campaign: Vineyard Battle at point 59. Germans retreated from Ortona, December 1943. Those who were there and espec. those who remember Fight’n Fred Prior and Francy Marcot of the Maritimes wanted for film script. Tom Prior, 512 Carbonate St., Nelson, BC V1L 4P5, 250-352-0811, [email protected]. Museum seeks memorabilia and artifacts related to history of 30th CFA Regt., Ottawa area. Normand Roberge, 307 De Niverville Pvt., Uplands Site, Bldg. 559, Ottawa, ON K1A 0K2, 819-776-2591, ngjroberge@ videotron.ca. Sheffield Park, England, WW II. Info, memories, anecdotes, photos, etc. of those who served there in WW II wanted for exhibition and memorial, April 2015. Andrew Jelinek, National Trust, Sheffield Pk. Garden, Uckfield, TN22 3QX, U.K., [email protected]. WW I: Family looking to locate campaign medals for LARKIN, Benjamin, 183999, 89th Bn., Calgary. Les Larkin, 21-1836 Greenfield Ave., Kamloops, BC V2B 8T2, [email protected].

HONOURS AND AWARDS

1 Black Watch of Canada, 1 Calgary Highlanders or the Maisonneuve Regt., or associated corps that fought with them in N.W. Europe, 1944-45. History television project wants to interview survivors and family. David O’Keefe, Yap Films, 96 Spadina Ave., Toronto, ON M5V 2J6, 514-473-5355, [email protected].

UNit rEUNioNs FRIESLAND, HOLLAND—May 1-10, Friesland, Holland. Martin Boomsma, 710– 26 Hall Rd. Georgetown, ON L7G 5G5. All veterans who helped liberate the province of Friesland in April 1945 and veterans who billeted in Friesland after VE Day are extended a special invitation to take part in the 70th anniversary of that liberation. 905-877-5843, [email protected]. HUSSARS (Radley-Walters)—May 2224, Petawawa, Ont. Frank Smith, 25 Albert St., Petawawa, ON K8H 2N5, 613-687-5990, [email protected].

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING MiSCELLanEoUS Drug-Free Pain Relief. Veterans suffering from pain/PTSD? Home device relieves 60-80%. Guaranteed results or money back. Covered by DVA. 800-567-7246, www.DolphinNeurostim.com. Diabetic Neuropathy Pain? Amazing video! YouTube Acumed, Diabetic Neuropathy. Covered by DVA. 800-567-7246, www.DolphinNeurostim.com. Located in Seaforth, Ontario, we are looking for part-time/full time electronics technician (MOC 221,222,223,224,225,226,227) with background in repairing PCB, computer and network experience a must. Please send resume to [email protected]. Are you managing incontinence? Shop Canada’s largest selection of underwear, adult diapers, pads and guards with convenient and discreet delivery by mail. Depend, TENA, Poise and much more. FREE samples at www.healthwick.ca or call toll free 877-775-6656.

MARKETPLACE Best of Ireland • North and South May 15, Jun 5, Aug 28 or Sep 18, 2015 • 16 Days

MILITARY POLICE VETERANS—Aug. 10-14, 2016, Trenton, Ont. Wayne Kendall, Box 27, Todelo, ON K0E1Y0, 613-791-7146, [email protected]. RCAF AIRWOMEN—June 5-7, Whitehorse, Yukon. Lee Bolivar, 238 Sagewood Dr., Kamloops, BC V2H 1R1, 250-372-1622, [email protected]. RCCS (Atlantic)—Aug. 14-16, Sydney, N.S. Frances Arbuckle, 28 Arbuckle Lane, Port Caledonia, Cape Breton Island, NS B1A 6W8, 902-737-2806, fl[email protected]. ROYAL MILITARY POLICE (North America)—Sept. 30-Oct. 4, Victoria. Derek McCorquindale, 45 West Terrace Dr., Cochrane, Alta. T4C 1R5, 403-932-5897, [email protected].

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HOLLAND LIBERATION CELEBRATION 2015 70TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR DATES MAY 1–10

On May 5, 2015, Holland celebrates the 70th anniversary of liberation. Wecome Again Veterans, with the support of RC Legion Branch 5 (Netherlands), have organized a pilgrimage for their liberators, families and friends. Come and commemorate, celebrate, and enjoy the special events. It is open to anyone who is interested in participating. Groups, regiments and bands can contact us for special arrangements. TOUR HOST FAMILY STAY PRICE (from Toronto): $1295 plus $575.- tax/fuel

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Friesland Invitation The province of Friesland offers a special program for her liberators. Contact: Martin Boomsma Georgetown On Tel 905 877 5843 or [email protected]

14845 Yonge St. Suite 300, Aurora, Ontario L4G 6H8 Tel: 416-969-8100 • Fax: 905-727-8113 • Toll Free: 1-800-565-9267 Ontario Registration 3367728 email: [email protected]

Battlefields of Europe Tour: Aug.17 – 28. Contact: John Hetherington [email protected]

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Canada

and the

Brian Mulroney’s 1984 election promises for military spending were quickly rendered hollow by the collapse of the Soviet Union

O

pposition politicians in Canada often promise the moon to the Canadian military and the interested public. “Vote for us and you will get more money and new equipment,” they say. “More soldiers, too.” Certainly that was Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney’s refrain when he led his party into the general election of 1984. Pierre Trudeau’s Liberal government had not been very interested in defence questions, but it had raised the defence budget to just under $8 billion a year by 1984, a substantial increase over the $4.4 billion of 1980. Nevertheless, Mulroney said, this was insufficient. If he was elected, the Department of National Defence would see its funding increased by six per cent a year to put more money into capital projects. Moreover, the Canadian Forces’ strength would be increased by 10,000 men and women, and the uniforms of the three environments would be brought back. No more dark green for the air force! The Progressive Conservatives won a huge victory in the general election of Sept. 4, 1984, the biggest majority in Canadian history. It did not take long, however, for the new government to break its promises to the military. In November 1984, finance minister Michael Wilson cut $154 million from the DND appropriations left by the outgoing Liberals and, at

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cold war BY j.l. granatstein

Staff, who thought new equipment would be much more useful. But Coates prevailed, unveiling his new environmental uniforms in February 1985. It was almost the minister’s last act, as he was forced to resign over a minor sex scandal. His replacement was Erik Nielsen, previously deputy prime minister, vice-chair of the Cabinet priorities and planning committee, and enforcer of caucus and party discipline. A veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force with the Distinguished Flying Cross, Nielsen was tough and smart. Like Mulroney, he believed that the Soviet Union posed a genuine threat to the West and, within two Brian Mulroney (left) and Erik Nielsen in June 1983. weeks of being named In the election campaign of 1984, Mulroney promised substantial increases to defence spending, but an to his new ministry, economic downturn and the breakup of the Soviet he announced that Union gutted the military’s budget. Canada would post an additional 1,200 troops to its NATO forces, enough the same time, Mulroney’s promise men for an additional squadron of funding—six per cent more, or for the armoured regiment, an $190 million—also disappeared. artillery battery, and an addiNone of this must have pleased tional company for each of the two the Progressive Conservative infantry battalions in the army’s government’s defence minister, truncated brigade. The cost would Robert Coates of Nova Scotia. be $100 million a year. For a brief Nonetheless, there was one elecmoment, the Canadian Forces tion promise that Coates was dethought a new era had dawned. termined to keep—new uniforms But Nielsen proved no more for the three services. The cost for successful in securing funding the “Coates of many colours,” as from the Treasury Board than wags called them, was estimated Coates had been. The 1986 budget to be $36 million to $100 million, snapped everyone back to realand this upset General G.C.E. ity. Again, the six per cent annual Theriault, the Chief of the Defence

Ron Poling/Canadian press images/3531806

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increase was gutted; instead, there was an increase of 2.75 per cent for 1986–87, and 2.5 per cent in each of the following years. The increased NATO troop level was also cut by a quarter, and the overall strength of the Canadian Forces was to be increased by only 1,752 men and women, a far cry from the promised 10,000. Nielsen was removed from cabinet in June 1986, and his successor was Perrin Beatty. The 36-yearold Beatty, an Ontario member of Parliament since he was 22 years old, wanted DND to issue a white paper, the first since the early Trudeau years. In June 1987, Challenge and Commitment: a Defence Policy for Canada sounded a Cold War clarion call for rearmament. “If our conventional forces are to deter, they must be able to defend,” the white paper said. “If they are to defend, they must be able to fight. To do that, we must maintain their readiness and provide for their sustainment.” The tone throughout was hawkish, the Cold War phraseology was sharp and clear, and it was already sounding rather outdated in view of the Soviet Union’s difficult economic problems and new leadership under the very different style of Mikhail Gorbachev. Nonetheless, the white paper promised that the Canadian navy was to acquire 10 to 12 nuclear attack submarines that would amount to the largest defence expenditure in Canadian history. The air force was to get six more Aurora long-range patrol aircraft and replacements for CF-18s lost in accidents. The army was to receive additional brigades for the defence of Canada and was to replace the Canadian Air-Sea Transportable Brigade Group (CAST) commitment with a pledge to create, in

an emergency, a two-brigade First Canadian Division in NATO. This plan included new tanks and the pre-positioning of equipment in Europe. The white paper also promised a substantial increase in reserve forces and to deal with the “rust-out” of equipment that was “in an advanced state of obsolescence or…already obsolete.” The reaction to all this was somewhat incredulous. The

turned into nascent democracies, the Berlin Wall came down, the two Germanies united, and the U.S.S.R. collapsed and split asunder. The 1987 white paper’s assumptions lay shattered. The federal government’s only urge now was to reduce the budget deficit and to get a peace dividend out of the Canadian Forces. In 1989, just two years after the white paper, DND’s annual report stated

DND’s annual report in 1989 stated that “No one seriously believes that the current Soviet leadership has any intention of attacking Western Europe or North America.” Canadian Forces were cock-a-hoop with joy, the public rather less so. The media focused on the submarine purchase, seeing a nuclear Canada as changing a long-established course. The United States, with its own nuclear subs cruising freely under the Arctic ice, was not particularly happy, calculating that Beatty’s plan was a ploy to ensure Canadian sovereignty. Would the U.S. navy be willing to share its submarine technology? Who knew? If not, would France? Norway was not happy with the abandonment of the CAST brigade pledge. In the end, none of this mattered. The Mulroney government’s rising budget deficits made it clear that any submarine purchase was a long way off. More importantly, within months of the white paper’s release, the Soviet Union embarked on a policy of perestroika and glasnost, or restructuring and openness, which changed the world and ended the long Cold War. Its Eastern European satellites quickly

that “No one seriously believes that the current Soviet leadership has any intention of attacking Western Europe or North America.” The 1992 Progressive Conservative government’s budget said that Canada would withdraw its air force and army troops on the ground in NATO, and the mechanized brigade there would not be reconstituted in Canada. All that remained after the withdrawal from Europe were a few staff officers at NATO headquarters and a commitment to fly a brigade to Europe in case of emergency, a commitment that almost no one believed credible. The world had changed, and the government promises remained unfulfilled. It didn’t matter what Brian Mulroney had promised in the 1984 election; nor did the 1987 white paper count for much. Events drive commitments, and budget realities trump election promises. The Liberal Party, led by Jean Chretien, took power in 1993 and would finish the job on the Canadian military. MARCH/APRIL 2015 LEgion MagazinE

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BY CARL CHRISTIE

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IN 1955, during a large North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercise in the North Atlantic, Jim Russell of Toronto tells us, he was a radar operator aboard Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Magnificent. In addition to the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Navy and the U.S. Navy each had a fleet of ships participating. One day an English destroyer picked up a submarine on sonar and gave chase to try and eliminate it from the exercise. After trailing it, losing and regaining contact on several occasions, the sub was eventually declared sunk and out of operation. The American admiral sent a congratulatory message to the English admiral: “Well done. How is the second biggest navy in the world?” “Not bad. How’s the second best?” replied the English admiral.

MARY RUTH OLSON submitted a comment about British naval cheekiness that comes to mind at this point. In the previous tale, we read an example of British cheekiness in the exchange between U.S. Navy and Royal Navy commanders. Citing James Lamb, Olson pointed out another example, one directed at the Royal Navy itself by the Royal Canadian Navy. As the corvette HMCS Camrose steamed into the strait past Gibraltar to take part in the Allied landings in North Africa during the Second World War, she was challenged by the British signal station on Europa Point: “What ship?” “What rock?” came the reply from Camrose. HOW ABOUT another offering from Jim Russell? One day, aboard HMCS Nootka, it was Up-Spirits time (to distribute the rum ration) on the quarterdeck. A certain leading seaman had been on a bit of a tear until the wee small hours of the morning. When he came aft to receive his rum, the lieutenant

MALCOLM JONES

IN 1944, Donald R. Fraser joined the Queen’s University contingent of the Canadian Officer Training Corps (COTC) at Kingston as a new member of the Queen’s Pipe Band. Most band members went as a unit to military camp at Base Peterborough. There they were drilled and taught to use a Lee-Enfield rifle as well as bigger guns, but as a band they were given the daily duty of playing reveille at 7 a.m., following a route between the H-huts. Because his piping skills were not yet honed, Fraser was bass drummer, marching between the pipers and the drummers. Soldiers in the regular army had little patience with militia, and their disdain for the new reveillerousers soon turned to nasty pranks. They strung an invisible trip wire on the route between the huts. Imagine the waning wails of dying drones as the pipers went down like dominoes! And the deadened drums and distraught drummers! No one sustained any real injury; they just had to suffer the indignity. There followed the inevitable sequel. At 2 a.m. the next night, everyone in the band’s hut woke up choking and with eyes burning. The pranksters had set off two tear-gas canisters in the bandsmen’s hut. The remainder of the night was sleepless. However, the pranks stopped. The other wing of the H-hut housed a regular unit and a sergeant-major who did not get the joke and took appropriate action.

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“Blew it again, Merryfield.” He had never seen a nursing sister. Thankfully, he writes, “I saw them a year later in Italy.”

MALCOLM JONES

in charge of the rum ration called him aside. “Leading Seaman, I notice you didn’t shave this morning.” “Well, Sir,” replied the sailor, “it was a matter of being charged with not shaving or being charged with self-inflicted injuries.” IN 1941, W.G. Merryfield of Calgary was working, but with the war on, after he turned 18 he went to the Calgary Armoury and enlisted in the part-time reserve army, the local District Signals, a large and busy unit. He signed a paper, had a quick medical to prove he was breathing, then off to quartermaster’s stores, from which he staggered home with battledress, greatcoat, boots, full web equipment and helmet. The next parade evening he returned looking almost like a real soldier. As a former high school army cadet, he fell into the parade without difficulty. Afterward, Private Merryfield joined about 40 others spread out on the parade square to practise with semaphore flags. “I hadn’t a clue,” he now admits, “and just followed the guy in front. I was always three seconds late.” The untrained recruits received a warning always to salute officers. Since he “had trouble figuring out the little pips and stuff ” on officers’ uniforms, he decided to go by their brown ties, brown boots and peaked hats with flat round tops. One evening, as he neared the armoury, he saw just such a figure coming toward him. Our young recruit went ramrod stiff, made sure he had his left arm straight, eyes left, and executed a snappy salute— which was not returned! As he passed, the warrant officer shot him an icy glare that hit like a pickaxe between his eyebrows. He trudged on, red-face and humiliated. “You blew it, Merryfield,” he muttered to himself. By December 1942, our comrade was a Reserve Army Signals corporal

with “two nifty stripes.” In 1943, he enlisted for active duty and endured basic training during the coldest Alberta January in recent memory. They did much of their training in poorly heated H-huts. One evening, a balmy Chinook breeze having warmed things up, Merryfield decided to walk to the nearby small town to stretch his legs and breathe some fresh prairie air. He strolled the quiet civvy sidewalks, drinking in the warm lights in the windows of civvy bungalows and smiling at the wagging tail of a friendly neighbourhood pooch. The afternoon’s lecture on saluting came to mind on how and who to salute: officers of the navy, army and air force, as well as nursing sisters. How? The old British style: long way up, short way down. He recalled his warrant officer fiasco and shuddered. Just then he noticed four nursing sisters in blue uniforms and trim headdress approaching on the opposite sidewalk. As they neared him Merryfield stiffened: left arm straight, eyes left, snappy salute–which was not returned! He heard giggles, then happy laughter as the four young nurses’ aides carried on to their evening shifts at the small local hospital. He trudged on, red-faced, humiliated.

IN 1956, J. Wesley Heald of Guelph, Ont., was in his first year of Department of National Defence teaching at the Senior School, No. 3 (Fighter) Wing, Zweibrucken, West Germany. A lady teacher, whom he had met on the Ascania on the voyage to Europe, taught at the Junior School at the Royal Canadian Air Force’s Air Division Headquarters in Metz, France. One weekend early in the school year, Heald drove his little Volkswagen to Metz to visit his lady friend. Standing at the bar in the Officers’ Mess, he listened to her complaints. “Wes, would you believe, I have to teach a Grade 7 class? I’ve never taught any class below Grade 10 in my life!” A short air force officer at the bar, on the other side of the unhappy teacher, interjected: “Young woman, when you elect to become a DND teacher, you must be prepared to teach any grade we assign to you.” The lady teacher, too new to have learned RCAF rank insignia, looked down at the officer and inquired loudly: “And who are you, little man?” The mess fell deadly silent. The “little man” was Air Marshal Hugh Campbell, the highest ranking RCAF officer in Europe, commander of the Air Division. At that moment, Heald moved down the bar, trying to pretend he hardly knew the lady. All contributions are gratefully accepted via the Legion Magazine address or by your humble scribe at [email protected]. If we use your offering, we will reward you with a cheque for $25.

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Travelling ABOUT Visit Quebec’s Citadel for a special exhibition

The Parallel is a special exhibition of photography that compares the First World War to the mission in Afghanistan. This series of pictures taken on the battlefields of Europe and Afghanistan show some uncanny similarities between the conflicts and underlines the historical, technological and human connections between these two periods. The exhibition also showcases five pairs of objects used by soldiers during the First World War and during the Afghanistan mission. The Citadelle March 1–May 9 Quebec City www.lacitadelle.qc.ca

City of Hamilton, Tourism and Culture Division

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Visit Alberta for an exhibition featuring Iranian photography

The Military Museums in Calgary is hosting a special exhibition of Iranian photography this spring. The Burnt Generation is a collection of pictures that tells the story of those born between 1970 and 1990 who experienced the 1979 revolution, the eightyear Iran-Iraq war, and the political and social consequences of these events. The collection urges viewers to see Iran and Iranian life from a new and interesting angle. The Military Museums March 1–April 12 Calgary www.themilitarymuseums.ca

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Indulge your love of military history in Toronto

The Toronto Military Show brings together dozens and dozens of collectors and professional dealers to create one of Canada’s largest spectacles of military history memorabilia. You can expect to see medals, badges, insignia, antique muskets and pistols, military weaponry until 1945, inert ordnance, swords, daggers, bayonets, uniforms, field equipment, flying gear, helmets, Japanese samurai swords, books, prints, war souvenirs, trench art, model soldiers, military toys and other related items.

Take your March Break at Dundurn National Historic Site

The Dundurn National Historic Site, which features the Dundurn Castle and the Hamilton Military Museum, is hosting a special series of kid-friendly events this March Break. There will be tours, historic treats, crafts, costumes and museum exhibitions revealing the lives of historical figures who lived around the area during the War of 1812. Dundurn National Historic Site March 14–22 Hamilton, Ont. www.hamilton.ca/dundurn

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Five things to do and see in MARCH/APRIL

March 21, 8:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Etobicoke Olympium, 590 Rathburn Road, Toronto www.torontomilitaryshow.com

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Engage your brain at the Canadian War Museum

The Canadian War Museum is presenting an international speaker series to mark the centenary of the First World War. This particular event marks the 100th anniversary of the battle of Gallipoli and thus the museum will bring an international panel of historians to present their perspectives on this battle and its legacy across three countries. April 23, 7:30 p.m. Barney Danson Theatre, Canadian War Museum, Ottawa www.warmuseum.ca

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