Legion Magazine 2017-09-10

DALLAIRE’S NIGHTMARE

A CANADIAN SPY IN CUBA

THE SHOTS THAT STARTED WW I

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017

PASSCHENDAELE

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SOMM E PAGE 5

THE WORST OF

Hollywood lands in Ottawa War on two wheels Anti-malaria drug under scrutiny

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Battle won The Battle of Passchendaele, from July to November 1917, was for control of ridges near Ypres, Belgium, on the Western Front. See page 22.

Nineteen-year-old Private Thomas W. Holmes, VC (centre), of the 4th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, rests with comrades in January 1918. Holmes, of Owen Sound, Ont., was one of nine Canadians awarded the Victoria Cross at Passchendaele. DND/LAC/PA-002353

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Features 22  103 DAYS IN HADES

Through the treacherous terrain at Passchendaele, Canadians fought to a brutal and costly victory

By Jonathan F. Vance

32 CANADA’S MAN IN HAVANA

The unlikely tale of a Canadian diplomatturned-spy in Cuba in the sizzling ’60s Memoir by John W. Graham

44 AIRMEN ON SET

In 1941, Hollywood overtook an Ottawa airbase to make an action film starring James Cagney By Hugh A. Halliday

52 BURIED ALIVE AT THE SOMME

Within two years, Private Ainger Roger Berry faced debilitating shell shock and a lifetime of uncertainty Memoir by Claudia Berry

38 CURE OR CURSE?

Evidence is rising that mefloquine may cause neuropsychiatric side-effects By Sharon Adams

57 THE LONELY FIGHT OF THE TUBERCULOUS VETERANS The Tuberculous Veterans’ Association assisted shunned veterans returning home from the First World War By Tom MacGregor

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COLUMNS 14 MILITARY HEALTH MATTERS Nutrition in the field By Sharon Adams THIS PHOTO Fatigued members of the 16th Canadian Machine Gun Company hold the line in shell holes during the Battle of Passchendaele in November 1917. ON THE COVER A Canadian soldier marches through the mud-filled battlefield at Passchendaele in November 1917.

William Rider-Rider/DND/LAC/PA-002162; PA-002165

16 FRONT LINES Mission to Iraq extended By Stephen J. Thorne

20 EYE ON DEFENCE A defence policy and a step backward By David J. Bercuson

50 FACE TO FACE Were the First World War executions of 25 CEF members justified? By Teresa Iacobelli and John Boileau

104 CANADA AND THE COLD WAR Cuba, Canada and Camelot By J.L. Granatstein

106 HUMOUR HUNT Hubris, hyperbole, hope and hockey By Terry Fallis

108 HEROES AND VILLAINS Ferdinand and Princip By Mark Zuehlke

110 ARTIFACTS War on two wheels By Sharon Adams

112 O CANADA Dallaire’s nightmare By Don Gillmor

DEPARTMENTS 4 7 12 61 83 103 103 103 103

EDITORIAL LETTERS ON THIS DATE IN THE NEWS SNAPSHOTS LOST TRAILS REQUESTS UNIT REUNIONS CLASSIFIED

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EDITORIAL

A big

step S

trong, secure, engaged. The title of the newly released white paper by the Department of National Defence is a reflection of Canada itself. The new defence policy is a mustread for anyone who wants to know what Canada’s military is doing today— combat, peacekeeping, humanitarian aid, disaster relief—and what it plans to do over the next two decades. It outlines its core missions—“to detect, deter and defend against threats to or attacks on Canada”—and its concurrent operations—“responding…to multiple domestic emergencies in support of civilian authorities”—as well as its key partnerships— WE HAVE BEEN NATO, Norad, the WAITING A LONG United Nations, TIME FOR THE law enforcement TRANSITION GAP agencies, civil TO BE CLOSED. authorities and nongovernment agencies. It promises that defence spending will increase from $18.9 billion in 2016-17 to $32.7 billion in 2026-27. Big-ticket procurement items include jets, ships, drones, space and cyber capabilities and defence intelligence capacity. Other expense items include $225 million to reduce its carbon footprint, $313 million over five years for an “Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security Program,” and $102.5 million for outreach to external experts. The year-long policy review considered 20,000 public submissions, including town-hall meetings and online discussions. Ensuring the health and well-being of forces members was “the No. 1 ask,” said Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan.

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As a result, the primary focus of the policy is military personnel and their families. “Providing them the training, equipment and care they deserve is the most important objective of this policy,” Sajjan said. Many of the goals are intended to improve the CAF’s human resources: • increase the regular force by 3,500, to 71,500 • increase the reserve force by 1,500, to 30,000 • improve recruitment, training and retention • increase the proportion of women in the military by 1 per cent a year, to reach 25 per cent representation by 2026 • provide a workplace free from harassment and discrimination, emphasizing inclusivity, diversity and respect • $198.2 million in funding for a new “Total Health and Wellness Strategy” • an increase of $6 million per year in funding for military family support programs • federal tax exemption on salaries for troops to the level of lieutenantcolonel deployed on named international operations • a new 1,200-strong soldier-to-veteran transition group, including specialized staff and holding positions for ill and injured personnel, which is to work with Veterans Affairs Canada. That last item in particular is good news for those who care about and for Canada’s military veterans. We have been waiting a long time for the transition gap to be closed. “People leaving the armed forces in the past have gone through a bureaucratic process that was essentially designed to get you out and move you on,” said Chief of the Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance. “We need to professionalize that.” Being a member of the Canadian Armed Forces is a challenging, sometimes dangerous, career choice. All who join are entitled to receive the best possible training, support, health care and compensation. Canada’s new defence policy is a big step in the right direction. L

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

Fine officer

T

he article about the assault on Hill 70 (July/August) was of interest because my father, Corporal Cecil Hansford, served as a Lewis gunner with the 25th Battalion (Nova Scotia Rifles) and was wounded at Hill 70 in August 1917. I recall him telling me that after being wounded, he was taken to hospital and discharged after about two weeks as “walking wounded” in order to make his bed available to more seriously wounded men who were arriving from the battlefield. As he was walking back to his unit, a passing staff car sprayed him with mud and water. To his surprise, the car stopped and an officer (wearing a

trench coat so Dad could not tell his rank) apologized for splashing him and offered him a ride to his destination. He inquired about my father’s bandaged shoulder and then wrote something on a piece of paper and gave it to him to give to an officer when he got back to his unit. Dad put it in his cap to keep it dry and later showed it to an officer in the unit. The note read, in part, “10 days excused duty, and 10 days light duty. Turner.” It was written by Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Turner, VC, a fine Canadian officer. GORDON R. HANSFORD, CD, KENTVILLE, N.S.

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Bringing gas to Camp X Most teenagers living in Oshawa in 1952 or ’53 knew there was a Camp X (July/August). When I was 16, my mother decided she wanted room and board from me, and suggested I see Mike Starr, owner of a Supertest garage on Drew Street. He hired me and was very good to me, and after I moved on, I always kept in touch. Mike moved to a bigger Supertest station on Bloor and Park Road, and on a visit there one day Mike said to me, “Gerry, fill up a gas can, take the tow truck and deliver it to Camp X.” I headed toward Whitby along Bloor until I found a driveway with a gate and guard shack. Two soldiers approached the truck. The one on the passenger side opened the door, spotted a blanket lying on the floor, and lifted it up with his rifle. The soldier at the driver’s side asked for my licence, my reason for being there, my mother’s maiden name, where my father worked, my grandparents’ names, where they lived, where they came from, and more. I’ve never had a third degree like that in my life. While this was going on, I noticed three men standing in the field at a distance, surrounded by armed soldiers. With a signal from the soldier dealing with me, one of the men ran over to me. The first thing he said to me was that the three of them were never so scared in their lives. (They knew nothing of Camp X.) They had left Whitby in a boat and the outboard motor ran out of gas. When they drifted to shore, they saw a number of soldiers with machine guns running toward them. He said he didn’t think the three of them could have gotten on their knees any faster than what they did. He walked away with the gas can and the soldier dealing with me said, “Now you, park your truck on the road and don’t get out of it until

he brings the can back.” When the fellow came back, the soldier brought me the can and told me to “go back to the garage, keep your mouth shut. You’ve never been here, you’ve never seen anything.” “Yessir!” GERRY LUKOW, MILLBROOK, ONT.

Dieppe connections I read with interest “Escape of the Dieppe raiders” (July/August). In 1952, I was part of a Canadian naval contingent visiting Dieppe to mark the 10th anniversary of the raid. I recall the ominous chalk cliffs ringing the city, similar to those on the English coast, and the beach with its large stones which impeded the Churchill tanks used in the attack. The reference to the Vichy regime reminded me that some years later my wife and I visited the Château de Chenonceau on the Cher River, a tributary of the Loire that was the dividing line between occupied and Vichy France. The chateau was used as a hospital and it was said that some patients were able to cross over secretly to the Vichy side and escape. Some years after 1942, I met a Canadian who had been on a merchant ship that was attacked by Stuka fighters and he was blown off his ship. A passing ship, which rescued him, was torpedoed. A ship picked him up and was ordered back to England. On the way, it received a message asking if it could assist some of the ships in the Dieppe raid. W.J. CURRAN, OTTAWA

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Spies were heroes

Nursing sisters I appreciated the memoir “The silent ward” (March/April). My grandmother was one of the nursing sisters who worked alongside nursing sister Alfreda Jenness Attrill in setting up No. 2 Canadian Stationary Hospital at Le Touquet, France. I would appreciate hearing from anyone with more information on Nellie Claire McCurdy or Stuart MacVicar Fisher, who was a physician at that hospital and who subsequently married McCurdy. ELIZABETH HAMILTON

Your story “Hush-hush heroes” (May/June) about the undercover agents from Canada in the Second World War is so intense and gruesome that I now, 70 years later, finally understand how we attained the freedoms and all the good this life has to offer. We can’t even begin to thank these war heroes. NICK DE VRIES, CLEMENTSPORT, N.S.

Good experience with VAC There has been some negative press about Veterans Affairs Canada and I would like to comment on my recent experience. I served in the militia with the

Royal Westminster Regiment, as a corporal and an officer. I went on to serve many years with the cadet movement. In all those years, I did a lot of range firing, which included working the butts with very little hearing protection. I recently determined I have hearing loss, so I filed a claim with VAC as well as WorkSafeBC, because I’m a retired police officer. Both came through and accepted my claims. I received a fairly significant lump-sum payment from VAC and the cost of hearing aids from WorkSafeBC. I was very impressed with my experience with VAC. Whenever I had to phone them, I spoke to someone within a few minutes and got all the right answers. Though my claim is nothing compared to what other veterans have experienced from war, I’ve been very happy that they looked after me for what service I have. TED USHER, NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.

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SOCIAL SIGNALS

What’s trending for Legion Magazine @kenthehr Beautiful pictures in @Legion_ Magazine of @IGTeamCanada in training. Take a look @InvictusToronto #IAM #IG2017 Tweeted: “Masters of their fate” CTV Your Morning A video by Legion Magazine and Mike Myers that will make you feel proud of all that Canadians have accomplished. #Canada150 Shared video: “Our Journey to 150 | Narrated by Mike Myers” Lorraine Hand I can’t wait for my magazines to start coming!! Comment on: “Canada 150 Bundle”

Moira Scott I just received mine and it’s wonderful! Thank you! Comment on: “Canada 150 Bundle” Angela Doukas Loved this video. Touched my heart. Yes, the best is yet to come! Comment on video: “ Our Journey to 150 | Narrated by Mike Myers” Stan Rockwell Approximately 3,000 went ashore with the first wave. My God, the courage. Juno was rough and it was the quality of men that allowed them to do as well as they did. The Legion Magazine stuff on D-Day is excellent. Comment on: “D-Day Collection”

Laurie Ducharme I enjoyed watching this clip. Love that it ended with Jack’s words. It doesn’t do any justice for First Nations peoples and the atrocities they continue to suffer in Canada. But it’s still lovely and I love this country for all her faults. Comment on video: “Our Journey to 150 | Narrated by Mike Myers” Marg Humphrey An incredible story, especially about his family. Comment on: “The jump that changed everything”

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ON THIS DATE

September 2017

1 September 1985 Canada provides aid to the United Nations multinational force supervising security provisions of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty. 2 September 1918 Six Canadians earn the Victoria Cross for heroic actions throughout France. 3 September 1939 The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest battle of the Second World War, begins.

Bellenden Hutcheson, VC

Arthur Knight, VC

6 September 1953 Some 30 Canadians are freed in one of the final prisoner-of-war exchanges with North Korea. 7 September 1940 Hundreds of German aircraft blitz London, the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing.

William Metcalf, VC

Cyrus Peck, VC

11 September 1885 Despite trying to end the violence, Cree chief Mistahimaskwa (Big Bear) is found guilty of treason and felony for his role in the Northwest Rebellion. 12 September 1846 Franklin Expedition ships Erebus and Terror are trapped in ice in Victoria Strait.

8 September 1951 The Royal 22nd Regiment takes part in Operation Minden, as the 1st Commonwealth Division crosses Korea’s Imjin River into no man’s land to establish a bridgehead on a new front line.

9 September 1864 The Charlottetown Conference ends with Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the Province of Canada agreeing in principle to the proposed union of the British North American colonies. 4 September 1914 CEF training camp at Valcartier, Que., swells with 32,000 men and 8,000 horses. 5 September 1697 British naval defeat by a French warship at the Battle of Hudson’s Bay.

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10 September 1941 HMC ships Chambly and Moose Jaw destroy U-501 in the Denmark Strait.

13 September 1915 Lt.-Gen. E.A.H. Alderson takes command of the two-division Canadian Corps. 14 September 1857 After coming under fire while tending the wounded, Canadian surgeon Herbert Taylor Reade leads an attack on Indian rebels in the Siege of Delhi, earning the Victoria Cross. 15 September 1916 Canadians capture Courcelette, France, one of the few Allied victories on the Somme.

Sharif Tarabay; LAC; Library of Congress; Alamy

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September Walter Rayfield, VC

John Young, VC

21 September 1971 A detachment of No. 440 (Transport and Rescue) Squadron is formed in Yellowknife, becoming the only permanent air unit in the Arctic.

26 September 1917 The Battle of Polygon Wood begins and the German 4th Army suffers severe losses. 27 September 1953

22 September 1944 After six days of fighting, the town of Boulogne, France, is captured by Canadians. 23 September 1915 The Canadian Corps has 1,354 officers and 36,522 men.

16 September 1914 The formation of the Canadian Aviation Corps is approved. 17 September 1814 The Americans are victorious as the British assault on Fort Erie fails.

24 September 1952 Six members of the Royal Canadian Regiment capture a Chinese signalling post without sustaining any casualties. 25 September 1942 Canada joins the United States in combat against the Japanese in Kiska Harbor, Alaska.

HMCS Labrador, the first naval vessel to traverse the Northwest Passage, receives a hero’s welcome at Esquimalt, B.C. 28 September 2003 The Monument to Canadian Fallen, honouring those who died while serving in the Korean War, is dedicated in Ottawa. 29 September 1988 It is announced that the Nobel Peace Prize is to be awarded to the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces. 30 September 1939 More than 58,000 Canadians have joined the fight against Germany.

18 September 1759 Quebec surrenders to the British. 19-20 September 1944 San Fortunato Ridge, Italy, is captured by Canadians.

HMCS Labrador

20 September 1943 HMCS St. Croix is torpedoed and sunk by U-305.

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

26 October 1917 Through mud and continuous enemy fire, the Canadian offensive launches at Passchendaele.

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MILITARY HEALTH MATTERS

By Sharon Adams

Nutrition in the field

A

n army, it has been noted, marches on its stomach. Throughout history, invaders and marauders have relied on scavenging and pillaging to feed troops at the far end of very long supply lines. In 1810, Napoleon said his Grand Armée troops “must feed themselves on war at the expense of the enemy territory.” French brewer and confectioner Nicolas Appert won a hefty prize from his government in 1810 for his method of preventing spoilage by cooking food sealed inside glass jars—popularly known as canning, after the commercial introduction of cheaper, unbreakable tin containers. But the method was not perfected by the time Napoleon decided to invade Russia, where in 1812 his scavenging strategy failed against the scorched-earth defence. Retreating Russian forces burned villages and crops behind them, leaving nothing for the half-million invading French troops to eat. Starvation was as great an enemy as the Cossacks and the cold—only an estimated 70,000 French troops survived. History provides many examples of what happens when troops don’t get proper nutrition. Royal Navy sailors commonly suffered (and died) from scurvy. They gained their nickname—limeys—for the daily dose of citrus juice given to prevent the disease. During the U.S. Civil War, scurvy (caused by vitamin C deficiency) affected nearly 50,000 Union troops, and night blindness (vitamin A deficiency) was common; they were treated, respectively, with fresh vegetables and ox liver.

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Military nutritional research and development has been a ringing success for soldiers, sailors and aircrew—and even for civilian consumers, who have benefited from many military nutritional innovations. The United States’ interest in longer-lasting rations in the Second World War paved the way to grocery store shelves for instant coffee, preformed meat products, energy bars, absurdly long shelf life for packaged baked goods and that powdered, finger-staining, orange cheese substance used on some crunchy snacks. Many countries have their own military nutritional research branches. NATO’s Research and Technology Organization shares results of co-operative research among its members. Its 2010 report found that most members’ rations met minimum nutritional requirements, but some needed supplementation. Today’s military nutritional concerns focus on optimizing performance, meeting special needs for, say, combat or cold weather, and providing rations and food in garrison that helps build immunity and facilitates recovery from injury and disease. Taste, smell and appearance are also important. “An inadequate nutritional intake, as a result of under-consumption of the combat ration, may negatively affect a soldier’s physical and cognitive performance,” said the NATO report. Troops must be given time to eat and rations that are easy to eat and sensitive to cultural and religious restrictions.

Master Corporal Adam Hunter of the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, opens his rations during an exercise in the Hohenfels Training Area in Germany.

In the 1980s, the United States established the Committee on Military Nutrition Research to identify factors that influence performance of combat troops in whatever environment they’re called on to work; to identify knowledge gaps and recommend research; and to advise on military feeding standards. At the same time, the Canadian Armed Forces replaced canned rations with individual meal packs (IMPs). The “boil in the bag” packs can be consumed cold when necessary. (In the field, soldiers have been known to heat IMPs on armoured vehicles’ radiators or exhaust pipes.) Canadian Armed Forces’ field rations reflect Canada Food Guide recommendations and are designed to meet energy requirements of a hard-working soldier. Three precooked daily meals provide a total of about 3,600 calories. Kosher, halal and vegetarian meals are available. And to prevent boredom, new menu items are introduced and others switched out every three years. In addition to meals, IMPs can

M.Cpl. Jennifer Kusche/Canadian Forces Combat Camera

2017-07-28 10:58 AM

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2017

contain powdered coffee, protein and sports drink mixes, energy bars and trail mix, peanut butter, cereal, condiments, candy, chocolate, gum, a spoon and matches. Research shows soldiers working in the cold need about 1,000 more calories per day, and hydration is a problem in hot environments. Dehydration immediately affects energy production and causes fatigue. Research shows performance drops by five per cent for every one per cent loss of body weight due to dehydration. At a loss of four to five per cent of body weight, performance drops 20 to 30 per cent. Death results when dehydration drops body weight between nine and 12 per cent. Nutrition is a concern not just on deployment. The 2014 Canadian Armed Forces Health and Lifestyle survey suggests “a notable nutritional knowledge gap among regular force personnel.” While 83.3 per cent of personnel rated their eating habits from good to excellent, 52.2 per cent underestimated Canada’s Food Guide recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake, and only 28.7 per cent ate vegetable and fruit servings more than six times per day. So the CAF is paying attention to the overall nutrition of personnel, and offers courses on nutrition and weight control. Nutrition courses provide information about balancing activity and energy intake, essential nutrients to reduce health risks, and how to make wise food and drink choices while serving and off-duty. “Inadequate nutrition is most often due to inadequate planning, catering or supply, and to inadequate training or indoctrination,” noted R.M. Kark of the University of Illinois Medical School in his paper “Studies on Troops in the Field” for the 1952 report Nutrition Under Climatic Stress sponsored by the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps. “Maintaining good nutrition is like maintaining freedom of speech or democracy. You need eternal vigilance to make it work.” L

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FRONT LINES

T

By Stephen J.Thorne

Mission to Iraq extended, other options considered

he federal government had no sooner released its new foreign and defence policies than it put its money where its mouth is and renewed its commitment to the allied coalition fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria. It’s a relatively small contribution—logistical and training support, mainly—but, as the recent record-setting kill shot by a Canadian special forces sniper has illustrated, it is not benign and adds credence to

the government promise to maintain a diversity of international military commitments. “Our new defence policy has made it very clear that Canada is ready and willing to do its part for the global community,” said Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. “This includes confronting security issues that threaten our shores and those of our allies and partners. “We must continue working with the global coalition against [ISIS] and to address the

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security challenges which confront Iraq, Syria and the region.” With a lead role in a Latvia NATO mission underway, Canadians are now waiting for the other shoe to drop—namely, when and where Canada will launch a United Nations peacekeeping operation. The timing and location are anyone’s guess. Mali seemed at the top of the list a year ago, but reports suggest the federal government is having second thoughts and the delays in its decision-making are frustrating UN planners. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government pledged last year to commit up to 600 troops and 150 police officers to UN peacekeeping operations, along with $450 million over three years on peace-and-stability projects. Specifics of the mission were expected by the end of last year, pending more research by military and foreign affairs officials, but the election of U.S. President Donald Trump provided a convenient excuse for Ottawa to further delay the decision. It’s a tough call, given the

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2017-07-28 8:54 AM

Marking the start of the Canadian mission to Latvia in June are (from left) Canada’s Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Latvia President Raimonds Vejonis and Latvia Defence Minister Raimonds Bergmanis.

complicated relationships contributing to many African conflicts and Canada’s experiences, specifically, in both Somalia and Rwanda. It was a promise made in the heat of an election campaign that is now subject to sober second thought. “We have a difficult history in Africa as peacekeepers,” Trudeau said in March. “We need to make sure that when we embark on any…military mission, we make the right decisions about what we’re going to do, how we’re going to do it, and the kind of impact we’re going to have on the ground and on Canadians. “That’s a decision we’re not going to fast-track. We’re making it responsibly and thoughtfully.” Specifics aside, somewhere in Africa seems likely. Postmedia’s Matthew Fisher reported on July 5 that Canada might send troops to the Central African Republic, where more than 100 people have been killed in sectarian and tribal violence in recent weeks, despite a UN presence and a ceasefire. Reporting from Uganda, Fisher also cited Burundi as a possibility,

pointing to an increasing tide of violence and an Africa Centre of Strategic Studies report that it had already created 100,000 refugees this year alone. More than three million South Sudanese and a million Congolese have also fled fighting in the past year, Fisher reported. “The UN has discovered more than 40 mass graves in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is calling for an investigation into massacres, including the beheadings of 40 policemen earlier this year.”

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WITH A LEAD ROLE IN A LATVIA NATO MISSION UNDERWAY, CANADIANS ARE NOW WAITING FOR THE OTHER SHOE TO DROP—NAMELY, WHEN AND WHERE CANADA WILL LAUNCH A UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING OPERATION.

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2017-07-28 8:55 AM

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EYE ON DEFENCE

By David J. Bercuson

IT

A defence policy and a step backward

is difficult trying to figure out where the federal Liberal government stands on national defence and national security issues. On June 6, 2017, the government released Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada’s Defence Policy, which is the first true white paper on defence since 1994. (Peter MacKay’s 2008 Canada First Defence Strategy was more of a procurement strategy than a white paper.) The document is an important change from prior white papers and from the direction (if anyone can call it that) that Liberal defence policy has been on since before the federal election of 2015. The white paper is a 113-page document that lays out the government’s vision of how it wants national defence to develop over the next 20 years. It sets out prospective investments, including 88 new fighter jets as ultimate replacements for the CF-18, 15 surface combatant ships to replace the Halifax-class frigates and now-gone destroyers, and 5,000 new regular and reserve soldiers. But its true importance lies in its tone of wariness over the increasing global dangers to the world order.

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It solidly places Canada’s defence policy within the growing threats to that order from both conventional and high-tech adversaries. It also places great emphasis—right in the first part of the document—on key social issues affecting individuals in the Canadian Armed Forces, from the drive to wipe out discrimination and sexual harassment to the transition of soldiers to veterans and the care of physically and mentally wounded soldiers whose operational experiences have made their return to civilian society very difficult. Some people will quibble with the new defence policy because it doesn’t lay out priorities and doesn’t fully explain how new monies—which will more than double the defence budget over the next 10 years—will be absorbed by the military’s current structure. It is also, of course, dependent on the outcome of future Canadian elections. But it makes no bones about Canada’s desire to build national security and national defence into Canadian culture, and it warns Canadians that there are growing risks at home and abroad that we must heed. The defence policy does devote some space

Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press

2017-07-27 11:07 AM

Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan unveils the defence white paper in Ottawa.

to peacekeeping but also explains that most of the peacekeeping going on today in the world is far more akin to peace enforcement, involving fighting forces, than the classic Lester Pearsonera peacekeeping that Canada engaged in so willingly from 1957 to the mid-1990s. It is, at least, a robust defence policy that most Canadians should support, let alone live with, and a good beginning to reconstructing the bipartisan defence policies that Canada knew from the end of the Second World War until the Pierre Trudeau era.

South China Sea. Does the left hand not know what the right hand is doing? Is the government so determined to get a free-trade deal with China that the security of Canadians comes second? Or is it a deep ignorance in Ottawa about how Chinese corporations—privately owned or not—are ultimately under the control of the Communist Party and its security, intelligence and defence agencies? Whatever the answer, the outcome is obvious: two steps forward and one step back. L

Veterans Ombudsman ombudsman-veterans.gc.ca

But unknown to most Canadians, in early June this same Liberal government gave a Chinese company permission to take over a Canadian high-tech corporation, Norsat International Inc., that manufactures key components for satellite and other communications. One of its biggest customers is the United States military. If the deal goes through—an American hedge fund is also bidding for the Canadian company—a Chinese company, Hytera Communications of Shenzhen, would be in charge of sales to an entire range of American and other agencies. It would give China access to important intellectual property that it would otherwise not have. This approval is the second such move by Ottawa to allow a Chinese enterprise to take over a Canadian company—the first was ITF Technologies of Montreal— that in the previous Conservative government’s view gave China a significant advance on western militaries. The Tories stopped that move when they were in office. So what gives? There can only be three explanations for the obvious contradictions between the new directions set out by the government in the white paper and the government’s approval of the transfer of Canadian military and security technology companies to companies that are directly or indirectly under the control of the same country that is menacing free navigation in the

IT MAKES NO BONES ABOUT CANADA’S DESIRE TO BUILD NATIONAL SECURITY AND NATIONAL DEFENCE INTO CANADIAN CULTURE, AND IT WARNS CANADIANS THAT THERE ARE GROWING RISKS AT HOME AND ABROAD THAT WE MUST HEED.

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103 Silent sentinels The war-ravaged battlefield near Passchendaele, Belgium, in 1917.

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days in Hades

FROM JULY TO NOVEMBER 1917, THE PASTORAL TERRAIN SURROUNDING THE BELGIAN VILLAGE OF PASSCHENDAELE BECAME A TREACHEROUS MORASS. HERE, IN A FINAL PUSH, CANADIANS FOUGHT TO A BRUTAL AND COSTLY VICTORY

By JONATHAN F. VANCE

Passchendaele is a lovely

name—whether in Flemish or French, it rolls lyrically off the tongue, conjuring images of a sylvan glade, lush with greenery and sprinkled with wildflowers. Or that’s how it should be. Instead, a misfortune of geography turned Passchendaele into a synonym for pointless slaughter. During the First World War, it became a gigantic cesspool where dreams, plans and reputations went to drown. The ultimate objective of the ill-considered Third Battle of Ypres, it was a feature of dubious tactical value that was contested

as if it held the key to victory. As the winter of 1917 closed in on Flanders, the Canadian Corps was called on to capture Passchendaele and the high ground behind it, and bring the agony to an end. By the middle of 1917, the leaders of Britain and France had conceded that they couldn’t win the war that year. Instead, using limited operations to wear down the enemy, they would prepare for a final offensive to be mounted in 1918, once the Americans were in the field in numbers.

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Unflappable At Passchendaele, the Canadian Corps served under Field Marshal Herbert Plumer, commander of Britain’s Second Army.

Master planner Field Marshal Douglas Haig, Britain’s commander in France, failed to account for the weather.

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Douglas Haig, the British Army’s commander in France, had other ideas. He didn’t want to wait for the Americans; he wanted to fight the decisive action before they could rush in and claim the victory. Backed by the Royal Navy’s apocalyptic (yet disingenuous) prediction that unless the Belgian ports on the English Channel were denied to German U-boats, the war would be lost before 1918, he planned a master stroke near Ypres that would retake Zeebrugge and Ostende. Then, his cavalry could take to the field and liberate Belgium from the west. The opening act was an attack on Messines Ridge, south of Ypres, orchestrated by the British Second Army under Field Marshal Herbert “Daddy” Plumer. With his florid complexion and walrus moustache, Plumer looked exactly like the kind of wheezing, claret-soaked general that soldier and poet Siegfried Sassoon lampooned so viciously, but looks were deceiving. Plumer was one of the best British generals of the war—painstaking in preparation and utterly unflappable. At Messines, he mounted a classic “bite-and-hold” operation—launch an attack on a limited objective that had been softened up by vast quantities of explosives, and then invite the enemy to incur ruinous casualties trying to win back the ground. Plumer’s plan used mining to its fullest advantage, driving ammonalfilled galleries far under German lines. When they were detonated on June 7, the top of the ridge effectively ceased to exist—as did most of its defenders. The survivors, harried by a devastating artillery barrage, were too stunned to offer much resistance, and the remains of the ridge passed into British hands. The victory at Messines seemed like a vindication. For Haig, it proved that a great offensive in Belgium should proceed sooner rather than later, to exploit the success. For the British War Cabinet, never so enthusiastic about Haig’s grand plans, it proved that small attacks with strictly limited goals were far superior to a big push. But the politicians didn’t relish a fight with Haig and grudgingly allowed him to go ahead with his plans. Perhaps they were

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hoping he had learned the dangers of massive open-ended operations. If so, they should have been alarmed by his change of direction. In the vanguard, Second Army under Plumer, who had proven his “bite-and-hold” approach, was replaced by Fifth Army under Hubert Gough, an old cavalry thruster with an “advance at all costs” mentality. From the beginning, the costs far outstripped the advances. The offensive opened on July 31 and after the first four days, Fifth Army found itself a few thousand metres in the black—and more than 31,000 casualties in the red. Haig reported these results to be “highly satisfactory.” A second push in mid-August achieved little and by then the offensive had fallen victim to something Haig and his staff had been inexplicably reluctant to account for: the weather. Flanders is a very low-lying region with a high water table, in some places just a metre or two below the surface. Generations of Belgian farmers had learned to cope with the topography, using complex networks of dikes and drainage ditches to keep their fields dry. But three years of fighting had all but destroyed the natural and man-made drainage systems. Flanders was fine when it was dry; but when it rained, the water just sat on the surface, turning fields into morasses. On the second day of the offensive, it started to rain.

Wikimedia; Legion Magazine archives; DND/LAC/PA-003737

2017-07-27 11:53 AM

That August was the wettest in years, and the deterioration of the battlefield forced Haig to change plans. A big push was no longer realistic given the state of the ground, and a reverse in the north had rendered his coastal advance out of the question. So, the campaign would become part of his wearingdown strategy of weakening the enemy until he could no longer resist. Haig turned to smaller attacks with limited objectives, giving the lead back to Plumer and Second Army. It was a sound decision, but an unfortunate byproduct was that it required a massive reorganization of the front—while three weeks of good, dry campaigning weather were lost. When the offensive was remounted on Sept. 20, the rains had returned. Still, Plumer was optimistic about his plan, which involved a massive concentration of infantry and artillery on a narrow frontage against an objective only 1,400 metres ahead. It was completely successful, as were attacks on Polygon Wood on Sept. 26 and Broodseinde on Oct. 4. Still, there was no avoiding the hard truth: most of the Day 1 objectives remained in enemy hands, more than two months in.

Critics still maintain that play should have been called on account of rain. But Haig’s attritional strategy had become more focused and he now gave three specific reasons for continuing: to support an imminent French attack in Champagne; to keep the enemy busy while the Cambrai offensive was gearing up; and to secure better winter lines atop Passchendaele Ridge. There would be a pause to improve transportation networks, and in hopes that the rain might stop, but the campaign would go on.

“Across the sea of mud was a shambles, a slaughterhouse and a good example of Hell or Hades in full blast.”

Long walk Canadian and German wounded help one another through the mud during the Battle of Passchendaele.

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“Listening to the whine and crash of shells all around us, we were about as miserable a pair as one could imagine.”

To the front Officers lead the 8th Battalion into the line at Passchendaele in October 1917. The 7th and 8th battalions captured Vindictive Crossroads, north of the village, on Nov. 6.

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Haig was enough of a realist to know that the offensive couldn’t be pushed without fresh troops, and his attention had already focused on the Canadian Corps. General Arthur Currie, Corps commander since June 1917, was not overjoyed at the prospect of entering a campaign that had so little to recommend it, but at least he was satisfied with the chain of command. He made no secret of his reluctance to put the Corps under Gough, but he was quite amenable to Plumer, with whom he had much in common. The 3rd and 4th Canadian divisions moved into position on Oct. 18, relieving the II ANZAC Corps. The road to the front would have caused anyone to abandon hope. One battalion war diarist reported that thousands of “dead horses and mules are to be seen in the four-mile stretch to the firing line; large numbers of human bodies, which have been hurled from their graves by the bursting of large shells add a very poignant note to the horror of the general surroundings.” Nova Scotian Frank Iriam, who had marched up the same road with the 8th Battalion in April 1915, recalled that the “single track line of road across the sea of mud was a shambles, a slaughterhouse and a good example of Hell or Hades in full blast.” The Canadian sector had two pieces of higher ground. Just left of centre, a low spur stretched southwest toward Ypres, culminating in the hamlet of Bellevue. On the right was the main Passchendaele-Wytschaete ridge

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line. Between them was a true no man’s land: the valley of the Ravebeek River. The banks of this stream had long since disappeared, turning the entire area into an impassable swamp hundreds of metres wide in places. Nearly half of the Canadian sector, then, was too wet to use—and the other half was clogged with the ejecta of battle that the Australians had been unable to clear. That was Currie’s first order of business. The other essential tasks were to haul out for repair dozens of unserviceable artillery pieces and to construct proper gun pits. If Currie was determined to expend shells rather than lives, the gunners had to be able to ply their trade. The first Canadian attack was the initial jump in the leapfrog toward the village of Passchendaele. It was supported by more than 400 artillery pieces of all calibres from Canadian, British and New Zealand batteries; they stood ready in gun pits laboriously built by work parties from supporting units. For those infantrymen-cum-pioneers, the labour had seemed never-ending. The war diary of the 75th Battalion reported that “Men begin to show signs of fatigue, but carry on cheerfully…. Mud everywhere, never imagined there was so much mud in the world.”

DND/LAC/PA-0020635; DND/LAC/PA-002150

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J.H. Becker of the 75th would have agreed. Squatting in a shell hole, knee-deep in water, he and a pal waited, for what they weren’t sure: “The rain came down in torrents and as we sat there with our backs against the earth towards the Germans, listening to the whine and crash of shells all around us, we were about as miserable a pair as one could imagine…. We had no idea where we were, who was in the front line ahead of us or where that line was. All we could do was sit there and wonder—wonder many things.” Just before 6 a.m. on Oct. 26, in a thick mist that would soon turn to rain, the lead battalions moved out. In the trenches at the extreme left of the Canadian front, Lieutenant Ray Warne of the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles waited for the attack. His troops “were nearly frozen, soaked to the skin and the rain coming down in torrents…. At last [the barrage] lifted and away we went. It was a sight one could never forget. Men dropped all along the line, but the rest struggled through the mud towards the ‘pill boxes’… where the machine guns spat a continuous stream of death…. It was terrible to see the wounded holding out their arms begging

for help and yet be unable to help them.” With the 43rd and 58th battalions to the right, the mounted riflemen inched toward their objective under punishing German fire. Most eventually got where they were headed, only to be pushed back by fire from their flanks. There was a single exception: a small party of the 43rd Battalion, clinging to the southern tip of the Bellevue spur. They held on for vital hours while another attack could be organized, and by mid-afternoon, the 52nd Battalion had regained the intermediate line. The following morning, lead units were within a few hundred metres of their final objectives. In the meantime, confusion had overtaken the operation south of the Ravebeek. Decline Copse straddled the boundary between the Canadian and Australian sectors, a vulnerable spot in any operation. The 46th Battalion had captured it, but miscommunication with the relieving unit allowed the Germans to reoccupy parts of their original line. For hours, the two sides scrapped and clawed over the shattered wood; not until the following evening were the last of the Bavarians ejected from Decline Copse. One day of attacking had been followed by three days of fending off German counterattacks, but finally the lines were firmed up. On the 30th, the second Canadian attack went ahead to seize what would become the start line for the attack on Passchendaele village itself. It was a clear but cold and windy day that turned, to no one’s surprise, rainy in the afternoon. Official documents noted that the advance went smoothly; with the sang-froid that only a battalion war diarist could manage, the 78th’s reported

Staff support General Arthur Currie is surrounded by his officers at Passchendaele in November 1917. Currie demanded that the Canadian Corps serve in Plumer’s British Second Army.

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Pearkes, his pant leg stained with blood from a shrapnel wound he had ignored for hours, was later awarded the Victoria Cross. Sheltering Wounded Canadians take cover behind a damaged pillbox at Passchendaele.

War hero Major George Pearkes, VC, photographed in December 1917. He was wounded five times over the course of the war.

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that “the whole Brigade advanced under cover of the barrage like men on parade.” In fact, the barrage was indifferent in places, and the 78th and 85th battalions’ advance was quite unlike a parade, wilting and then stalling under heavy enemy fire. But the check was only temporary. The senior surviving officer of the 85th called up the reserve company and, with the injection of new energy, the assault began to move forward again, hugging the mud and bringing heavy small-arms fire down on enemy positions. The same thing happened to the 78th—a momentary check, a decisive intervention by a surviving officer, and a second effort that carried the objective. Both battalions were consolidating their newly won positions within 90 minutes of zero hour.

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Success for the men of the 72nd Battalion seemed even more unlikely. Ahead of them was the heavily defended Crest Farm, so well protected that there was only a narrow gap for the attacking companies to get through. A betting person might have wagered against them, but they moved with surprising speed over the swampy ground, benefiting from a flawless artillery barrage. Their capture of Crest Farm impressed even Haig, and one can forgive the celebratory tone of the war diary: “The Huns ran in all directions and it is a certainty that they were completely demoralised.” To the north, the tactical outlook was bleak. The attacking units—Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, the 49th Battalion and the 5th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles—would be advancing uphill and the artillery support was even spottier, with too many shells falling short and too many enemy positions left unmolested. The Patricias sustained ruinous casualties taking the fortified hamlet of Meetcheele, while the 49th lost even more men getting as far as Furst Farm. On the far left, the 5th CMRs struggled mightily to reach their objectives, only to find that the units on either side were nowhere to be seen.

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Major George Pearkes was in command of a small band of survivors occupying Vapour Farm. Having advanced deeper into enemy territory than any unit in the division, they were not disposed to give it up. Pearkes’ messages, sent back over the course of a trying day, betray the danger of his situation. At 7:45 a.m., he reported “Have about 50 men from ‘C’ and ‘D’ [companies]. We must have help from both sides. Hun about 200 yards away. Am digging in.” By 1 p.m., the situation had deteriorated: “Both my flanks in the air. Bde. on left must endeavour to come up. Am short S.A.A. [small arms ammunition] but will hang on.” At 2:45 p.m., the strain was beginning to tell: “All very much exhausted. Ammunition running short. Do not think we can hold on much longer without being relieved.” Three hours later he repeated, “Do not think I can hold out until morning.” But hang on they did, until they were relieved at dusk. Pearkes, his pant leg stained with blood from a shrapnel wound he had ignored for hours, was later awarded the Victoria Cross. With that attack, a thousand-metre advance that cost more than 2,300 casualties, the 3rd and 4th divisions had finished their work at Passchendaele; they were pulled back to reserve lines and the 1st and 2nd divisions took their places. Ahead was a two-step operation. The first stage, set for Nov. 6, would capture the remains of Passchendaele village; the second stage would secure the ridge behind the village. It would be the Canadians’ toughest test. Although the infantrymen were gradually moving onto higher and drier ground, it was ground that was now little more than a mosaic of overlapping shell holes filled with a ghastly soup of rainwater, chemicals and human remains. “Here on the battlefield things are horrible,” wrote Napoléon Gagné to his wife in Stretcher-bearers Canadians carry a wounded German prisoner around a water-filled shell hole.

SECOND BATTLE OF PASSCHENDAELE, OCT. 26 TO NOV. 10, 1917 14

ALLIED DIVISIONS (6 BRITISH, 4 CANADIAN, 2 FRENCH, 1 AUSTRALIAN, 1 BELGIAN)

6

GERMAN DIVISIONS

275,000

ESTIMATED ALLIED CASUALTIES (JULY TO NOVEMBER)

220,000

ESTIMATED GERMAN CASUALTIES (JULY TO NOVEMBER)

100,000

ESTIMATED CANADIAN STRENGTH

24,065

NUMBER OF GERMAN PRISONERS

15,654

NUMBER OF CANADIAN CASUALTIES

9

NUMBER OF VICTORIA CROSSES AWARDED TO CANADIANS

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Billets Battle-weary Canadians rest in a shell-shattered house following the fight for Passchendaele.

Casualty A wounded Canadian is carried to an aid post. The Corps suffered 15,654 casualties at Passchendaele.

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Pointe-Gatineau, Que., on Nov. 6. “What you see in the newspapers is nothing to what we see here on the battlefield. We are human beings who have lost their spirit…. I am getting so tired of this miserable state. It rains all the time and winter is coming.” The artillery’s positions were gun pits in name only, the guns being driven deeper into the mud with every round. The gunners worked without shelter, counting on the ooze around them to smother nearby blasts, but it was corrosive on the nerves. “Raining all day,” wrote New Brunswicker Harry Mollins of the 2nd Canadian Siege Battery in his diary. “The mud is something fierce. All the shell holes are full of water. I am wet thru & coated with mud. Am disgusted with everything.” The situation was scarcely better for the men who had to manhandle supplies up to the front. Ceaseless work on the roads kept them passable, but only just. Howard Stevens, a young officer with the 107th Pioneer

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Battalion, described the scene in a letter to his family that was published in his local newspaper in Bracebridge, Ont.: “The mud was the worst I had ever experienced. Horses would mire in shell holes and could not be taken out, and had to be shot. Have seen dozens of horses and men lying along the road, just where they had fallen, killed by high explosives or overhead shrapnel. They were pulled to one side clear of the roads and left. No time to bury them, because the ammunition had to go forward to the guns.” At 6 a.m. on Nov. 6, the barrage opened and the lead units plunged ahead on what Frank Iriam called a “half-swimming, half-crawling and wholly miserable advance across that morass in cold drizzle of winter rain.” Despite the unforgiving terrain, they moved surprisingly quickly, and stayed so close to the barrage that they were occasionally right inside it. Working methodically from shell hole to shell hole, riflemen from five battalions moved inexorably toward Passchendaele, using bayonets as freely as bullets and bombs. Within three hours of zero hour, the village had been taken and supporting battalions were moving north toward the ridge. They had a long day ahead as the Germans tried to pry them from the ruins, but they wouldn’t be dislodged. At a cost of more than 2,200 casualties, including 734 killed, Passchendaele and its environs were firmly in Canadian hands. The last mission—to capture the high ground north of Passchendaele, including the highest point on the ridge and the aptly named Vindictive Crossroads—took place on Nov. 10 on the narrowest front yet. The heavy lifting would fall to two battalions, the 7th and 8th, whose front quickly became even narrower. At 6 a.m., in the usual heavy rain, the lead battalions left the start line and made good progress; before too long, one company of the 8th was reported to be “on its objective and apparently quite happy with the situation.” On the left wing, however, the British attack had sputtered and then died, forcing

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the 8th Battalion to defend its flank while the 10th Battalion came up to help hold the new front line. With the Canadian front narrowed by almost a third, German artillery—five corps’ worth—could concentrate its fire. They were bombarding trenches they had recently held, so their ranging was perfect, while Canadian counter-battery fire was hampered by poor visibility. Hour after hour, shells rained down on the Canadians as their numbers were slowly whittled down. The rain and mud began to take a toll on their rifles, many of which became unserviceable. But they held on, grimly, doggedly, and eventually were able to consolidate their gains. The wounded staggered and stumbled to regimental aid posts—an officer of the 10th Battalion described the men who made it back as “pitiable.” They were the lucky ones, for so many men never emerged. The 8th Battalion’s war diarist reported that two men drowned trying to get back across the Ravebeek, “not having the strength to cross the little stream.” After that last battle, the diarist of the 10th Battalion observed wryly, “the Unit had no opportunity to execute any brilliant moves.” The comment could apply to the Canadian Corps as a whole at Passchendaele. It was not a campaign that saw much tactical brilliance, for the conditions scarcely permitted it. Instead, it was marked by dogged determination, painstaking preparation, the overwhelming weight of artillery, and countless acts of remarkable personal gallantry. Some battles are about artistry and brilliance; Passchendaele was about sheer hard work and apparently superhuman endurance. Historians will long dissect the 103-day campaign—what it achieved, and if it was worth the cost. Currie and the Canadian Corps didn’t have the luxury of debating whether the offensive should be pressed;

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they were given a task, and that was that. Currie could tinker with plans and dates, and thereby tilt the scales in his men’s favour, but he couldn’t decline the order. When first presented with the problem of taking Passchendaele, the general predicted it would cost the Corps 16,000 casualties. At the final accounting, he was within a few hundred of that prediction.

“The rest struggled through the mud towards the ‘pill boxes’… where the machine guns spat a continuous stream of death.”

A century on, Passchendaele has reverted to what its name suggests—verdant copses, rich farm fields, a landscape of peace and order. Every spring, there is the annual harvest of iron, when farmers comb from their fields the detritus of war that has come to the surface over the winter. Viewed from above, the ghostly outlines of trenches and craters are still visible on the landscape, and German pillboxes can be seen in Tyne Cot Cemetery. At Crest Farm, a mute block of Canadian granite holds an epitaph that seems so fitting because it is so terse: “The Canadian Corps in Oct.-Nov. 1917 advanced across this valley—then a treacherous morass—captured and held the Passchendaele Ridge.” L

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Canada’s man in

Havana By JOHN W. GRAHAM

THE UNLIKELY TALE OF A CANADIAN DIPLOMATTURNED-SPY IN CUBA IN THE SIZZLING ’60S The story of a young Canadian

diplomat spying on the Soviets in Cuba on behalf of the CIA with the blessing of our prime minister is improbable, but no more so than its context. This was the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when the world came within a hair’s breadth of a nuclear holocaust. The context extends to the immediate and still-perilous aftermath of that drama in which my miniscule role was played. Incidental to the story, but relevant to present-day missile rattling, is the memory of how hubris and stupidity almost brought the planet to its worst modern disaster and how, in the

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end, strength of character and human values on the part of the two foremost protagonists reeled the world back from the edge of the precipice. The protagonists were, of course, Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy. The genesis of the missile crisis lay in the East/West polarization that emerged from the Second World War. There were other factors, not least of which was the Cuban Revolution. But two other events help to explain why Khrushchev gambled that his bold plan to install missiles in Cuba would succeed without provoking a nuclear war—thereby conferring upon the Soviet Union a major strategic advantage.

Courtesy of John W. Graham

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The first event was the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Shortly after dawn on Monday, April 17, 1961, a ragtag paramilitary force of more than 1,400 Cuban émigrés struggled ashore at a swamp-encircled inlet on Cuba’s south coast. The inlet was the Bay of Pigs. The invasion was an unbroken chain of disasters and its swift defeat became the most humiliating debacle of Kennedy’s extraordinary presidency. Kennedy had inherited a plan that had the blessing of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and had been conceived in the last months of that administration. Eisenhower and many others in Washington saw in Fidel Castro’s blossoming relationship with Moscow the spectre of Soviet mischief and influence spreading into Latin America, long regarded as America’s backyard. The invasion of Cuba by Miami-based exiles was expected to ignite widespread opposition within the island and lead to the overthrow of Castro. Funded, trained and armed by the CIA, the operation was placed under the command of CIA officer Richard M. Bissell Jr. If the operation was almost doomed from the outset because it was based on flawed intelligence (especially the belief that a majority of the population would support an armed revolt against Castro), then it was unquestionably doomed by the choice of Bissell. A well-connected Ivy League patrician, Bissell had schmoozed his path up the CIA ladder to become the head of clandestine activities, an area where his only notable success was an American role in the assassination of the Dominican dictator, Generalissimo Rafael Trujillo. (Bissell’s

agents had smuggled weapons to the conspirators in frozen meat carcasses, via an acquaintance of mine in Santo Domingo nicknamed Wimpy.) Many of his other activities were focused on bizarre plots to kill Castro, including exploding cigars. Until the Bay of Pigs, Bissell’s most notorious disaster was the failure to warn pilot Gary Powers that his U-2 spy aircraft overflying the Soviet Union was within range of a new generation of Soviet surface-to-air missiles. The downing of the U-2 and Powers’ capture was a major embarrassment, costing the United States both treasure and face. Bissell was reprimanded but survived. The Bay of Pigs catastrophe was on a grander scale, entrenching the Castro regime and playing into the hands of the Soviet Union. Some blame was attached to Kennedy. As he saw disaster looming, the president attempted to reduce the blatant visibility of U.S. involvement by cutting the CIA airstrike by half. But this time Bissell’s luck ran out. The culprit, whose smooth talk had assured the White House of success, was summoned to the Oval Office, where the president remarked: “In a parliamentary government, I’d have to resign, but in this government, I can’t.” Bissell was through. For Kennedy, damage control was only beginning. There was outrage in the country and he could not leave some 1,200 prisoners, whose fate was ultimately his responsibility, to rot in Cuban prisons. A hefty and mortifying ransom in food supplies and medicines was paid for their release. Worse, America’s timid conduct during the invasion appears to have sown

Observer Cuban president Fidel Castro, author John Graham and Léon Mayrand, Canada’s ambassador to Cuba from 1963 to 1970.

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“THE GREAT DANGER OF THIS IS A MISCALCULATION— A MISTAKE…. DO YOU REALIZE THAT IF I MAKE A MISTAKE IN THIS CRISIS, 200 MILLION PEOPLE ARE GOING TO GET KILLED?”

Summit President John F. Kennedy of the United States greets Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union in Vienna, Austria, in June 1961.

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to Cuba. In mid-October 1962, American reconnaissance aircraft detected several of these ships, the presence of missiles and the installation of launch sites in Cuba. On Oct. 22, Kennedy issued an ultimatum that all Soviet ships carrying missiles and missile components to Cuba —President must return to port. He John F. Kennedy in 1962 also declared DEFCON 3 for the U.S. Armed Forces—a defence-readiness condition in which the air force is ready to mobilize in 15 minutes. Two days later, he raised a seed in Khrushchev’s mind that a hapless it to DEFCON 2, the nation’s second highKennedy could be outflanked in the Cold War. est military alert—one level short of war. These were the tensest 13 days in modern The second event was the summit between history. The U.S. asked NATO allies to colKhrushchev and Kennedy two months later laborate. They obliged—the only major in Vienna, where they met for the first time exception was Canada. Apparently because he to grapple with crises in Berlin and Laos. At disliked and distrusted the young American the end of the meeting, Kennedy confided to a president, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker friend that he had been “savaged” and that his stalled for two days. In defiance of the prime poor performance might provoke Khrushchev minister, defence minister Douglas Harkness into a miscalculation that could lead to nuclear ensured that service co-operation did take war. This intuition was almost proven right. place. However, the damage was done. U.S. Tensions had been building, even in Canada. Attorney General Robert Kennedy remarked: In Carp, Ont., 30 kilometres west of Ottawa, “Canada provides all aid short of help.” the Diefenbunker was hollowed out of the As the crisis grew, hawks, both military and ground to accommodate key members of govcivilian, in Moscow and Washington pressed ernment in case of a nuclear strike. Across the their respective superiors to pull the trigcountry, property owners were building bomb ger, arguing that the only winner would be shelters in their basements and backyards. the side that launched a pre-emptive nuclear The feeling of madness in the air, the presstrike. Fortunately, they had misjudged their sure to break the few threads that anchored leaders. It is difficult to imagine two more sanity to the ground, is captured in Stanley different men: Khrushchev, son of peasants, Kubrick’s 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How veteran (as a commissar) of both world wars, I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the including the Battle of Stalingrad (one of the Bomb, a fantastic black satire on how easily most gruelling and decisive battles of the the United States and the Soviet Union could Second World War) was the brightest and most slip into nuclear war. It features “stupidbrazen of Russia’s Cold War leaders. Tough, ity and hubris” and was nominated for four often ruthless, he successfully struggled up Academy Awards, including best picture. one of the world’s most slippery and dangerKhrushchev began to secretly ship interous ladders to take control of the Kremlin in mediate-range missiles and nuclear warheads 1958. Kennedy, a wealthy Harvard playboy

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Alamy/E0W3XA

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with a heroic Second World War record in the South Pacific, became president in 1961. Yet there are clues. Khrushchev broke with the grim Stalinist legacy and introduced some liberal reforms. As leaders, neither were intimidated by pugnacious colleagues and as the missile crisis unfolded both understood the stakes and stood down their respective hawks. The best example was the message dictated by Khrushchev on Oct. 28 in response to a message from Washington. Khrushchev said that he would withdraw his missiles in exchange for an American promise not to invade Cuba—a decision that some of his generals described as humiliating and that Castro denounced as a “betrayal.” Amid the growing risk of events slipping out of control, and knowing that to encrypt the message in Moscow, decrypt it in Washington and deliver it to the White House might take 10 hours, Khrushchev ordered the message sent en clair over Radio Moscow. The crisis was over. Soon after, both leaders described the nightmare they had lived through as “insane.” But was it over? Mostly, but not quite. Aerial reconnaissance had given Kennedy’s people reasonable confidence that Khrushchev had withdrawn the nuclear weapons. However, the level of trust was understandably low. Acknowledging this American anxiety, Khrushchev agreed to United Nations on-site verification, but Castro vetoed the arrangement, calling it an “abuse of Cuban sovereignty.” This was a major concern. Meanwhile, more anxiety issues emerged. Aerial photography revealed the presence of mobile nuclear weapons. NATO called these Soviet short-range artillery rocket systems FROGs (Free Rocket Over Ground). They had a range of about 80 kilometres and could be tipped with small nuclear warheads. Their withdrawal was not part of the agreement. The existence of surface-to-air missiles (SAM), Komar-class guided-missile speedboats, and the continued presence of thousands of Soviet troops intensified the need for more ground-level intelligence. The CIA had a network of agents in Cuba, but most were rolled up by an increasingly professional Cuban counter-intelligence force. They clearly needed more help—and urgently— otherwise it is unlikely that they would have sought eyes-on-the-ground covert intelligence help from an ally which did not even have a professional foreign intelligence service.

This is where the amateur—me—enters the picture. The U.S. government specifically asked if Canada would send an officer to our embassy in Havana who the CIA could task with monitoring Soviet military movements and sites as well as Soviet and Eastern European merchant shipping to and from the island. Why me? I was concluding my first posting at our embassy in the Dominican Republic and I had Spanish. I was also a reserve officer in the Royal Canadian Navy, but I don’t think that was a factor. The potential hazards were not discussed. Perhaps they thought I was expendable. My briefing in Ottawa was short, since there was not a lot they could tell me. The most useful advice came from my colleague George Cowley, who had been rushed to Havana to start the intelligence work pending my arrival from Santo Domingo. Returning to Ottawa, he shared with me his newly acquired trade secrets. We spent an afternoon at Zellers, where Cowley picked out attire resembling that worn by Soviet soldiers in Cuba: khaki trousers, plaid shirts and tennis shoes. Moscow claimed that all troops had been withdrawn, leaving only a few attachés at the embassy. This was a stretch. In 1963, their numbers were 30,000 to 35,000. If anyone asked, they were “agricultural experts.” The Russians in Cuba actually described this clandestine enterprise as “Operation Checkered Shirt.” Cowley advised that I needed camouflage. With my new wardrobe, I was almost ready for Cuba. The next steps were visits to Washington, D.C., then CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. These briefings were intense and practical. At the end, I was thanked for taking on the assignment and then presented with a gift—a small, sophisticated camera with telescopic lenses. I should have anticipated the “gift” and my mind raced—about what would happen if I was stopped with incriminating film by the Soviets or Cubans. It seemed to me that any alert security patrol would want to investigate a stranger, even in a look-alike Russian plaid shirt, lurking around military installations. If caught, there would be repercussions. After a few moments, I politely declined. “But how will you give us the details we

One time, when a colleague and I felt too exposed, we pretended to change a non-flat tire.

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Rough sketches Graham was offered a camera to monitor Soviet military activity in Cuba, but he opted to draw what he saw instead.

Declassified drawings Several of my sketches are still marked with extravagant security classifications, but they are now declassified. Canada’s Department of National Defence has since declassified many of the documents related to my activities in Cuba, but the key bit—which revealed the link between the Canadian government and the U.S. government and CIA—was found by Don Munton of the University of Northern British Columbia, an academic friend who discovered several of my telegrams (addressed to Ottawa) in the Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. The telegrams had been declassified and formed part of packages of selected documents sent periodically to the White House by the CIA.

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need about guidance and other electronic equipment? Precise configuration is necessary for recognition,” said a baffled American. “I sketch,” I said. “I will send sketches.” Dismayed, my new CIA friends were no doubt thinking black thoughts about secret agents in Havana producing drawings of the inner workings of vacuum cleaners to bamboozle their employers, as in Graham Greene’s classic spy novel Our Man in Havana. But sketching is what I did. On the ground in Havana, I was accommodated in an attractive bungalow in what had been the upper-bourgeois suburb of Cubanacan. It came fully furnished plus Pura, a splendid maid, and Blackie, a large dog of mixed breeding. The owner, an American who owned a small factory, was leaving and had offered the residence to his friend, the Canadian ambassador, to use as he saw fit. The owner expected to return in a few months, as soon as the “unpleasantness” with Fidel Castro came to an end. I was based at the Canadian Embassy on Quinta Avenida, but much of my time was spent in the country—often on poorly identified back roads. The job was to identify Soviet weapons, electronic detection and communications systems, and the movement of Soviet troops and equipment by road and in ports. American reconnaissance by high-flying U-2s, RF-101 Voodoos and RF-8 Crusaders provided the locations and rough configurations of Soviet military installations, but not enough detail. With this information plotted on a map, I would set off in my Volkswagen Beetle, almost invariably on back roads,

and drive as close as I could to a site perimeter—not too close, but close enough to sketch and take notes. Sometimes the camp was too well hidden or the approach road led only to the camp gate, alerting even the most gullible of Soviet guards to my intentions. One time, when a colleague, former sergeant Vaughan Johnstone, and I felt too exposed, we pretended to change a non-flat tire. Back at the embassy I would attempt to identify the equipment by referring to a NATO manual. My sketches depicted SAM, Cruise and Komar missiles and much else. I did not spot a FROG. My findings were dispatched by diplomatic bag to Ottawa or, in the case of something significant, by telegram using a specially dedicated cipher machine. SAM sites were important, especially since Oct. 27, 1962, when a Soviet anti-aircraft weapon fired two missiles, bringing down a U-2 overflying Cuba and killing the pilot, U.S. Air Force Major Rudolf Anderson Jr., and almost triggering a massive U.S. reprisal. One long night sticks vividly in mind. Air reconnaissance reported that a SAM base was packing up, either for redeployment within Cuba or for shipment back to Russia. The Soviet army moved its installations by night to avoid overhead detection. I was given the base co-ordinates and asked to scout the area—a twohour drive from Havana. Just before midnight, I was driving along a secondary road when I saw the dimmed lights of a line of trucks approaching. A long convoy of vehicles, including articulated trucks, with long canister-shaped loads sheathed in canvas, was moving eastward—all recognizably Soviet vehicles. Bingo! I had my quarry. But zipping past it left insufficient time to take notes. I paused in

Courtesy of John W. Graham; Alamy/hpdk64

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the shelter of trees by the side of the road, reversed my Beetle and then leapfrogged two or three vehicles at a time with my pen busy in my right hand. No one stopped me, no motorcycle pursued me. Why not? Another similar event was an expedition to Punta Brava, a town a few miles southwest of Havana, to search for a SAM base. Several bases were being relocated to the Havana periphery, apparently to provide the city with an improved defensive umbrella. Approaching a gas station on the Carretera Central, I spotted a tertiary road bearing the tire marks of heavy trucks. I followed the road through cane fields for about half a mile where it was blocked by a single swing pole in front of what was obviously a Soviet camp. My approach—or maybe the grinding of my Beetle’s gears—disturbed a solitary, unarmed and slumbering guard, dressed in the same checkered-shirt uniform I was wearing. He was peering at me as I took a quick scan of the scene, and reversed in a cloud of dust. Back on the highway and with no visible sign of anyone haring after me, I stopped and drew three rough sketches—trying to recall the overall layout, the distinctive shape and configuration of radar antennas poking above camouflage canvas, and details of a long, covered canister-like object on a trailer. This was probably a SAM, and by grim coincidence, my sighting occurred exactly one year after Major Anderson’s U-2 had been destroyed by SAMs. Again, no one came looking for me. Years later, more questions were raised about these adventures. Why wasn’t I caught? There are several possible explanations: (1) the Russians thought I was one of them with my Zeller’s disguise and brown hair; (2) the Russians didn’t speak Spanish and could not interrogate me; (3) the Russians didn’t trust Cuban security, which was more likely to have spotted me as a fake; (4) the Russians may have welcomed an “inspection” to prove that the missiles and warheads had gone (since Castro had vetoed the agreement

“NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE WAS HANGING BY JUST A THREAD AND WE WEREN’T COUNTING DAYS OR HOURS, BUT MINUTES.” —General Anatoly Gribkov, Soviet Army Chief of Operations in 1962

to allow a UN inspection; and (5) luck. Was Canada right in accepting the U.S. request to supply a spy? To my mind, absolutely. And not simply to remove the bad taste of Diefenbaker’s initial hesitation or to collect brownie points from our closest ally. Whatever dark places the CIA had been and would go, this operation made sense. Was it useful? Did my work do any good? Nothing spectacular, certainly. But regular, systematic reporting did help erase a multitude of question marks on maps in Washington and Langley. In some cases, it was a matter of demystifying a site considered by the CIA to be potentially sinister. For example, Langley was puzzled by a formation of concentric concrete tubs. I identified them as cattle troughs. Small beer, I know, but this process helped step by step to build confidence that Khrushchev and his armed forces were respecting their commitment under the agreement and to increase the distance between fingers and triggers.

Launch site A U.S. State Department official in Washington points to a suspected missile launch site on an aerial reconnaissance photo taken near San Cristóbal, Cuba, west of Havana, in October 1962.

The American owner expected to return in a few months, as soon as the “unpleasantness” with Fidel Castro came to an end.

John W. Graham’s memoir Whose Man in Havana? Adventures from the Far Side of Diplomacy (University of Calgary Press) contains a more detailed account of Cuba in the 1960s and other exotic and troubled waterfronts. L

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CURE OR CURSE? Evidence is getting stronger that mefloquine, an anti-malarial drug prescribed to troops deploying to mosquito-ridden tropical regions, may cause neuropsychiatric side-effects BY SHARON ADAMS

Illustration by Robert Carter

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C

Canadian Airborne Regiment veteran Dave Bona woke up with the same question every morning for more than 20 years: “Is today the day I’m going to kill myself?” He joined the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in 1984, served in Cyprus in 1988-89 and the First Gulf War in 1990-91. But he was never the same after missions to Somalia in 1992 and Rwanda in 1993-94. He had vivid nightmares, flashbacks of horrible deaths of children, hair-trigger rage, vertigo and nausea, seizures, diarrhea, insomnia so bad he could only get to sleep after staying up for days and drinking himself insensible. Symptoms—and the drinking—persisted after he returned to Canada, resulting in a court martial in 2000 and discharge from the service and loss of his marriage. He was eventually diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But time and effort did nothing to quell the symptoms. Treatment followed treatment. Prescription followed prescription. “The meds didn’t work the way they were supposed to,” amplifying problems instead, he said. Then, several years ago, his psychologist asked if he had ever taken mefloquine. The penny dropped. Treatment for PTSD didn’t work on some of his symptoms because they were not caused by PTSD. His persistent non-PTSD symptoms are all listed by some researchers—including retired military physicians and neurologists in several countries—as symptoms of mefloquine toxicity. That list also includes anxiety, depression, suicidal and homicidal thoughts, paranoia, delusions and hallucinations. He was recently diagnosed with mefloquineinduced acquired brain injury.

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Bona was among 900 troops deployed to Somalia in 1992 on the mission during which 16-yearold Shidane Arone was beaten to death, an action that ultimately resulted in the disbanding of the Canadian Airborne Regiment. The troops were required to take mefloquine before it was approved for sale by Health Canada. It has been widely reported that the troops had been given the drug as part of a safety study, and that monitoring requirements were not met. The auditor general found in 1999 that the soldiers were not asked for informed consent, and the CAF and the Department of National Defence (DND) did not monitor, record and report adverse reactions as required for clinical trials. A report released in June by the CAF Surgeon General said although 96 personnel were in a mefloquine safety study in 1991-92, that did not include the Somalia mission “since the guidelines of the study were not compatible with the operational requirement to deploy to Somalia.” However, Michele Brill-Edwards, Health Canada’s drug approvals chief from 1987-1992, told the Edmonton Journal in 2016 that DND pushed to get access to mefloquine and received approval to use it under clinical trial rules, but failed to monitor and record adverse effects. As well, she said, Health Canada failed to ensure that DND followed the clinical trial protocol. “Valuable information about the safety or effectiveness of the drug under ‘field’ conditions was not collected,” then Assistant Auditor General Maria Barrados testified before the Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts in 1999. Somalia veterans say they were given an oral briefing on malaria and mefloquine and its side-effects, but were not told to stop taking it if they had bad nightmares or other psychological effects, and were not

SOLDIERS REFERRED TO THE DAYS THEY HAD TO TAKE THEIR DOSES AS “PSYCHO TUESDAYS” OR “WACKO WEDNESDAYS.” screened for contraindication. Mefloquine is one of the few effective anti-malarial drugs available. Without protection, the CAF projected up to 27 malaria cases a month, and several deaths during the deployment. At the time, it was believed mefloquine had no longterm mental health effects and adverse reactions were rare and would cease when the medication was stopped. And it could be taken weekly, rather than daily, offering better protection. The benefits were believed to be worth the risk. But right from the first dose, some soldiers, including Bona, experienced problems. “The first day I took mefloquine…I immediately felt sick,” he said. Initially he would have symptoms only on dose days, but eventually some became constant, and other symptoms return randomly even to this day. Vivid dreams and dizziness are common side-effects. But some soldiers experienced more serious adverse effects including nightmares, insomnia, depression, anxiety and paranoia. A few had hallucinations. Soldiers referred to the days they took their doses as “psycho Tuesdays” or “wacko Wednesdays,” marked by “meflomares”—vivid and horrific nightmares.

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But Health Canada did not hear of these soldiers’ adverse reactions. The drug was licensed in Canada in 1993, and the CAF eventually gave it to 18,000 troops. Retired Lieutenant-General Romeo Dallaire told the Commons Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs this year that he asked to stop taking the drug during the 1993-94 Rwanda mission because it affected his memory and ability to think. He was ordered to continue, under threat of court martial. Chief on his mind at the time were preventing the genocide of civilians and the massacre of peacekeepers, as well as how to deal with child soldiers. Malaria is caused by a parasite passed along in the bites of certain mosquito species. They infest the liver and invade red blood cells, which carry oxygen and nutrients. The cells turn stiff and viscous, impeding blood flow to organs, especially the brain, and causing the heart to pump harder. Parasites can lie dormant in the liver for years, then spring back into action, sickening untreated victims sporadically throughout their lifetimes. The disease can cause uncontrollable shivering, high fever, deep fatigue, headache and low blood sugar. Untreated, it can lead to trouble breathing, convulsions, coma, kidney and liver failure and death. Malaria is a particular bane to the military, turning battle-ready soldiers bedridden very quickly. It can kill quickly, too. Military activity churns up the ground, creating perfect breeding conditions—and massed troops provide ideal mosquito feeding grounds. The disease spreads easily because everyone infected becomes a carrier, passing the parasites along to diseasefree mosquitos. Hundreds of millions of people contract malaria each year, and about half a million die. Malaria has altered the course of history, claiming emperors, kings and generals, robbing conquering

armies of strength to invade. Napoleon flooded the Dutch countryside in 1809, declaring, “We must oppose the English with nothing but fever, which will soon devour them all.” About 40 per cent of Britain’s 39,000 troops were stricken. During the First World War, malaria immobilized armies in Macedonia. “Regret that my army is in hospital with malaria,” a French general replied to a British request to attack; just under 80 per cent of his 120,000 troops were hospitalized. Supplies of quinine and cinchona bark, used to prevent and treat malaria, were disrupted in the Second World War. Half a million United States’ military contracted the disease. General Douglas MacArthur said, “This will be a long war if for every division I have facing the enemy I must count on a second division in hospital with malaria and a third division convalescing.” Malaria infected more than 40,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, prompting military research between 1963 and 1976 into a quarter million substances with promise for prevention and treatment. Mefloquine was number 142,490. It remains one of the few effective anti-malaria drugs. Despite the absence of phase III clinical safety and tolerability trials, mefloquine was subsequently licensed—and used by the military— in many countries, including the U.S., Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Australia. Anti-malarial drugs were authorized “on the basis of an incomplete knowledge base, and at too early a stage in the normal cycle of drug development” and the licensing bodies were influenced “perhaps subliminally” by the militaryindustrial-governmental lobby, wrote Royal Army Medical Corps Lieutenant-Colonel Ashley M. Croft in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine in 2007. For years, he said, reports of adverse reactions were dismissed first as rare occurrences, then as due to other factors, then as media hype.

From the beginning, the manufacturer warned that mefloquine could cause adverse effects. Warnings got sterner over the years, and now include psychiatric symptoms that may become permanent. A U.S. “black box” warning in 2013 said neurological side-effects could become permanent. Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority warned that nightmares, anxiety and depression could warn of more serious events, and that cases of suicide had been reported. European regulators also warned of the risk of irreversible neurological damage. Health Canada added mental health risks—anxiety, paranoia, depression, hallucinations and psychotic behaviour—to the mefloquine warning label in 2016. Mefloquine has been linked to murders and suicides in nearly every country where it was issued to troops: to murder-suicides at a U.S. army base in 2003, to a 2012 massacre of 16 Afghan villagers, including children, by a U.S. soldier, and to suicides among Irish and Australian troops. Veterans in several countries began describing it as “the suicide pill.” The U.S. declared it a drug of last resort in 2013. Military special forces in many countries, including U.S. Navy SEALs and the army’s Green Berets, have banned its use. A 2017 CAF Surgeon General’s report recommends that mefloquine not be used as a first option for malaria prevention, but that it may be prescribed to those who have previously tolerated it and prefer it and when there are no suitable alternatives. It noted a gradual decline in its use since 2004; in 2016, only 20 prescriptions were written. In 2006, mefloquine was found to be neurotoxic in animals in doses equivalent to that used in humans. Researchers in several countries soon were convinced human symptoms were caused by damage to the brain. They called it acquired brain injury from mefloquine toxicity, a designation disputed in some military circles.

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In a 2016 investigation of veterans’ mental health in light of veterans’ claims the drug caused health problems, the Commons veterans’ affairs committee included testimony from CAF SurgeonGeneral Hugh MacKay, who said there isn’t enough scientific evidence to support claims that mefloquine has clinically significant long-lasting effects. “Severe neuropsychiatric adverse effects have very rarely been associated with its use.” A 2017 Health Canada safety review found limited evidence to support the conclusion mefloquine causes long-lasting and permanent neurological and psychiatric adverse effects. Ironically, the CAF contributed to that lack of evidence by not doing a safety study of the 900 troops sent to Somalia in 1992. “Had they done…we could have spared a future generation any problems,” said retired major Remington Nevin, a former army and preventive medicine officer now a post-doctoral fellow with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Although mefloquine has been used by millions of people over the past 30 years, relatively little is known about how it kills parasites or what it does inside the human body. Researchers in England and Australia recently found it binds (imperfectly) to ribosome inside the parasite’s cells, disrupting production of proteins, which are vital to building cells, digesting food and moving muscles. Other research is focused on improving that bond to make the drug more effective, and hopefully less toxic to humans. Adverse effects are not experienced by everyone, and are mostly short-lived. But it’s just not possible to predict who will be severely affected. Some early researchers suggested genetic variations are the cause. Recent research suggests it’s a variation in enzymes from person to person. Enzymes activate the drug, then eliminate

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it before toxic byproducts build up. But it is thought that some humans lack the enzymes needed for elimination, so toxins build up, damaging neurons and accumulating in the brain stem and structures regulating emotions. The result is neurological and psychiatric symptoms—but the damage is physical. In the first randomized trial of mefloquine in travellers in 2001, 67 per cent of participants reported side-effects, and six per cent were severe enough to require medical attention. Had this information been available in the early 1990s, wrote Croft, “it is certain that…national licensing authorities…would not at the time have endorsed this drug.” In 2002, British researchers found mefloquine caused liver and thyroid damage in some people. The effect is worsened by dehydration, which happens in the hot countries where troops often deploy, and by alcohol use. The World Health Organization still recommends mefloquine, as benefits outweigh risks when taken as prescribed. But it warned in the early 1990s that neurological or psychiatric symptoms could result. It recommended the drug not be used by anyone whose job requires fine co-ordination, such as pilots. At the first signs of adverse reactions, the drug should be discontinued. “And—most of the time—that is simply impossible when a sudden, mass deployment of hundreds of troops is necessary,” said Julian Lewis, head of Britain’s Commons Defence Committee, which investigated military use of mefloquine. “Mefloquine cannot be used as directed in military settings,” said Nevin. The troops themselves may dismiss symptoms as a reaction to the stresses of deployment: heat, trauma, long hours on duty, dehydration. Stigma prevents some from reporting psychological symptoms. After deployment, continuing

symptoms can be misattributed to PTSD or traumatic brain injury, which share many of the same symptoms as mefloquine toxicity. The military could also improve its screening of troops to eliminate those with pre-existing conditions and its monitoring of adverse effects. Record keeping on deployment may be inconsistent and records can get lost. Postdeployment reporting can also be spotty, inconsistent or not designed to capture information necessary to identify mefloquine problems. Many British veterans have reported that they were not screened for pre-existing conditions nor told about the potentially permanent adverse effects. As well, “a number of troops discard [their mefloquine] rather than risk its potentially dangerous side-effects,” said Lewis. Veterans, their families and advocates in several countries have fought for decades for their militaries to acknowledge the damage caused by mefloquine and do something to help those afflicted. The Royal Canadian Legion sent letters to the ministers of defence and veterans affairs in November 2016, urging them to undertake research into mefloquine and stop its use while this investigation continues. “Our sailors, soldiers and airmen and women deserve to know the side-effects and to receive the proper diagnosis so they can receive the proper care,” as well as help linking their condition to service for disability benefits entitlements, wrote Dominion President Dave Flannigan. Individual and class-action lawsuits have been launched by mefloquine veterans in several countries. In 2013, the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law ran an article outlining issues that may be raised in such suits. The International Mefloquine

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Veterans’ Alliance has raised awareness and advocated for government inquiries. Canadian members of the alliance want the military to admit mefloquine causes harm, identify those who suffered adverse effects and see they get help, and support research into diagnosis and treatment. They also want the military to establish a single point of contact for those with mefloquine symptoms, as did Britain in 2016. Only one of their wishes was addressed in the 2017 CAF report, which recommends mefloquine “be viewed as a less preferred agent.” Three of its four recommendations addressed better CAF screening, education and auditing of anti-malarials. Although the report noted that adverse effects are more common than initially thought, ranging from 25 to 50 per cent, “We did not identify any evidence (that met our inclusion criteria) for potentially associated long-term mental health or neurologic effects of mefloquine compared to doxycycline or AP [atovaquone-proguanil].” Nine studies, involving some 400,000 military personnel, met the inclusion criteria—comparing adverse effects of other anti-malarials to mefloquine. The report also reviewed records of Canadian military members prescribed the drug between 2013 and 2016 and found documentation of screening for contraindications in 38 per cent of 111 cases. As well, 12 per cent were prescribed

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the drug despite having health conditions that should have disqualified them from using it. Case reports, studies on mefloquine alone, and studies of civilian populations were excluded. “The [CAF] report should be seen as part of a strategy of manufacturing doubt by an embattled bureaucracy deeply on the defensive on the mefloquine issue,” said Nevin. “The conclusions… are also clearly at odds with those of a number of other countries.” Australia, for example, has found the drug to be a plausible cause of chronic central nervous system toxicity syndrome, and a British report said the drug carries an unacceptable risk of severe side-effects for its deploying troops, he said. Although veterans say the CAF report does not address their concerns, a report released in June by the Commons veterans’ affairs committee does: “The risks of long-term psychiatric effects are sufficiently recognized by the scientific community that they should be added to the drug’s medication guide.” The Commons report also recommended Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) reach out to Somalia and Rwanda veterans to ensure they receive health services and support and VAC benefits and programs to which they are entitled. And it recommends VAC co-operate in mefloquine research programs. Meanwhile, VAC says veterans may make a claim for benefits for

MILITARY ACTIVITY CHURNS UP THE GROUND, CREATING PERFECT BREEDING CONDITIONS—AND MASSED TROOPS PROVIDE IDEAL MOSQUITO FEEDING GROUNDS.

a condition related to the use of mefloquine during service, if there is a link between their medical condition and mefloquine and there is supporting medical information from the physician treating them. But Veterans Ombudsman Guy Parent is concerned that some veterans may not be able to link symptoms and diagnoses to their service. “This is an issue that requires a whole-of-government approach,” he said, pointing out that other governments, including the U.S., U.K., Australia and Germany, have provided services, including support in applying for benefits for mefloquine toxicity, educating veterans and healthcare providers, funding research and adding mefloquine to the list of other toxic agents, such as Agent Orange and asbestos. Investing in research is particularly important, said Bona, because there are few treatments available for mefloquine toxicity and acquired brain injury. He turned a corner three years ago when he began low-resolution electromagnetic tomography analysis called LORETA neurofeedback. Neurofeedback successfully treats some traumatic brain injury, says a 2015 article in Biofeedback. The therapy identifies damaged areas and trains other brain pathways to compensate. “It crushes the untreatable depression that is one of the side-effects [of mefloquine damage],” said Bona. “You get your life back.” He still has PTSD and acquired brain injury, but the edge has been taken off. He still is triggered, but “recovery is measured in minutes and hours, as opposed to days, weeks, months.” And suicide is no longer the first thing he thinks about when he wakes up. “With proper treatment, people can get on with their lives. If you could somehow get that across….” It’s obvious he’s thinking of other mefloquine-addled veterans who do still wake up thinking about suicide. L

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Airmen onset IN 1941, AN OTTAWA AIRBASE WAS OVERTAKEN BY A HOLLYWOOD FILM CREW MAKING AN ACTION FILM By Hugh A. Halliday

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he film Captains of the Clouds often runs on TV movie channels. It is a favourite of those who like aviation movies. Where else can you find Billy Bishop playing himself? In 1940-41, the United States was neutral, but Hollywood was anti-Nazi and proBritish. Britain, with Canada, established

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cordial relations with the American film industry. The making of Captains of the Clouds represented a symbolic melding of motion picture commercialism with Canadian nationalism and the war effort. In fact, the idea originated with air force officials in Canada. They wanted to see production of a feature film that would publicize the Canadian war effort and especially the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP). The initial deal was signed on Jan. 28, 1941, by Joseph William Clark, DFC, the chief of a new RCAF public relations directorate, and executive producer Hal Wallis representing Warner Brothers. It was done at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, where a semi-secret organization, the Clayton Knight Committee, was recruiting Americans for the RCAF, in violation of U.S. neutrality laws. Norman Reilly Raine, who had written the Tugboat Annie stories as well as the script for such epics as The Adventures of Robin Hood, was tasked to write the new script. What resulted did not impress everyone. Air Commodore Robert Leckie, who was responsible for training, described it as “tripe,” but he still approved it.

LAC/PL-5136; courtesy of Bill Hillman/airmuseum.ca

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Actors James Cagney (right) and Russell Arms rehearse a scene from the film Captains of the Clouds at RCAF Station Uplands in Ottawa.

On July 1, Hollywood director Michael Curtiz announced that he was bringing to Ottawa a body of some 50 Warner Brothers staff, from cameramen to stars, to shoot major segments of his upcoming flying epic.

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Warner Brothers pilots were unaccustomed to float diplomats and planes and glassy water landings. Moreover, even monarchs from Allied nations, includsome of the dangerous aerobatics had ing several under German never been tried before with float planes. occupation. The full

Flight Lieutenant Owen CathcartJones was assigned to be a special advisor to Warner Brothers and made a cameo appearance in the film.

Warner Brothers received enthusiastic assistance from the RCAF in preparation for shooting sites, training procedures and equipment. In April 1941, the force sent Flight Lieutenant Owen CathcartJones to California as a special advisor to Warner Brothers. In June, he was promoted squadron leader, giving him more credibility with American authorities. He had already designed a board game, Be an Airman, based on stages of training in the BCATP. Eventually he played a cameo role in the film. Frequent meetings hammered out details of authenticity and the title itself—at least eight were proposed. Wallis himself suggested Captains of the Clouds, a phrase recently used by Bishop in a speech that had been printed in a motion picture trade paper. It was time to tell the world what was happening. On July 1, Hollywood director Michael Curtiz announced that he was bringing to Ottawa some 50 Warner Brothers staff, from cameramen to stars, to shoot major segments of the upcoming flying epic. The first reports were buried inside the papers, but they gained greater prominence as the project developed. The movie’s plot revolved around five pre-war bush pilots who join the RCAF in 1940. Two, played by James Cagney and Alan Hale, wash out. In frustration, they buzz a pilots’ graduation parade just as Air Marshal William “Billy” Bishop is presenting wings. Curtiz and Warner Brothers chose to do much of the filming at No. 2 Service Flight Training School (SFTS), Uplands, just south of Ottawa. No. 2 SFTS was a showpiece for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Distinguished foreign visitors were routinely shown the school. Throughout the war, the school, staff and students were inspected by a succession of generals, air marshals,

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resources of the station were placed at Warner Brothers’ disposal. In return, the RCAF would reap a tremendous public relations harvest. On July 7, a vanguard of technicians arrived in Ottawa. They sparked little comment. It was bigger news when James Cagney arrived on July 13, to be lodged at the Chateau Laurier, the very embodiment of Ottawa posh. The next day, a VIP train dubbed the Hollywood Special rolled into Union Station. Aboard was some $200,000 worth of film equipment and such stars as Alan Hale and Dennis Morgan. They were formally greeted by an RCAF delegation that included Air Commodore Leckie. Predictably, they were also met by hundreds of autograph seekers who broke through iron gates to reach the platform and mob the stars. Ottawans sought out the celebrities wherever they moved, from Sparks Street to the Memorial Chamber in the Peace Tower and boat cruises on the river. The papers reported baseball games between service personnel and film crews. Much was made of 14-year-old Trevor Wallace, a bellhop who attained quasi-mascot status with the movie makers. Governor General the Earl of Athlone visited No. 2 SFTS and was photographed with the principal actors—more material for front pages nationwide. No. 2 SFTS became a vast movie set; even the station band was pressed into Hollywood service. Bishop, Canada’s most famous war hero, was called on to play himself, delivering an inspiring address to a cinematic wings parade, most of whose members were reallife RCAF pilot trainees selected as movie extras. At Bishop’s elbow was a beribboned, mild-looking officer with a small moustache and a squeaky voice. That was the real commanding officer of No. 2 SFTS, Group Captain Wilfred A. Curtis, a First World War ace whose brief film appearance was one episode in a career leading to air marshal rank and the post of chief of the air staff. The real job of No. 2 SFTS—training pilots—was put on hold. The unit diarist mentioned the project several times; his entry for July 18 reads: “Normal routine

Courtesy of H.A. Halliday; LAC/PL-5172

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and flying completely washed out. Many of our personnel wandering around completely disguised for the movies with grease paint and suntan. It is most interesting to hear RCAF men talking in Hollywood terms. People are no longer ‘on duty.’ They all seem to be ‘on the set’ or ‘on location.’” A few trainees had been selected to play minor speaking roles. This aroused some jealousy on the part of those excluded. Such feelings faded when the bit players discovered that they had to go through repeated “takes” before attaining their few seconds of celluloid immortality. The movie required considerable footage of yellow Harvard aircraft flying in groups ranging from pairs to massed formations. These were carried out by experienced staff pilots and instructors. Curiously, however, action on the ground had to be filmed separately from that in the air, even when the images represented two aspects of a single scene. One segment supposedly had Cagney and Hale flying two bush planes as they buzzed the wings parade. In fact, the stunt flying (using professional Hollywood pilots) was shot elsewhere. When Bishop, Curtis and others appeared to be outraged at the low-level buzzing, they really were acting, looking up and pointing to a sky which at the moment of filming was devoid of airplanes.

Although the scenes at Uplands are probably the most memorable, other Canadian sites were used to film ground training and formation flying, notably No. 1 Manning Depot at the CNE Coliseum in Toronto and Station Trenton. Dartmouth, N.S., was the backdrop for the Hudson bomber scenes, with aircraft courtesy of No. 11 (Bomber Reconnaissance) Squadron. A Hurricane (portraying a Messerschmitt 109) came from No. 118 Squadron and was piloted by Flying Officer Blair Dalzell Russel, a veteran of the Battle of Britain. The actual interception and combat scene, shot at sea on Sept. 19, went perfectly. Russel feigned attacking the bombers, applying rich mixture to simulate smoke as he broke away. Returning to Dartmouth, he flew past Halifax, where disturbed pedestrians reported a Nazi aircraft overhead. If there were runners-up to Uplands as a striking outdoor set, they would be Trout Creek, near North Bay, and Caribou Lake, near Temagami in Northern Ontario. The bush flying sequences that opened the movie were actually shot in late July and early August, overlapping the final work in Ottawa. The RCAF had suggested the sites, but the civilian aircraft were drawn from various sources. The most prominent were a Canadian Airways Fairchild 71C and Dominion Skyways Noorduyn Norseman CF-AYO, masquerading as CF-HGO. Several Waco

The film tells the story of five pre-war bush-plane pilots who joined the RCAF in 1940. This scene included a Fairchild 71C and a Noorduyn Norseman.

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Governor General the Earl of Athlone visited Uplands and met the cast.

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monoplanes were also used, either in flying or as backdrops. The Fairchild still exists, in the collection of the Alberta Aviation Museum in Edmonton. The Norseman crashed in 1952; wreckage from the machine is stored by the Canadian Bush Plane Heritage Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Warner Brothers pilots were unaccustomed to float planes and glassy water landings. Moreover, some of the dangerous aerobatics had never been tried before with float planes. The flying scenes took three weeks to complete, during which three aircraft were damaged. Wallis considered the experience as the worst of any of his pictures. In the closing months of 1941, Warner Brothers were wrapping up production. This included indoor studio work to create a realistic Lake Ontario crash scene. They were also editing the film, fending off suggested changes the RCAF offered, including the wording of screen credits. Squadron Leader Cathcart-Jones was a near-permanent resident at the studio, easing any friction that developed. Although Minister of National Defence for Air Charles Gavan “Chubby” Power was an enthusiastic supporter, there were critics in Canada. The Ottawa Journal suggested that much RCAF time and effort had been wasted on behalf of a commercial enterprise. When Warner Brothers suggested that the air force might help promote another aviation film, Dive Bomber, even Power drew a line. The studio also suggested some promotional activities for Captains of the Clouds which were simply over the top. One was that an air base in Canada be named Cagney Field. The

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Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Lloyd Breadner, emphatically nixed that. Dec. 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, had its impact. The Feb. 21, 1942, premiere of Captains of the Clouds was transformed into a celebration of Allied solidarity. The RCAF dispatched to New York its Central Band and Precision Drill Team—195 personnel. Citizens cheered them as they marched from Central Station to the Waldorf Astoria. They marched to Madison Square Park to place a wreath at the Eternal Light Flagstaff. There were more civic welcomes and activities, climaxed by the initial screening in the 2,750-seat Strand Theatre. Simultaneous screenings took place in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Melbourne, London and Cairo. The film drew mixed reviews at the outset. Time equivocated. The New York Herald Tribune was enthusiastic (“soars with excitement”). Cagney was praised. So was Bishop. Canadian scenery—and accomplishments— were much appreciated. Reviews in Canada were similar. There was certainly pride that the country had been noticed, and some resentment at the use of Canadian stereotypes, especially in the bush-flying portions. Postwar assessments have not been so kind. Nevertheless, Captains of the Clouds made money at the time, and for all manner of reasons—camp included—it is eagerly watched by many with each TV revival. Squadron Leader Cathcart-Jones, having laboured long and well as liaison officer to Warner Brothers, was eventually posted to Western Air Command and, in April 1942, to Alliford Bay, B.C. Considering this a backwater, he went absent without leave and eventually was dismissed from the RCAF. He promptly headed for California where he acquired another screen credit as “RAF technical advisor” to Desperate Journey, a 1942 film, with Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan, produced by Wallis. L

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FACE TO FACE

Were the First World War executions of 25 CEF members justified? Teresa Iacobelli says

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wenty-five men were executed during the First World War. Twenty-two men faced the firing squad for the crime of desertion, two for murder and one for cowardice. Whether these executions should have taken place has been fiercely debated for decades. While our modern sensibilities likely find these executions wrong, it is important to examine why they were indeed wrong, even in the context of 1914-1918. According to military law as it existed in 1914, the executions of 25 members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were justified. Each of the executed was tried by field-general court martial and found guilty of the crime of which he was accused. By most measures, these trials were fair. Defendants had the opportunity to speak in their own defence, and to have others do so on their behalf. But the trials were lacking in legal expertise. Three officers sat on a court martial, and there was no requirement for them to have legal training. The CEF failed to take advantage of lawyers, law students and police officers within its ranks. Court martial officers were representative of the CEF in that they were pulled from a variety of professions, both white-collar and blue-collar. The lack of formal training was

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addressed only in 1916, with the appointment of court martial officers, individuals with legal training who were charged with overseeing court martial law and procedure. However, not enough of these officers existed to oversee each trial. In practice, the executions were arbitrary. This, more than

executions did not prevent men from deserting. The practice was so arbitrarily applied that commanders could not use them as a credible threat. Soldiers did not consider the punishment when deserting, or if they did, they took a calculated risk and determined that if caught they would escape the firing post.

EXECUTIONS WERE NOT JUSTIFIED BECAUSE THEY HAD NO DETERRENT IMPACT. anything, makes then unjustifiable. A review of the cases of executed men and those whose death sentences were commuted reveals that a soldier’s personal disciplinary record failed to factor into the decision to execute a death sentence. Instead, decisions were based on battalion discipline and the timing of the offence (for example, before or during a major offensive). The practice of executions was unpredictable. It put some firsttime offenders at the wrong end of a firing squad, while some habitual offenders marched on. Finally, the executions were not justified because they had no deterrent impact. The practice and threat of

With a commutation rate of 90 per cent, this was a wise gamble. Executions did not keep men in the field; this was achieved through sound leadership that balanced strength, kindness and creature comforts, including rations, cigarettes and a steady stream of mail from home. By the time the Second World War began, executions for desertion and cowardice no longer existed in the Canadian military. Perhaps this is the best evidence of the ineffectiveness of the practice. Had the death penalty been an instrumental factor in helping to win the First World War, surely it would have been used to win the next one. L

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TERESA IACOBELLI is a research associate with the Council of Canadian Academies and the author of Death or Deliverance: Canadian Courts-Martial in the Great War. She lives in Ottawa. JOHN BOILEAU is a retired army colonel and the author of 13 books and hundreds of articles on Canadian military history. Most recently, he co-authored Too Young to Die: Canada’s Boy Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen in the Second World War. He lives near Halifax.

John Boileau says YES

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raining. Cohesion. Uniformity. These are among the essential attributes of any effective army. But it is discipline that separates an army from an armed rabble. Discipline ensures compliance to orders by individuals and groups. It was one of the factors that enabled First World War soldiers to endure terrible conditions and high casualties. Because of what armies ask their soldiers to do, discipline is enforced through a system of military justice that is generally harsher than its civilian equivalent. It was even more severe in the past. Formerly, the ultimate punishment was death—not just for murder— but for eight other uniquely military crimes, including desertion, cowardice, quitting post, disobedience and mutiny, among others. Life generally was much harsher in the past—including during the First World War—than it is now. Although the government essentially abolished the death penalty in 1963 and confirmed it with legislation in 1976, it was only officially eliminated for the Canadian Forces in 1998. Of the 25 Canadian soldiers executed during the First World War, two were for murder—for which they would have been executed even as civilians. The remaining 23 were executed for purely military crimes: one for cowardice and 22 for

Illustrations by Greg Stevenson/i2iart.com

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desertion. Four of the cases had nothing to do with Canadian authorities and did not come to their attention until after the executions. Most people who understand the requirement for military discipline would agree that the soldiers convicted of these crimes should have been punished. The sticking point is the severity of the punishment. Yet, at the time, execution was the legal punishment for these crimes.

Many of those convicted were repeat deserters who displayed no signs of PTSD. In the majority of cases, desertion was clearly calculated with forethought. We would be on very shaky ground today to try to overturn any verdict on such flimsy evidence, in particular to try to assess the mental state of these individuals at the time. As far as military authorities

IT IS BETTER NOT TO TRY TO SECOND GUESS THE COMPLETELY LEGAL ACTIONS OF OUR FOREBEARS. Among the most common objections heard today are concerns that these soldiers suffered from what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), that they were not given a fair trial, or that the review processes for the death sentences were not carried out properly. Unfortunately, it is impossible to state with any degree of certainty today if any of these reasons are accurate, as the original trial transcripts have been lost or destroyed. Only summaries of the proceedings exist today. Despite this lack of detail, a reassessment of each case would likely re-convict the majority.

were concerned, the primary reason for executions was simple: to prevent others from deserting. But at the ordinary soldier level, deserters betrayed their comrades and left them more vulnerable to the enemy. If these men were alive today and convicted of the same crimes, we would not execute them. But the past is the past, and we cannot mould it to suit current values. It is better not to try to second guess the completely legal actions of our forebears. L

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

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MEMOIR

at the Somme By CLAUDIA BERRY

Sunken road A bomb-damaged road at the front near Courcelette, France. Private Ainger Roger Berry was entombed by a German shell in this area in November 1916.

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PRIVATE AINGER ROGER BERRY ENLISTED AT THE AGE OF 36. WITHIN TWO YEARS, HE FACED DEBILITATING SHELL SHOCK AND A LIFETIME OF UNCERTAINTY.

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Off to war Before going overseas on Nov. 18, 1915, Berry gave his cap badge to his wife Elizabeth, who wore it on a ribbon around her neck.

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hen I was a young child of four or five, my grandfather would say to me in his cockney accent, “Swee’ar’, fetch me legs for me,” and I would dutifully bring him what he called “his legs”—steel rods screwed into the heels of his shoes for support with a leather cuff at the top which would rest just below the back of his knees. When he lifted up his pant legs to put on these supports, it revealed gaping holes in his calves. One hole was so large I could see from one side of his calf right through to the other. Somehow, I knew I wasn’t to ask any questions but that image has stayed with me all these years.

DND/LAC/PA-000712; Courtesy of Claudia Berry

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My grandfather, Ainger Roger Berry, the oldest of seven children, was born on March 15, 1879, in London, within the sound of Bow Bells. As a boy seaman in the Royal Navy in the early 1890s, he had his fair share of adventure travelling the world by sea. But after being “bought out” early for the remainder of his indentured service to the Royal Navy, he decided to venture to Canada, arriving in Montreal on the SS Bavarian in August 1904. Roger, who listed his profession as “carpenter” on the passenger list, headed for Manitoba, where he found work in Minnedosa. He eventually ended up in Victoria, where he and his brothers built a home large enough for the entire family of nine, including their aged parents. By late 1914, he had met my grandmother and on June 7, 1915, they were married. Ten days later, he enlisted in Vernon, B.C., as a private in the 1st Canadian Pioneers Battalion, A Company. He was 36 years old. My grandmother went to Vernon with him, as two photographs attest—one

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Newlyweds Roger and Elizabeth Berry in Vernon, B.C., on Aug. 7, 1915, two months after they married.

of them showing a newly married couple with my grandfather in uniform. After five months of training at Camp Vernon, Roger embarked overseas from Montreal on Nov. 18, 1915, and arrived in Plymouth 11 days later. Before he left, he removed his cap badge and gave it to my grandmother, who wore it on a ribbon around her neck. After further training in England at Dibgate Camp on Saint Martin’s Plain near Folkestone in Kent, he left for France on July 5, 1916, as an acting lance-corporal. Roger had been at the front about three months when a letter he had written appeared in the Daily Colonist in Victoria, dated Nov. 23, 1916. He had written it to his parents, James and Jessie Berry, and it was probably the last one he wrote while in the trenches.

On June 7, 1915, they were married. Ten days later, he enlisted. 54

Well, here we are, still on top and, so far, quite safe. I never had a bigger punch before. The Germans are leaving the country and have just received notice from us to keep on moving, while we continue to feed them their iron rations nightly. The enemy sends back some, of course, but up to the present gets very few of our boys. We took a few German prisoners the other day and they look pretty downhearted. We have the pleasure of living in their deep and well-made dugouts just now; in fact, I am enjoying the heat of a German’s stove. I expect he could do with it himself, but I am afraid he would have a hard time in the attempt to get it back. I am pleased to say victory is ours all along the line, and the boys are just getting their own back. The enemy doesn’t like our new tanks at all, and in general he is fed up with the war. So are we for that matter, but he has simply got to take his medicine, and he certainly will get it.

Roger was the eldest of four brothers, all of whom served their country in various branches of the military. In January 1916, the youngest, Dick, lost an eye and was wounded in the groin. Six months later, on June 3, Charlie was killed near Ypres. Roger attempted to console his mother with an eloquent description of battle and sacrifice.

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I am pleased to hear that brother Dick has arrived home. I found out how brother Charlie died, and I would ask you not to mourn, for death is the inevitable end of us all. Death faces us here every turn of the road, and yet the boys here meet it sternly and unafraid—bravely. The men here put me in mind of beautiful music. When they leap the trench and charge in the face of death, what can one be but proud of such men as these, and then in the clash of battle one can almost imagine hearing the faint, and then gradually louder, strains of music. So I would ask you not to mourn, for would you have had us different; would you have had us stay at home? Many mothers have lost their sons and will lose them until the end.

Writing to his mother, he seemed to be preparing to accept his own fate. He had been assigned to the 4th Division, whose objective was to take Regina Trench. This was very close to the village of Courcelette, and in his military records, a statement reads, “Was buried by shell while running a transit on duty near Courcelette on the Somme.” This was Nov. 6, 1916. How long he was buried under a massive pile of debris and mud before being discovered unconscious, I do not know. But it may have been a considerable length of time. Further details state, “Does not remember anything until he was put on train at Albert and given a hypodermic injection, was sent to Camiers.” The hospital train took him and hundreds of other badly wounded soldiers to the Casualty Clearing Station at Camiers, south of Boulogne, on Nov. 11, 1916. Searing hot shrapnel from the exploding shell must have embedded itself in his legs while he was running from one trench to another. Their removal most certainly would have created the gaping holes that I remember seeing as a child. On Nov. 14, he was taken aboard the hospital ship HMHS Stad Antwerpen bound for England. One day later, on his medical case sheet, stamped “Western General Hospital” (Manchester), a medical officer, Dr. Rust, wrote his two-word diagnosis in very large letters, “Shell Shock” and underneath it the word “buried.” These two words—“shell shock”—were repeated throughout all his medical records. After being admitted to five different hospitals and convalescent homes in

Courtesy of Claudia Berry; Legion Magazine Archives

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“The enemy doesn’t like our new tanks at all, and in general he is fed up with the war.”

various parts of England over a five-month period, his condition hadn’t improved. At his last hospital, the Canadian Military Hospital in Hastings, a Captain Walton made these observations: “A well-built, well-nourished man. Is extremely nervous, cannot keep quiet for a moment. Fine and coarse tremors, difficulty in speaking. Poor memory, suffers from headaches, sleeps badly, no appetite. Heart rate rapid.” One hundred years ago, this was a new illness and it was occurring on a massive scale. Thousands of men were suffering the same symptoms and there was no known cure. After being reviewed by three medical boards from January to March 1917, my grandfather was declared unfit for duty and was invalided to Canada for further medical treatment. On April 11, 1917, he was taken aboard the hospital ship HMHS Letitia at Liverpool and arrived 10 days later in Halifax. Special trains outfitted as hospitals transported the wounded men westward. Arriving in Toronto on April 24, 1917, he was admitted to Spadina Military Hospital, where he was placed in various units for three weeks. In May, he was moved to the Vancouver General Hospital, where he graduated from being a temporary outpatient to an outpatient. By June, he had finally arrived

Tank advance Tanks and infantrymen move across cratered terrain in 1916.

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A voice for veterans The war affected Berry for the rest of his life. He advocated for pensions for war widows in addition to veterans.

My grandfather suffered from the lingering and debilitating effects of shell shock.

back in Victoria as an outpatient at Esquimalt Military Hospital. Two years had passed since my grandfather had enlisted at Vernon, but a lifetime of uncertainty lay before him. Due to the severe effects of shell shock, he was never again able to hold down a job to support his family.

Roger was an eloquent man, and he felt it was his duty to advocate for the lowly soldier. An article appeared in the Daily Colonist on Dec. 6, 1917, soon after he had been discharged from the army. Under the title “Three Returned Men Support Liberals,” it stated that my grandfather, “Mr. A.R. Berry, and two other returning soldiers took the platform at the Princess Theatre in Victoria to speak out against the Borden administration and officers of the Canadian Army, Mr. Berry declaring that wounded men on the trans-Atlantic passage were put down in the hold while the upper decks were reserved for a few ‘autocratic officers.’” Roger was referring to his own experience as a wounded soldier on his journey

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home by hospital ship eight months earlier. Later, in the early 1920s, he rode the rails to Ottawa along with thousands of other veterans to plead their case in the House of Commons for a war pension not only for themselves but for war widows as well. He was a man who was not afraid to speak up in order to improve the lives of others. For the rest of his life, my grandfather suffered from the lingering and debilitating effects of shell shock, which no one could understand or cure, as well as the cruel criticisms and false accusations of being a malingerer. While reviewing his documents, I discovered a significant fact—something that reflected his generous nature. When my grandfather was discharged from the army on Nov. 30, 1917, he was to receive the remainder of his War Service Gratuity, which amounted to $339.90. It was to be paid in three separate cheques over three months—a fair amount of money in 1917. For a man with such an uncertain future who had suffered greatly, this would have been a financial boost. I saw the handwritten instructions on his pay sheet with these words, “Send 3rd cheque to Soldiers’ Aid Committee, Toronto, Ontario.” He had requested that the money be used to benefit the lives of other men returning from the horrors of war. My grandfather died on Nov. 2, 1968, just four months short of his 90th birthday and just four days short of the date, Nov. 6, on which he was buried alive at the Somme in 1916. Four summers ago, I stood waist deep in a lush green wheat field in the area that was once Regina Trench near Courcelette. I reflected on my grandfather—on all that he had witnessed and experienced, and on the man he was at that time: newly married, nearly 40, yet willing to volunteer and sacrifice it all. I felt immense admiration for his courage, determination and loyalty. His generosity inspired others; this is the legacy he leaves for all of us. I am very proud to say he was my grandfather. L

Courtesy of Claudia Berry

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HOME FRONT

The lonely fight of the tuberculous veterans BY TOM MacGREGOR

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Veterans returning from the First World War with tuberculosis were often shunned and sent off to isolated sanatoriums with little government help—until the Tuberculous Veterans’ Association was formed 100 years ago Library of Congress/2002646775

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Time spent in the trenches of the First World War was miserable. Not only were chances of being killed or wounded high, but Canadian soldiers were in the line for days at a time in the same damp clothes, fighting over muddy grounds. It was a perfect breeding ground for tuberculosis. Many were infected and brought it home with them. “At the time, consumption was the number one killer of adults,” said Joanne Henderson of Vancouver, a former national president of The Royal Canadian Legion’s Tuberculous Veterans Section (TVS). Tuberculosis, often then called consumption, had been a major killer of adults for centuries. Many famous artists such as Frédéric Chopin, Emily Brontë and Robert Louis Stevenson had wasted away with the disease. At the time, it was believed that the condition was hereditary. It wasn’t until 1882 that German scientist Robert Koch identified the bacterium that Tuberculous causes tuberculosis. With veterans are moved that came the knowledge into a sun parlour that tuberculosis was during the daytime.

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“AS LONG AS IT WASN’T MORE THAN 20 BELOW, THEY PUT YOU ON THE BALCONY, OUT IN THE SUNSHINE.” contagious and those infected should be avoided. Antibiotics would not be developed until the 1950s. The only cure seemed to be to isolate the patients in sanatoriums, keeping them away from family and society in general. There they lay in beds in wards and were exposed to fresh air and healthy meals. “There were balconies on the sans,” remembers Bill Crowe of Saskatoon and TVS national president from 1980 to 1984. “As long as it wasn’t more than 20 below, they put you on the balcony, out in the sunshine.” It was a solitary life, often with few visitors. “You were in bed most of the time. As you got better, you gained certain privileges,” said Crowe. Treatment of tuberculosis in Canada at the beginning of the 20th century was limited. The first sanatorium in Canada was built in 1897 on Lake Muskoka in Gravenhurst, Ont. Others soon followed in Ontario, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia. In 1902, the first free tuberculosis hospital in the world, the Muskoka Free Hospital for Consumptives, was built on the same site as the 1897 sanatorium. By the end of the First World War, an estimated 3,123 soldiers returned to Canada with tuberculosis. While the government built veterans hospitals for the wounded

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and disabled soldiers returning from the war, the tuberculous veterans were sent to sanatoriums. New wings to existing facilities were built to accommodate the influx. Unlike the returning amputee veterans, the tuberculous veterans were denied pension and health benefits. This led to the veterans organizing themselves in the sanatoriums. Veterans in the Tranquille Sanatorium in Kamloops, B.C., were the first to organize, forming the Invalided Tuberculosis Soldiers’ Welfare League (ITSWL). The Tranquille veterans corresponded with veterans in other sanatoriums, building up a nationwide network. Soldiers were not the only veterans returning with respiratory and lung injuries. Sailors and those who served in the fledgling air services were also vulnerable. So the ITSWL became the Tuberculous Veterans’ Association (TVA) in 1917. It is celebrating its centennial this year. As a national organization, the TVA began taking its issues to Parliament. It had approximately 7,000 members and developed a network of service officers across the country to help veterans apply for pensions and other benefits. “These service officers had TB themselves. They were working as volunteers and the money raised was all going into the bank,” said Henderson. “They used their own money to operate. A lot the veterans were prominent people. This happened to them.” In 1920, the TVA made its first representation to the Parliamentary committee on veteran rights and benefits. The government asked them back the following the year. Through briefings to Parliament and other

Many returning veterans suffering from tuberculosis were sent to the Royal Ottawa Sanatorium.

X-rays were used to examine patients for TB; doctors view a chest X-ray at a Board of Health laboratory in Ontario, circa 1928.

William James Topley/LAC/PA-009075

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ON OCT. 1, 1926, THE ASSOCIATION CEASED TO EXIST AND INSTEAD BECAME THE TUBERCULOUS VETERANS’ SECTION (TVS) OF THE CANADIAN LEGION. lobbying efforts, the TVA secured pensions for its members and their survivors. “The big struggle was to get the government to declare TB a federal disease—making the federal government responsible for the health care of those who came back from the war. It wasn’t easy,” said Henderson. The TVA had been singled out in a 1925 report of the royal commission investigating veterans’ benefits headed by veteran and politician James L. Ralston. “No group presented its claim more effectively or thoroughly than the tuberculous veterans,” said the report. “They have, apparently, a large, efficient organization and selected, for purposes of presenting their argument, members fully informed upon the subject which they discussed and capable of presenting their facts in a most convincing manner.” The TVA was well established by 1926, when Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig came to Canada intent in uniting Canada’s veterans’ organizations into one organization, as he had done in Britain forming the British Empire Service League. The TVA was among the groups courted to join the new Canadian Legion, but because of the special needs of its members, it was not willing to entirely lose its identity. Still its leaders saw the advantage of being part of this larger organization. Instead of disbanding and joining the Legion, it negotiated its own inclusion in the Legion as a special section.

Archives of Ontario/RG 10-145; Archives of Ontario/RG 10-30-2

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On Oct. 1, 1926, the association became the Tuberculous Veterans’ Section (TVS) of the Canadian Legion. As Richard Hale, the last dominion president of the TVA, wrote in The Legionary in November 1926, “Many of those comrades who laboured hard for us in the days gone by have gone to their rest. Probably no association has ever carried on under such a handicap as ours has been, and yet what wonderful men we have had, men who sacrificed their chances of recovery in order that our work might go on.” In order that there be no misunderstanding of the relationship, Hale and others had negotiated with Sir Percy Lake, the first dominion president of the Canadian Legion, on the terms agreed on to create the TVS. Each provincial executive was to have a TVS representation to be elected by the TVS branch or branches in the province; the Dominion Executive Council would have one representative elected by all the TVS branches. Because of the number of tubercular veterans in Ontario, Toronto and London would retain a service officer. As well, a duo membership was allowed so that a Legion member could be a member

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of a TVS branch as well as a regular branch with its own facilities. “There is an incredible bond between those who have TB. People don’t want to touch you. I’ve had people I’ve known for years, see me on the street and turn around and walk the other way. You are removed from human contact and that does a lot to you, mentally.” While the largest veterans’ organization joining the Legion was the Great War Veterans Association, in many ways the TVA provided a working model for the organization. It already had a service bureau, which became an important part of Dominion Command. The TVA also brought $10,000 in its account to the fledgling organization, which was enough to cover operating costs for about three years. With the end of the Second World War came a new generation of TB-infected veterans. “The soldiers of the Second World War were in the same boat,” said Crowe, who went overseas with the Saskatoon Light Infantry. “There was overcrowding and many of the returning prisoners of war had TB.” Crowe himself didn’t realize he had returned with tuberculosis. “I didn’t know I was sick. I just knew I was underweight,” he said. The TVS has continued to support research into TB. In 1944, the antibiotic streptomycin was discovered to be effective in combatting the disease, but it did not become commonly available until 1948. Bacteria resistant to streptomycin soon emerged, so that patients ended up taking it with other drugs to be effective. “A person with TB is taking at least three or more drugs,” said current TVS National President Kandys Merola. “Once you have TB, you have lung problems the rest of your life.” That research continues today, said Merola. Much of the research money is raised by TB Vets in British Columbia. TB Vets is a separate organization founded by Vancouver TVS Branch in 1946 to offer employment to Second World War TB veterans who

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could not find work in the regular workforce. TB Vets provides key chain tags to help return lost keys to their owners in British Columbia and Yukon. Millions of dollars have been spent on research for tuberculosis. In recognition of the longtime support of TB Vets, a ward at the University of British Columbia/Vancouver General Hospital has been named after the organization. TVS and the Saskatoon Poppy Fund support researchers at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon investigating tuberculosis vaccines in a two-year project. TVS supports scholarships and the purchase of equipment for medical and nursing students at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. Vancouver TVS Branch was also instrumental in reinstituting the Canadian TB Elimination Network, an annual symposium for TB health professionals and stakeholders that had been in limbo after it lost federalgovernment funding. Today, the TVS has approximately 480 members in three branches: Vancouver TVS Branch; Hugh Farthing Memorial Branch in Calgary; and Dr. Harold Anderson Memorial Branch in Saskatoon. Like regular Legion branches, TVS branches accept associate members, such as Brent Wignes of Saskatoon who joined because his father was a member. He became national president in 2004 to 2008. “I became a member in 1973, I didn’t go to meetings but Bill [Crowe] would give me things to do,” said Wignes. One hundred years after the organization’s founding, “There is still a lot of work to be done,” said Wignes. “TB is still quite prevalent in the north with indigenous people. There is always more research to be done.” L

Members of the Tuberculous Veterans’ Section meet at the 1946 dominion convention in Quebec City; a poster promotes good eating habits and more exposure to sun in an effort to prevent tuberculosis, circa 1941.

TB Vets; Library of Congress/98513584

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IN THE

NEWS IN THE NEWS

61  YOUTH FOCUS ON REMEMBRANCE By Stephanie Slegtenhorst

66  ONTARIO CONVENTION By Sharon Adams

68 NEW BRUNSWICK RACKS UP VICTORY IN EIGHT-BALL By Tom MacGregor

70 QUEBEC CONVENTION By Tom MacGregor

72 G  RAVE MARKER PROGRAM COMMEMORATES CANADA’S VC RECIPIENTS

By Stephanie Slegtenhorst

73 L  EGION HOSTS DINNER FOR CANADA’S INVICTUS GAMES ATHLETES 73 SERVING YOU 74 N  OVA SCOTIA/ NUNAVUT CONVENTION By Jennifer Morse

76 P  RINCE EDWARD ISLAND CONVENTION By Stephen J. Thorne

78 B  RITISH COLUMBIA/ YUKON CONVENTION By Sharon Adams

80 MANITOBA– NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO CONVENTION By Tom MacGregor

82 C  ONTEST WINNER TRAVELS TO OTTAWA FOR CANADA’S BIGGEST PARTY EVER By Stephanie Slegtenhorst

Youth focus on remembrance

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By Stephanie Slegtenhorst

ach year since the 1960s, Canadian students from coast to coast have been participating in The Royal Canadian Legion’s poster and literary contests. Essays, poems and posters honour Canada’s veterans and those who have fallen, keeping remembrance relevant for the youth of today. The contest is split into two divisions—poetry and essay for the literary contests and colour and black and white for the poster contests— and four categories—primary, junior, intermediate and senior. The competition was fierce, with more than 100,000 youth participating in the contests. Organized by local branches, the contests’ winning entries progress through regional and provincial levels, with national winners chosen at Dominion Command in Ottawa. The poster by Keyu Chen, the senior black and white winner, features an older veteran wearing a beret, with a cross in place of the pupil of his right eye. The word ‘Remember’ is written at the bottom. Chen, who attends a visual arts program in Vancouver, was told of the contest by her art teacher. Inspired by books she had recently read on the Second World War, she wanted her poster to ensure that mistakes of the past are not forgotten. “I was struck by how easy it is to keep making the same mistakes, and so I really wanted, in my poster, to make something striking, to make people remember that if we don’t remember, there are going to be consequences,” she said. She also drew inspiration from her family members who served in the

military in China, before her family immigrated to Canada. Senior essay winner Megan Miller of Moncton, N.B., also drew inspiration from family members who served in the military. Her essay—which begins with the question “Why do we wear the poppy?”—explores how the lost are remembered, what history has taught us, and what remembrance truly means. “I have family who are in the military,” said Miller, “and I was thinking about them at that time, and how they must feel when it comes to Remembrance Day.” Miller said her English teacher has the class enter the contest in the category of the student’s choice every year. Miller’s essay beautifully expresses the personal side of remembrance, demonstrating how families, friends and communities

“IF WE DON’T REMEMBER, THERE ARE GOING TO BE CONSEQUENCES.”

rally behind their loved ones, waiting for them to come home. She explains that as she was writing, she was attempting to reflect on what remembrance would mean to her friends whose parents are in the military, and to those in her community who have served and who continue to serve. Miller answers her question at the conclusion of her essay: “And so we continue to wear our poppies. We continue to honour the men and

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SENIOR POSTERS FIRST PLACE

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INTERMEDIATE POSTERS FIRST PLACE

The winning posters in the senior categories are by Hye In (Grace) Park of Langley, B.C. (top), and Keyu Chen of Vancouver.

The Intermediate categories were won by Ariella Amancio of Newmarket, Ont. (top), and Grace Gao of Ottawa.

women who gave their lives for us, and support the families who continue to serve our country.... Because to forget would be an insult to those who fought, that is why we remember.” Remembrance, she adds, is “about taking the time to really reflect and think about how the past has affected people…how it is still affecting people today, and its

influence every year. To see the people in my community have that day, to really think about them and honour them.” Although senior colour poster winner Hye In (Grace) Park of Langley, B.C., has been to Ottawa once before, she is excited to return. The purpose of remembrance, she said, is to ensure we do not become too confident and

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“I WANTED TO THINK ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ARE HEALING IN THE AND PEOPLE WHO STILL NEED HEALING.”

NEWS

comfortable, and to ensure we do not forget the pain and suffering from past wars, to which she has a personal connection. Her grandmother fled from North Korea during the Korean War and started a new life in South Korea. “The stories she told me about the war were very devastating, [but] inspiring. I wanted to let others know about pain from the war,” she said. After the war, her grandmother met her grandfather, and the family eventually immigrated to Canada to start a new life. This is her second time entering the contest, she said, having made it to the provincial level last year. This year she was determined to make it further. “I put a lot of time really planning the poster,” she explained. “I was doing research…and I saw this picture of an older lady who lost her family in the war, and her look and the mood of the picture really inspired me to try to convey the sorrow from the war.” Park’s poster depicts an older woman, her head bowed down, with a Canadian flag draped around her. Two veterans are separated from her by a river, and the National Vimy Memorial can be seen in the distance. Her poster is a clear reflection of the suffering, separation and loss caused by war. Beth Kirby of Cornwall, P.E.I., was also a second-time entrant of the Legion’s poster and literary contests. Kirby’s poem, “What a poppy brings to mind,” intricately examines each and every thought that goes through one’s mind when thinking about what remembrance means to them. “When it came to the poem, I wanted to look at all aspects of what people think about when they think about Remembrance Day,” she said. When I pin the red flower above my heart I think of the meaning it holds heavy on my chest. I think of those who volunteered their futures for their country All of them with different motivations, but all with one goal and purpose. I think about sacrifice, about humanity and the loss of it. I think about unmarked graves that do no justice to those buried in them. I think about a mother’s tears and a father’s anguish. I think about the fading memories a little brother has of his greatest role model.

2017 results Senior

Colour poster—First: Hye In (Grace) Park, Langley, B.C.; Second: Flora Zhang, Ottawa; Honourable Mention: Elizabeth Lee, Halifax. Black and white poster—First: Keyu Chen, Vancouver; Second: Strong Duan, Calgary; Honourable Mention: Bryana Dowding, Bay Roberts, N.L. Poem—First: Beth Kirby, Cornwall, P.E.I.; Second: Cassidy L. Jean, Kamloops, B.C.; Honourable Mention: Hanna Gross, Hazenmore, Sask. Essay—First: Megan Miller, Moncton, N.B.; Second: Winnie Boucha, Keewatin, Ont.; Honourable Mention: Dominic Hill, Chemainus, B.C.

Intermediate

Colour poster—First: Ariella Amancio, Newmarket, Ont.; Second: Kassidy Vanoene, Langley, B.C.; Honourable Mention: Iona Taylor, Winnipeg. Black and white poster—First: Grace Gao, Ottawa; Second: Annie Chen, Calgary; Honourable Mention: Yiwei (Susan) Ni, Vancouver. Poem—First: Gina Spencer, Massey Drive, N.L.; Second: Elora VanderWal, St. Marys, Ont.; Honourable Mention: Roman T. Javorek, Kentville, N.S. Essay—First: Emma Vatcher, Conception Bay South, N.L.; Second: Grace Alberts, Hubley, N.S.; Honourable Mention: Morgan Sayers, Mankota, Sask.

Junior

Colour poster—First: Roisin Mullen, Mount Stewart, P.E.I.; Second: Gurjot Kensray, Brampton, Ont.; Honourable Mention: Brooklyn Stobbe, Crofton, B.C. Black and white poster—First: Karen Ki, Scarborough, Ont.; Second: Ivy Shi, Calgary; Honourable Mention: Bree Chatman, Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L. Poem—First: Isabel Jensen, Strathmore, Alta.; Second: Anna Bronconnier, Erickson, Man.; Honourable Mention: Alexandre Trudel, Havelock, Que. Essay—First: Kaylie Seinen, Onoway, Alta.; Second: Andréa Lombardo, Hemmingford, Que.; Honourable Mention: Bryanna Hogan, Small Point, N.L.

Primary

Colour poster—First: Scarlett Robinson, Lake Country, B.C.; Second: Abriel Hart, St. George, Ont.; Honourable Mention: Daniella Q. Ling, Calgary. Black and white poster—First: Charlie O’Hearn-Stone, Trail, B.C.; Second: Kylige Latter, North Preston, N.S.; Honourable Mention: Yuji Takatsu, Stoney Creek, Ont.

Kirby especially wanted to touch on those who have returned home, seemingly fine, but suffering inside. “I wanted to think about people who are healing and people

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JUNIOR POSTERS FIRST PLACE

PRIMARY POSTERS FIRST PLACE

The primary categories were won by Scarlett Robinson of Lake Country, B.C. (top), and Charlie O’Hearn-Stone of Trail, B.C.

The winning posters in the junior categories are by Roisin Mullen of Mount Stewart, P.E.I. (top), and Karen Ki of Scarborough, Ont.

who still need healing…try to fit things in, mention PTSD, people who can’t enjoy fireworks…and [have] nightmares.” I think about the pain that lingers even when they come back The inability to enjoy fireworks on days of celebration The nightmares of gunfire and the brothers and sisters in arms that they lost The feeling of being abandoned by the country that they served. She continues on, touching on moments of happiness, strength and courage. She demonstrates that remembrance isn’t always about sorrow, but about those moments when families are brought back together, nations reunited and broken pieces picked up and turned into something new.

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But that’s not all I think about. I think about joyous reunions and letters full of hope and love. I think about rehabilitation and healing About reconstruction that’s stronger than before. I think about reconciliation and peace About giving forgiveness and being forgiven. But most of all I think about how incredibly thankful I am and will continue to be. These thoughts flood my head and they will stick with me even when I’m not wearing this black-eyed poppy. The Legion is sponsoring a trip to Ottawa for the four senior winners, where they will attend the National Remembrance Day Ceremony and place a wreath on behalf of the youth of Canada. They will also have an opportunity to meet with the governor general. The winning entries are on display at the Canadian War Museum until May 1, 2018. The second place and honourable mentions in the poster categories will be displayed at Parliament Hill in Ottawa during the remembrance period in November. L

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2017-07-27 3:48 PM

SENIOR ESSAY FIRST PLACE

IN THE

NEWS Why do we wear the poppy?

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By Megan Miller

hy do we wear the poppy? have so many freedoms. We have the right to get an Why do we spend Nov. 11 attending education, to practice our religion, to marry whomever memorial ceremonies, taking we choose, and to speak up when we feel something is moments of silence? wrong. But there are many places in the world where Historically, Remembrance Day is Nov. 11 because the people do not have those freedoms, and it’s that is the day of the Armistice; the day that the something we take for granted because we’re so horrific battles of the First World War came to an end, accustomed to it. and so on the 11th minute of the 11th hour of that day We have Remembrance Day in order to take a step we have a moment of silence. The symbol of the poppy back, and realize that the life we now live came at a comes from the poem, “In Flanders Fields” written by price, and that not everyone is as fortunate as we are Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, who wrote the poem here in Canada. It’s a day for us to reflect and truly about the crimson flowers that grew among the be thankful for the opportunities we are given in battlefields of the First World War. our everyday lives. But Nov. 11 isn’t only about historical events, it’s We often use this day to teach kids about what about remembering. By remembering, we honour happened during the wars. Schools put an emphasis those who fought and on the solemnity of the continue to fight for our event, making sure that country; we remember to students understand it’s SCHOOLS PUT AN EMPHASIS be thankful for the life of more than just a day off ON THE SOLEMNITY OF THE liberty we’ve been given, from school. As they get and we remember so that into the higher grades EVENT, MAKING SURE THAT the atrocities committed they learn the details of STUDENTS UNDERSTAND in the past will never how and why the events IT’S MORE THAN JUST A DAY happen again. of the world wars came to OFF FROM SCHOOL. Remembrance Day is pass, and in observing the day when we honour Remembrance Day each those who sacrificed for year it becomes more our country. We remember the brave soldiers who than just something they talked about in class. By went overseas to fight, facing unspeakable horrors so going to all these ceremonies; watching the placing of that we might have a brighter future. Even today there the wreaths, having a moment of silence, and seeing are men and women who protect our country and members of their community, veterans and military our freedom. families who are personally affected by this day, kids We also take the time to honour not only them but can genuinely feel the impact these events had on the their families who sacrificed so much as well. The world. By constantly having this reminder, we can mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who had to hopefully learn from history and never make those say goodbye to their loved ones. And the families same mistakes again. And so we continue to wear our whose lives are centred around the military; moving poppies. We continue to honour the men and women from place to place or constantly waiting for their who gave their lives for us, and support the families loved ones to come home, having to look after their who continue to serve our country. families in the absence of their partner. Every year we take the time to be thankful for the life We remember so that we can acknowledge and we have and the opportunities we’ve been given. And honour everything that these amazing people we continue to teach our kids the importance of what sacrificed so that we could live a better life. happened in the past; hoping that they will move Remembrance Day is a day for us to be thankful for forward with love and peace in their hearts. Because all of those sacrifices. Too often do we forget how to forget would be an insult to those who fought, that incredibly lucky we are to live in a country where we is why we remember. L

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2017-07-28 12:21 PM

50th O  ntario Convention ONTARIO CONVENTION

Milestones marked at convention

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By Sharon Adams

wo milestones were passed at the 50th Ontario Command Convention in London, Ont., May 13-16: delegates successfully shortened their convention by one day, and they elected command’s first female president. “Our command is over 90; cracks in the foundation are to be expected,” incoming President Sharon McKeown said after her induction. “We, your officers, will don hard hats to fix the cracks, and build on the strengths.” One of those cracks is the process for submitting branch regulations to the provincial command. Some branches are having difficulty. While most have filed, 10 branches have not, reported Constitution and Laws Chair Bruce McKittrick. Errors can come from not reading or understanding the guidelines for branch regulations and command bylaws, he said. Many questions and comments followed his report. Struggling branches requested the process be simplified, asked for more training and help, and suggested a template be provided. A default set of regulations has not been posted so as not to take away branch autonomy, explained McKittrick. In the end, a resolution was passed requesting the incoming executive to review the process and suggest improvements. McKeown said it is a priority, and that

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she would report to Provincial Executive Council in November. A wreath-placing ceremony at the Boer War Soldiers Memorial in Victoria Park started proceedings on Sunday. Local Arrangements Committee Chair Brian Harris of Victory Branch in London recited the Act of Remembrance. Among those placing wreaths were Silver Cross Mother Carolyn Wilson, whose son Mark was killed in Afghanistan in 2006, command President Brian Weaver and First Vice Sharon McKeown, Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr and Dominion First Vice Tom Irvine. Then followed a splendid march to the convention site for opening ceremonies. Keynote speaker Minister of Veterans Affairs Kent Hehr reiterated progress on programs and policy changes announced in the federal budget. He also thanked the Legion for its four million volunteer hours in 2016, the millions of dollars raised and donated every year to veterans and communities, and ongoing advocacy. “It’s reassuring knowing you’re out there providing hands-on assistance with no charge,” he said. “We couldn’t do it without you.” Immediately after Irvine declared the convention open, the 520 delegates moved directly into the business agenda. President Weaver reported more branches are amalgamating, selling

off large buildings, consolidating finances, paying debts, bolstering memberships “and making a profit.” At the end of 2016, Ontario Command boasted 104,526 members in more than 400 branches, with 122 branches retaining every member—or growing, reported Membership Committee Chair Garry Pond. Overall, 2,251 members were lost, the lowest number in years, he said. The homeless veterans initiative also passed a milestone, reported chair Bruce Julian—serving its 500th veteran. “Some think homelessness is a big-city problem, but nothing could be further from the truth.” The program has helped veterans in 114 communities, supported by $1.55 million in donations. A dental program for homeless veterans has been worked out with two dental colleges, Julian reported. Honorary Treasurer Don Hubbs reported a surplus of $24,308 for 2016, and a projected surplus for 2017 of $39,080 after $125,000

Sharon Adams

2017-07-28 12:22 PM

clockwise from opposite page: Ontario Command President Sharon

McKeown is congratulated by Dominion First Vice President Tom Irvine; Deputy District Commander Jack Porter (left) and District Commander Wes Kutasienski congratulate McKeown on receipt of the Palm Leaf to her Meritorious Service Medal; Irvine attaches the Provincial Past President lapel pin to Brian Weaver’s lapel.

was set aside to cover convention costs. No increase in the per capita tax was recommended. “Since we don’t have any more ways to increase revenue,” he said, “the new finance committee will have to find ways to cut expenses.” But later in proceedings, incoming Honorary Treasurer Ed Pigeau disagreed. He believes the return on investment can be improved, perhaps enough to offset the costs needed to run command. Ladies Auxiliary President Kim Adams reported the 263 auxiliaries are “ready to work right alongside the Legion.” They have raised $6,107,126 and donated $6,006,147 for bursaries, veterans’ welfare and other causes, including $1.7 million to branches. Dominion First Vice Tom Irvine briefed delegates on national marketing efforts to increase membership and the new membership renewal program. He urged branches to spread the word about the Legion’s good works. “Reach out to the media. It’s good for the Legion as a whole” when branches shine a positive light. The Military Service Recognition Book has provided a total of $554,050 since 2013, reported program chair Ron Goebel. Several delegates noted that military contributions of First Nations are under-represented and pledged to redress this by canvassing First Nation communities for entries. Two non-concurred motions were brought back to the floor and passed. The first calls for Dominion Command to change the honourable mention designation in the poster and literary contests to third place, and include a monetary prize along with the certificates, as is done at zone, district and provincial levels. Delegates also brought back and

passed a non-concurred resolution calling for extending the Cadet Medal of Excellence to Junior Canadian Rangers. Elections went smoothly. Sharon McKeown of Pte. Joe Waters Branch in Milton was acclaimed president. In one ballot, delegates elected Garry Pond of Carleton Place Branch as first vice-president over Derek Moore of Capt. Fred Campbell VC Branch in Mount Forest and Ken Sorrenti of Cardinal Branch. Moore and Sorrenti dropped down to the nomination list for vicepresident, joining Robert Buchanan of Wellington Branch, Patty Sargent-Gibson of Owen Sound Branch, Wes Kutasienski of Acton Branch and Tom Garnett of Hearst Branch. Sorrenti declined to run. Buchanan was elected on the first ballot; followed by Kutasienski and Moore. Ed Pigeau of Thessalon Branch defeated former command assistant executive director Robyn Zettler for the position of honorary treasurer. Ron Goebel of Carleton Place Branch was elected chairman, while rival Chuck Johnston of H.T. Church Branch in St. Catharines dropped down to join others nominated for vice-chairman, Greg Kobold of Brighton Branch, Jay Burford of Todmorden Branch and Ron Crown of Grand Bend Branch. Crown was elected. Delegates heard two moving speeches. The first was by Natacha Dupuis, Invictus Games co-captain of Team Canada describing her recovery from post-traumatic stress injury and the hope and sense of accomplishment derived from athletic competition. Delegates

later voted to provide $6,500 in poppy funds for 12 Invictus athletes to attend the Canadian Track and Field Championships in July. Alberta-Northwest Territories President Chris Strong thanked Ontario branches for their donation of $578,628 (of total Legion donations of $1.24 million) to the Fort McMurray Wildfire Relief Fund. The fire missed McMurray Branch, which became a community centre for the 60,000 evacuated residents. “The Legion is the centre of hope set in the middle of barren land where the rebuilding had just started,” Strong said. Delegates donated $27,729 for the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League, which helps support needy veterans and their widows in 16 Caribbean countries. Other donations collected included $31,547 for the bursary fund, $143,200 for Ontario Command, Branches and L.A. Charitable Foundation, $50,749 for homeless veterans, $4,000 for the poppy fund and $3,000 for the Veterans Comfort Fund. L

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2017-07-27 3:49 PM

New Brunswick racks up victory in eight-ball

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ight-ball returned with enthusiasm to Dominion Command member sports programs, after a year’s hiatus, at the 2017 Eight-Ball Championships played at Sturgeon Falls, Ont., Branch, May 26-28. The sport, along with curling, had been suspended in 2016 while Dominion Command evaluated many of its programs prior to the June 2016 dominion convention in St. John’s, N.L. Both sports had failed in recent years to attract teams from all 10 commands. While delegates were willing to forego future curling bonspiels, they made it clear that they wanted eight-ball to continue. Seven teams, from AlbertaNorthwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia/Nunavut and Newfoundland and Labrador commands, arrived in Sturgeon Falls, 40 kilometres west of North Bay.

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By Tom MacGregor

Situated on the Sturgeon River close to the falls, the branch is a two-storey facility that suits its branch of about 120 members. Players were welcomed to the branch by West Nipissing Mayor Joanne Savage during the opening ceremony held on Saturday morning. Dominion Past President Tom Eagles, representing the Dominion Dominion Command Sports Committee representative Command Sports Tom Eagles congratulates singles winner Greg Gauthier. Committee, and Sturgeon Falls Branch President Gloria Lavallee, who was also first game and then the other player chair of the Local Arrangements would break for the second game. Committee, placed a wreath. With an odd number of teams, one Two pool tables were used during team was given a bye in each round. the tournament. Each player on the With no scoreboard posted, four-man teams was assigned a divispectators could not tell which sion and played two rounds against a team was collecting the most player in the same division in round points, though it was fairly clear robin format. To ensure that every who the stronger players were. player had a chance to play, players Alberta won the title in 2015. agreed to flip for the break in the Returning to compete this year

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Kim Bohnet and Richard Stekelenburg of Alberta take the doubles championship. The New Brunswick team of (from left) Greg Gauthier, Gerard Carroll, Danny Carroll and Shawn Stewart take the championship.

were Kim Bohnet and Ron Meier from Robertson Memorial Branch in Medicine Hat. This time their team was rounded out with Richard Stekelenburg and Terry Levesque from Drayton Valley Branch. However, Alberta was up against crack teams from New Brunswick and Ontario. The New Brunswick team from Miramichi Branch consisting of Shawn Stewart, Greg Gauthier, Gerard Carroll and Danny Carroll also did well. The two Carroll brothers were on the New Brunswick team that played in 2015. They were followed closely by the Ontario team of Matt Crawford, Collin Nobes, Tom Crawford and Tol Kuy from Col. Fred Tilston VC Branch in Aurora and Campbellford Branch. The team for Labrador City Branch again represented Newfoundland and Labrador at the dominion level. Players Darcy Lowe and Carl Pike were on the team that took second place in the 2015 championships in Calgary. This time, they were playing with Pat Carrol and Perry Clarke. “I think we have made Legion history with this championship,” said Eagles. “We have a team from Iqaluit representing Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command.” The team of Jayko Ashoona,

Tom MacGregor

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Nova Scotia/Nunavut was represented by Iqaluit Branch members (from left) Tommy Ataguyuk, Jayko Ashoona, Norman Nowdluk and Paul Gordon.

Norman Nowdluk, Tommy Ataguyuk and Paul Gordon from Iqaluit Branch in Nunavut came up through branch and zone finals in Nova Scotia to take the provincial championship and move on to dominion level. Also competing was the team from Prince Edward Island of Kenneth Noonan, Curtis Gaudet, Joey Arsenault and Mario Henry, representing Tignish and BordenCarleton branches and the team from Saskatchewan of Frosty Forrest, his son Willie Forrest, Leonard Grube and Alroy Yoner from Estevan Branch. Both teams had players who had reached the dominion level before. Play was halted around 7 p.m. on Saturday to make way for branch supper and entertainment by a local disc jockey. By then each player had played four rounds and it was only then that the referees let players know where the teams stood. Play resumed Sunday morning while the round robin played itself out. Officials still kept the results secret, although most players had figured out where they stood. The judges still did not announce the winners when the competition for singles play was announced. Shawn Stewart and Greg Gauthier of New Brunswick were up against Terry Levesque of Alberta and Norman Nowdluk of Nova Scotia/ Nunavut. The two New Brunswick players emerged for a playoff, with Gauthier taking the championship and Stewart taking second place. The competition then moved

into doubles play. Again, it was New Brunswick with Gauthier and Stewart facing their archrivals of the weekend, Alberta. Alberta players Bohnet and Stekelenburg emerged the winners. Then the tension was broken when it was announced that New Brunswick had indeed won the team championship. Alberta had come in second. Gauthier said he started playing pool 25 years ago when he was growing up in Charlottetown, where his grandmother, Joyce Paynter, a Second World War veteran, is a prominent member of Charlottetown Branch. “I don’t play a whole lot. It’s more of a hobby,” he said. For Bohnet, it was an exciting return to the dominion eight-ball championships. “I’ve been playing a long time,” he said. “I used to play snooker. I only started playing eight-ball in the 1990s when I joined the Legion.” Bohnet said he knew his teammates from playing at the Legion but they had come together as a team for the competition. Everything wrapped up with a banquet with Eagles, assisted by Ontario Command District H Sports Officer Ken Faubert, presenting trophies and prizes to the winners. Eagles thanked Lavallee and her Local Arrangements Committee for the hospitality and meal and transportation provided throughout the weekend. Eight-ball will continue in 2018, with Estevan, Sask., Branch hosting. L

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2017-07-27 3:51 PM

57th Q  uebec Convention

Getting the house in order

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By Tom MacGregor

elt-tightening and an office move have helped Quebec Command improve its financial picture, delegates were told at the 57th Quebec Command Convention held May 19-22 in Victoriaville. “The past two years at Quebec Command have been a continuing challenge with the loss of five of our branches and a decrease in membership by about 400 members per year,” said President Norman Shelton. “Due to our deficit, we relocated our office to a smaller space to reduce our rent, at a savings of approximately $27,000. As well, we cut another $20,000 from our budget.” The command remains in the same building in downtown Montreal, but in a smaller space. It was welcome news at the convention which was declared open at the Hôtel Le Victorin conference centre by Dominion President Dave Flannigan. A parade and wreathplacing ceremony at the cenotaph at city hall followed. Wreaths were placed by Silver Cross Mother Denise Thibodeau, Flannigan, Shelton, Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) representative Charlotte Bastien and local dignitaries. Business began that afternoon for the 107 delegates attending. Bastien, VAC’s director-general of field operations for Ontario and Quebec, gave an overview of the

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department’s recent activities. “Eight out of the nine regional offices that were closed have been reopened, with a new office in Surrey, B.C.,” she said. “It is important that we have the right number of employees to serve our veterans where they live. To help do so, 400 new staff have been hired.” She also said there had been an increase in veterans prescribed medicinal marijuana. “We currently cover the cost of up to three grams a day but we also want to allow for exceptional circumstances. An advisory council will establish guidelines for marijuana use.” Veterans, Service and Seniors Committee Chair Madonna Boch said service officers in Montreal cover areas west of Trois-Rivières while the two service officers in Quebec City cover the east. Questioned from the floor on how the five per cent the command levies on branch poppy funds was spent, Boch said the levy raised $47,000. Of that, $40,000 went directly to help veterans while the rest was spent on training for service officers. The service bureau also helped two homeless veterans in their transition from Montreal shelters to their own apartments. Poppy Chair James Riddell warned delegates to be careful with their poppy fund donations. “We cannot donate poppy funds to a

foundation itself. Many organizations seem to assist our veterans, but instead utilize the donations for their administration and therefore the donation does not go directly to the veterans. Those organizations utilize the donations to pay for anything from their salaries to toilet paper,” he said. Flannigan spoke of activities at Dominion Command where the membership department is undergoing significant change. “The new membership portal will make it easier to use for renewing and new members,” he said, “We will go from a paper to a plastic membership card, which will make renewing go much more quickly.” Earlier in the convention, during a report on donations to the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League (RCEL), a delegate asked what the RCEL was. Flannigan gave an impromptu speech on the work the Royal Canadian Legion does, on behalf of the RCEL, for needy veterans in the Caribbean. Dominion First Vice Tom Irvine, a delegate to the convention, told delegates that he would like to see the command return to the custom of passing a bucket to collect donations for the RCEL. By the end of the convention, $944 was raised. In resolutions, delegates reacted

Tom MacGregor

2017-07-28 9:10 AM

above: Dominion President Dave Flannigan (left) is assisted by Quebec Command President Norman Shelton; Flannigan (front, second from left) joins the new Quebec Command executive, (front, from left) Past President Norman Shelton, President Ken Ouellet, First Vice Claude Racine, (rear, from left) vice-presidents William Howe, Mike Fitzgerald and Leonard Pelletier, Treasurer Madonna Boch and Chairman Christopher Wheatley. opposite: Silver Cross Mother Denise Thibodeau places a wreath.

angrily to a resolution that would limit the time a member can wear commemorative medals such as the 150th anniversary of Confederation medal issued by the Legion. The resolution was defeated. Another resolution called for the amalgamation of District 4 and District 15 into one district to be called St. Laurent-St. Maurice. District commanders from both districts spoke against the resolution. Shelton defended the resolution saying, “A bigger district is a stronger district.” It, too, was defeated. Delegates also questioned a directive from Dominion Command that would have provincial commands use the Legion’s definition of a veteran in determining who is eligible for a veteran’s licence plate. Dominion Secretary Brad White explained that since licence plates are a provincial issue, the provincial commands had negotiated the criteria for eligibility with their provincial governments. “The result is that there are 10 or 12 different sets of criteria. There is a Legion definition of veteran which was passed at the dominion convention in Edmonton.” Although the Legion definition does not specify a time period for a person to be considered a veteran, in Quebec a person must have served in the military for three years before being eligible for the

licence plate. Some delegates said the change demeaned their service. The meeting was disrupted by an observer who opposed the directive. He was ruled out of order and, ultimately, escorted out of the hall. After a short break, Chairman Christopher Wheatley announced that the dominion president and dominion secretary had agreed to field any questions delegates wanted to direct to Dominion Command. Throughout the convention, Flannigan acted as the elections chair. Delegates knew that a vacuum was opening in the leadership. Shelton was stepping down after two consecutive terms while First Vice James Riddell had let it be known he would not be seeking re-election. Four names were put forward for president: Ken Ouellet of Lacolle Branch; Vice-President Claude Racine of Lt.-Col. Charles Forbes Branch in Loretteville; Vice-President William Howe of Greenfield Park Branch; and Shelton. Shelton and Racine declined, making it an election between Ouellet and Howe, with Ouellet winning. Three people ran for first vice: Racine, Robert Brosseau of Lacolle Branch and Sylvain Hamel of Cowansville Branch. Racine won on the first ballot. Eight candidates ran for the three positions of vice-president:

Howe; Hamel; incumbent VicePresident Eugene Montour of Mohawk Branch in Kanawake; Leonard Pelletier of Norris Branch in Gatineau; Mike Fitzgerald of RMR Branch in Montreal; Luc Fortier of Chicoutimi Branch; Larry Tremblay of Terrebonne Heights Branch in Mascouche Heights; and Louis Dufour of De Lanaudiere Branch in Joliette. After five ballots, delegates elected Howe, Fitzgerald and Pelletier. Chairman Christopher Wheatley of Chomedey Branch in Laval withstood a challenge from Brousseau for another term. Madonna Boch of Hon. John Diefenbaker Branch in Laval was acclaimed as treasurer for another term. Ouellet, a branch president with no experience on Provincial Executive Council, said, “I’ve learned a lot at this convention and that knowledge needs to be transferred down to the branches.” He thanked Shelton for all his work over the years. Delegates agreed, giving Shelton a heartfelt standing ovation. Ouellet also thanked host Arthabaska Branch, which had arranged transportation and offered hospitality at its branch in Victoriaville, 175 kilometres northeast of Montreal. “Now, I will have to put up or shut up,” said Ouellet. “I will work with a team and rally the group to come up with suggestions and proposals that will lead to solutions. That’s the way I’ve always worked.” L

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2017-07-27 4:01 PM

Grave marker program commemorates Canada’s VC recipients

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ince 2008, the Canadian Agency of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC), on behalf of Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), has been commemorating Canada’s Victoria Cross recipients who survived their wars and are buried in civilian cemeteries. Currently, 31 new grave markers have been erected, with at least two more in the works for later this year. André Michaud, the CWGC’s program manager for agency services in Ottawa said the program began in the communities where the soldiers are buried. The communities, wanting to have something more prominent to honour their local heroes, reached out to the cemetery authority, which subsequently approached the CWGC to provide a standard military marker that would be a more appropriate commemoration for the recipient. VAC agreed to fund the ongoing efforts, while the CWGC maintains the graves. Today, the CWGC will usually reach out to the community first. As part of its mandate to maintain veterans’ grave markers, the CWGC routinely tours the gravesites to ensure they are in good condition. Should the CWGC find one of the graves to be in unsuitable condition, they approach the cemetery. “In order to be able to provide a marker, the cemetery has to agree,” said Michaud. “Some of them have bylaws that don’t allow two monuments on the little plots, so we have to respect the bylaws. We ask the

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By Stephanie Slegtenhorst

Major Hampden Cockburn (left) and Captain Bellenden Hutcheson survived their wars and are buried in civilian cemeteries.

ANY CANADIAN VC RECIPIENT WHO SURVIVED THE WAR AND IS BURIED IN A CIVILIAN CEMETERY QUALIFIES FOR THE PROGRAM, REGARDLESS OF WHERE HE IS BURIED. cemetery, the community, and the family. Sometimes there are things that happen that prevent them from giving us permission, but whenever we get the authorization from the cemetery and the family, we go ahead.” From there, depending on whether there is a private family marker or a military marker, the CWGC will either add a second marker to accompany the family marker, or replace the original military one. “If it was a military marker that was not as visible, we’ll replace it,”

said Michaud. “But if there’s already a private commemoration there, we will complement it. [For example,] some cases have a flat marker that commemorates the individual and his wife. We’ll put the military marker beside it that highlights the fact that he earned the Victoria Cross.” Any Canadian VC recipient who survived the war and is buried in a civilian cemetery qualifies for the program, regardless of where he is buried. The farthest the program has travelled is to the Rose Hill Cemetery in Mount Carmel, Illinois, where VC recipient Captain Bellenden Hutcheson is buried. Hutcheson was an American who joined the Canadian Army as a medical officer in 1915. On Sept. 2, 1918, at the Drocourt-Quéant Line, Hutcheson treated the wounded amid enemy fire, ensuring every wounded man was attended. After dressing the wounds of a seriously wounded officer and evacuating him to safety with the aid of stretcher-bearers, he returned under fire to treat another seriously wounded officer in a shell hole. For these actions, he was awarded the Victoria Cross. To commemorate his actions, the CWGC provided a flat bronze marker to be placed at his grave. Currently the CWGC is preparing to add a marker to the grave of Major Hampden Cockburn, who earned his VC for actions during the Boer War. Cockburn is buried at St. James Cemetery in Toronto and his grave marker is scheduled to be updated this year. L

Sharif Tarabay

2017-07-28 3:24 PM

Legion hosts dinner for Canada’s Invictus Games athletes

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eam Canada athletes were treated to a wrap-up dinner by The Royal Canadian Legion at the end of their final training camp for the Invictus Games, which open in Toronto in September. “I do want to pass on congratulations and best wishes,” said Dominion First Vice President Tom Irvine. “Here’s to you...and here’s to your dream.” More than 550 ill, injured and wounded serving military and veterans from 17 nations will compete in 12 adaptive sports at the Invictus Games Sept. 23-30. About 100 athletes, medical support and training staff attended the dinner hosted by Irvine at Limestone City Branch in Kingston, Ont.

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founder Legacé, who was given three loud and long ovations during the evening. Soldier On passed along application forms for free one-year Legion memberships to team members. Dinner guests were also presented with a parting gift package that included a We Support Our Troops gold ribbon pin. L

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

Taking privacy seriously

Do command service officers provide solicitor-client privilege? The answer, in a nutshell, is no. That specific privilege is in force only when one hires a lawyer. However, command service officers do offer a comparable level of confidentiality for clients seeking free professional counselling and representation services regarding disability claims or related issues with Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) and the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB). Legion command service officers’ access to information is controlled and monitored by VAC in accordance with Canada’s Access to Information Act and Privacy Act. For example, they can access relevant information only after the client has authorized it by providing signed consent. Furthermore, the

Sharon Adams

“We are personally inspired by the work you have chosen to do,” said Major-General Simon Hetheringon. “You have inspired all of us.” The outcome of the games doesn’t matter, he said, because, “you have won in all our hearts.” Soldier On founder Greg Legacé and team co-captains Major Simon Mailloux and Master Corporal Natacha Dupuis presented an inukshuk statuette to Past President Allan Jones of Limestone City Branch. Irvine complimented the work of Soldier On, which has used sports and physical activity to help 2,000 ill and injured Canadian Armed Forces members and veterans, and

client can limit or cancel the Legion’s access to his or her file simply by contacting any VAC office. The Legion and VAC adhere to a strict security clearance process that ensures client confidentiality at all times. All Legion personnel employed in these positions take mandatory courses conducted at Dominion Command. They also must sign VAC’s Internet Acceptable Use Practices Policy as well as the RCL/VAC Acknowledgement of Security Responsibility. Once a client provides authorization on a Legion claim application form for command service officer representation, a confidential relationship is established. Only after the claim is registered with VAC can a security-cleared command service officer access that client’s file.

“No files may be accessed without a work-related need to know,” says Ray McInnis, director of the Dominion Command Service Bureau. “Like VAC’s department personnel, we take client confidentiality very seriously. “Still-serving Canadian Armed Forces members, veterans, RCMP personnel and their families who need help with claims or related issues certainly have options when it comes to representation, but why pay for it when we can provide free representation? And you do not have to be a Legion member to request our services,” says McInnis. “We believe strongly in our no-charge confidential service. With our extensive service officer training and VAC’s stringent security clearance process, our clients’ privacy is assured.” L

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53rd N  ova Scotia/Nunavut Convention

Balanced budgets and finding members

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By Jennifer Morse

ilacs and Legionnaires were out in Bridgewater, N.S., at the 53rd Nova Scotia/Nunavut Convention held May 20-22. The good works of the Legion often depend on two things—money and members. Over the past two provincial conventions, delegates have been clear that budgets needed to be cut and the books balanced. “The finances of this command have come under a great deal of scrutiny,” President Steve Wessel told delegates. “This due diligence has resulted in a financial surplus for our command over the past three audited years…and a balanced budget to Executive Council for the year 2017.” Wessel thanked Executive Council and Second Vice Jay Tofflemire for filling the gap when Treasurer Sandra Ehler stepped down from the position. A balanced budget is an important part of a healthy Legion, but reversing the decades-old decline in membership is every bit as necessary, said Wessel. “Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command membership renewal remains strong. We have seen over 30 branches grow in strength last year.” Since 2012, Command has lost more than 1,000 members a year, peaking at a loss of 1,374 in 2015. Last year, the downward trend was reversed: the decline was approximately 500 members.

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Wessel also explained that branches are still entitled to hold the membership initiation ceremony, while provincial membership chairs look for ways to streamline the wording. Victoria Day weekend was bright and crisp as delegates marched down York Street on Sunday to place wreaths at the cenotaph in Brookside Cemetery. Wreaths were placed by Member of Parliament Bernadette Jordan, Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell, Lunenburg Mayor Carolyn Bolivar Getson, Dominion VicePresident Bruce Julian, Dominion Grand President Larry Murray, Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command President Steve Wessel, First Vice Melvin Crowe, Bridgewater Branch President Pat Kelly and Ladies Auxiliary President Linda Dagley. “Many hundreds of sons and daughters from the greater Bridgewater community have served in the various conflicts as soldiers and sailors, nurses and merchant mariners and in peacekeeping roles around the globe,” said Master of Ceremonies John Macdonald. “More than 100 names are etched on this cenotaph, from the first in 1914 to Paul Davis in 2006.” Legionnaires from more than 100 branches in Nova Scotia then gathered to do business. The opening ceremony and the business of convention took place in the Bridgewater Junior/Senior High School

auditorium. There were 199 accredited delegates carrying 310 proxies. Crowe presented the work of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee. The bylaw changes were mostly housekeeping, with a few updates. For example, Executive Council will appoint a command chaplain and a news correspondent. The command chaplain will be a voting delegate to the command convention. Another article allows the Executive Council to appoint a grand president who will be a voting delegate to the convention and receive a two-day allowance. In a question from the floor, one delegate asked, “What is the effect of this change? Are we increasing or decreasing the amount of per diem and voting delegates?” Crowe answered that allowance

Jennifer Morse

2017-07-28 9:12 AM

above: Melvin Crowe is installed as the new president; Dominion Vice-President Bruce Julian prepares to place a wreath. opposite page: President Steve Wessel salutes during the opening ceremonies.

costs have been reduced by a total of two days, one per person. Nine resolutions were received, while seven were non-concurred. One resolution says no branch should initiate, encourage or participate in the signing of the national flag. Delegates also supported a resolution for a bar to the Canadian Armed Forces Special Service Medal to be awarded to all veterans of North American Aerospace Defence Command, Sound Surveillance Systems and Communications Research units. Since last convention, the Veterans Outreach Committee has extended financial support or referred support to approximately 300 veterans and their families. The command also sponsors a Military Family Mental Health/Operational Stress Injury Support Peer Retreat that allows adult family members of ill and injured veterans to get help as they struggle with the challenges of living with a veteran with an operational stress injury. The plan is to make this retreat available again in 2017. The Porchlight group is championing the proposed Veterans Walk-in Clinic at Camp Hill Memorial Hospital. The clinic is in its early stages and work continues to bring the provincial and federal governments on side. “It has been a time of transition,” said command Service Officer Stephen Tedford. “We have jumped in with both feet to deal with caseload, but we now have our feet under us. We project we will

handle at least 600 cases this year.” Julian ran the elections and installed the officers. Acclaimed to their positions were Melvin Crowe of Ashby Branch in Sydney, moving from first vice to president, and Chairman Karen Lynch of Eastern Marine Branch in Gaetz Brook. Second Vice Jay Tofflemire of Eastern Marine Branch defeated Cliff MacIntyre of Breton Branch in Sydney Mines for the position of first vice. Marion Fryday-Cook of F.E. Butler Branch in Chester bested Merv Steadman of Ortona Branch in Berwick for second vice. Donna McRury of Whitney Pier Branch was elected treasurer over Joyce Pitcher of Bedford Branch. Honorary President Wilf Edmond of Donkin Branch and Grand President Ted Martins of St. Peter’s Branch were also installed. Delegates heard from a number of guest speakers. They included Brian Ferguson of the Sydney Mines Tourism Development Society who outlined a proposal for an Atlantic Memorial Park in Sydney Harbour. This commemorative project will feature a monument facing Vimy and the restoration of the Chapel Point battery. The Canadian Naval Memorial Trust Battle of the Atlantic Place Project also briefed delegates. It is planning to build a museum on Halifax’s waterfront which will house HMCS Sackville, the last remaining corvette from the Second World War, and

commemorate Canada’s role in the Battle of the Atlantic. “We are not asking for money, but for your voice, for your influence,” said Chairman George Borgal. Delegates heard new ideas for commemoration and ways they might help today’s veterans. Clinical psychologist John Whelan presented a new initiative called After Shock. The program is unique in that a medical diagnosis is not required to join. “As it stands, our existing programs do not address the issues of transition. When we join the military we give up aspects of ourselves, taking on a persona. We are taught that we are better than general society. When members leave, there is a need to recondition themselves mentally.” Whelan said this culture shock can be confused with posttraumatic stress disorder and that there is a need to get veterans to learn and practice a new skill set. The Local Arrangements Committee, chaired by Sam Collicutt, provided entertainment, meals and transportation. The generosity continued as branches donated to the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League. Branches also donated $11,000, plus $1,030 collected from the floor, to the command’s benevolent fund, for a total of $12,030. “In every nook and cranny of the country we are helping our veterans,” Julian told delegates. “But we just don’t talk about it enough, as if we are afraid to toot our own horns. Well let’s make some noise.” He described the Legion as a culture that respects and celebrates diversity and Nova Scotia/ Nunavut Command is embracing the new face of the Legion. “This is the first time in the history of Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command that there are three women elected to sit on executive council,” noted newly elected President Crowe. “I promise to work hard to keep this command as good as it is and, hopefully, even make it a little bit better.” L

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2017-07-28 12:22 PM

64th Prince Edward Island ONTARIO CONVENTION Convention

Tackling membership issues

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By Stephen J. Thorne

tephen Gallant of Tignish Branch was acclaimed president during the 64th Prince Edward Island Command Convention held May 26-27 in Wellington, vowing to take on the issue of declining membership early in his mandate. Gallant, 59, was acclaimed after outgoing president John Yeo of Charlottetown Branch declined a nomination to run for a second term. “My priorities will be to maintain our current membership,” Gallant said at the end of the two-day meeting in the heart of Acadian country about 90 kilometres west of Charlottetown. “That seems to be the downfall. We have no problems getting in the new members, but it’s how to keep them there, to retain them. There’s no quick fix.” Gallant, who has worked as a roughneck in the oilfields, a meat cutter and a lobster fisherman, intends to focus attention on reviving sports programs in the Island’s 19 branches, which he says have always been a big attraction to new members but have been allowed to slip in recent years. It’s a catch-22 situation. At his own branch, he says men’s, women’s and team darts leagues have gone by the wayside. Only the mixed league remains and it meets only once a week—mainly due to declining membership.

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Membership Committee Chair Duane MacEwen reported that P.E.I. Command’s voting cardholders totalled 1,736 as of March 31, down from 1,955 last year. Nevertheless, the provincial command reported surpluses in net assets and operations. The Island has averaged a membership decline of about two per cent a year for the past decade, compared to the national average of about one per cent. Dominion Vice-President Angus Stanfield reminded the 48 voting delegates they are not alone, adding youth is key to the future of The Royal Canadian Legion. “There is no doubt that we are facing challenges at every level, particularly with membership,” he said. “On one hand, we are losing older veteran members every year. On the other hand, younger veterans are not joining us in the numbers we would like and need.” Demographics, he added, tell the story: almost 80 per cent of Legion members are 55 or older. Something has to be done, Stanfield said, and it is. Dominion Command has undertaken an extensive marketing campaign, much of it designed to

boost membership, particularly among younger Canadians. He urged Island members to get the word out about the good things the Legion is doing for veterans and their communities, reminding them that the Legion’s core values— service, integrity, respect, loyalty, teamwork—mirror Canadian values. He said Dominion Command’s efforts to revamp the membership renewal process, making it easier, quicker and less expensive were progressing as testing of a new membership portal on the Legion website neared completion. “We must embrace technology…if we want to run a successful, modern Legion.” Indeed, MacEwen was involved in the testing, telling delegates he’s made suggestions to improve on its design and functionality. He said the new portal will enable branches to better manage members’ records, renewals and reports. MacEwen of Kingston Branch in New Haven was elected as first vice, defeating Owen

Stephen J. Thorne

2017-07-28 12:23 PM

clockwise from opposite page: Dominion Vice-President Angus Stanfield

congratulates Stephen Gallant on becoming the new president; preparing for installation are (from left) Past President John Yeo, Gallant and Stanfield; Duane MacEwen is installed as first vice; Ontario Command President Sharon McKeown (left) and Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command Past President Steve Wessel are welcomed by Prince Edward Island Command Honorary President Lois Brown.

Parkhouse from Morell Branch. Parkhouse went on to defeat Dave Howatt of Charlottetown Branch in a run-off for the last of the province’s three vice-president positions. The others were Theresa Gallant of Wellington Branch and David Perry of Souris Branch. Lynda Curtis of Saint Anthony Branch in Bloomfield was acclaimed for another term as finance chair, while Claus Brodersen of Kingston Branch was returned as chair by acclamation. Diane Kennedy of BordenCarleton Branch in Borden declined a nomination to run for vice-chair. Gilles Pachaud of Wellington Branch went on to defeat Catherine Kerr of Charlottetown Branch for the post. In light of declining membership, the convention passed a resolution raising the proportion of delegates from each branch the provincial command can send to the dominion convention. It was noted during the convention that the number of veterans

has doubled across the Island in recent years to some 4,200. Privacy laws, however, prevent federal departments and agencies from releasing personal information to the public, the Legion included. Gallant, a 26-year member who was recently made a life member, said the increase is largely unknown to the public at large, and poses a challenge to provincial command which, beyond seeking members, wants to recognize veterans and offer them services. Outgoing president Yeo urged members to work hard on the membership issue and focus on recruiting as well as maintaining current rolls. Brodersen, the poppy chair, reported that Island branches raised almost $191,000 during last November’s poppy campaign. The convention raised about $4,200 for the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League. Among the delegates and guests, totalling 77 attendees, there were nine NATO veterans, five peacekeepers and two Afghanistan veterans, along with single veterans

each from the Second World War, Korean War and the Gulf War. The walls of Wellington Branch were covered in Acadian names, the honour roll from both world wars dominated by Arsenaults and Gallants, as were the local Legion’s past presidents. George Borgal, chairman of the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust’s Battle of the Atlantic Place project, made a presentation promoting construction of a Battle of the Atlantic museum on the Halifax waterfront. He wasn’t looking for money, but provincial command support at next year’s dominion convention, where he’ll be looking for the Legion to endorse the project as “recognition of what a generation of veterans, their families and their communities did in transforming Canada and what it means to be Canadian.” He will also ask for Legion help in gaining support from municipalities for a cross-Canada kiosk campaign “honouring those who sailed in naval and merchant ships named after their communities and regions, as well as those communities who contributed to the battle’s success by virtue of their industry and production.” L

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53rd B  ritish Columbia/

ONTARIO CONVENTION Yukon Convention

Neuroscientist thanks the Legion

At

By Sharon Adams

the opening ceremonies of British Columbia/Yukon Command’s 53rd Convention June 2-4 in Richmond, B.C., neuroscientist Ryan D’Arcy of Simon Fraser University thanked The Royal Canadian Legion for helping to make Canada “a leader in the world in neuroscience...and how we can help those with brain injuries.” He credited the Legion’s support of retired captain Trevor Greene, whose brain was damaged in an axe attack in Afghanistan in 2006, with not only providing Greene with an exoskeleton to help him walk, but helping to prove that, with help, people can come back from a devastating brain injury—to walk again, speak again and contribute again to society. “Thank you for your service,” said D’Arcy. Two years ago, convention delegates were delighted by a video of Greene taking his first steps with the aid of the exoskeleton; this year, D’Arcy told them Greene has set a new goal: he has begun training to get to a base camp at Mount Everest. Convention opened on the Friday with a parade and a commemorative ceremony in a grassy garden of River Rock Casino Resort. Among those placing wreaths were Silver Cross Mother Sian Jones LeSueur, whose son Private Garrett William Chidley was killed in Afghanistan

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in 2009, Dominion President Dave Flannigan and command President Marc Tremblay. At the opening ceremony, Flannigan expressed “gratitude to those who have devoted so much time and energy to B.C./ Yukon, who work tirelessly for the branches to help them succeed.” He updated delegates on the new membership portal and marketing efforts to draw in new members, particularly those under 55. He encouraged branches to spread the word about their good works on social media and in the community and to ensure “everything we do demonstrates the Legion’s core values: respect, loyalty, teamwork.” The seriousness of their work was brought home to delegates right from the first report in Saturday’s business session. “At our last convention, we said that if we do nothing differently, this command will fail in 2022,” President Marc Tremblay said. Since then, operations have been streamlined, restructured and modernized, and a strategic plan implemented. A development corporation was created to help branches, a “cloudbased” accounting system and a province-wide purchasing plan were instituted, and four branch operations advisors (BOAs) were hired to help struggling branches. “We are seeing the result of our efforts.”

No branches closed in 2016, reported Executive Director Sandy Reiser, and two in trusteeship have reopened. Fifty branches have asked for help from the new BOAs, who work with zone commanders to provide hands-on help to branches. “Command has been strictly controlling revenues and expenses and we are in a good financial position,” with a surplus in 2016 of $345,357, reported Treasurer Jim Diack. The Military Service Recognition Book has brought in $430,714 since 2015. Investments provide an average rate of return of about seven per cent. A line in the financial reports indicating a $300,000 increase in staff costs since last convention provoked heated discussion. Diack explained this covers the salaries of the four BOAs approved at 2015 convention. Members from branches that had not used an advisor questioned the expense and wondered why zone commanders couldn’t do the job. Those from branches that had received help replied that they would not now be open without it, that zone commanders don’t have the required expertise, and that the salaries

Sharon Adams

2017-07-28 12:23 PM

Glenn Hodge (above, left) receives the president’s pin from outgoing President Marc Tremblay. right: Standing for opening ceremonies are (from left) Tremblay, Dominion Treasurer Mark Barham and Dominion President Dave Flannigan. opposite: Neuroscientist Ryan D’Arcy thanked delegates.

are not excessive considering the advisors’ professional expertise. Several officers mentioned longterm sustainability as a command priority. Delegates approved—without debate—a resolution calling for investigating the feasibility of amalgamating with Alberta-Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan commands into Western Canada Command, with one central office. It is Legion custom that those elected first vice-president at one convention are acclaimed president at the next. Tremblay asked delegates to break with tradition and grant him a second term. He pointed to his record in making changes to ensure survival of command, adding there is still much work to be done—work he would like to do. “It is a watershed moment. Be the delegates who challenged the way of doing things.” But delegates disagreed, electing First Vice Glenn Hodge of Trail Branch as the new president. Valerie MacGregor of West Vancouver Branch was elected first vice over John Scott of Prince George Branch. Scott joined the others running for vice-president, including Dale Johnston of Cloverdale Branch in Surrey, Bev Mansell of Powell River Branch, Al Turner of Mackenzie Branch, Craig Thomson of Kamloops Branch, Roy Cardinal

of Seaview Centennial Branch in Lantzville and Jane Anderson of Vancouver TVS Branch. Scott and Thomson were elected. Chairman Dwight Grieve of Malahat Branch in Shawnigan Lake and Treasurer Jim Diack of Qualicum Beach Branch were both acclaimed. There were 263 accredited delegates, and 374 proxy votes. A procedural error prevented action on three resolutions. It started with a non-concurred motion brought back to the floor asking that conventions be held at more economical venues throughout the province, instead of the Lower Mainland. Some delegates said cost prevents members from attending convention. Command explained that its largest convention expense is travel by staff and transport of materials to convention. Before debate could begin, it was pointed out the motion had been made by a zone, in contravention of requirements that motions must come from a branch, and it could not be the subject of a vote. That brought into question two other zone-originating resolutions that had been approved earlier (regarding lobbying for RCMP members to receive veterans’ licence plates and a resolution calling for a minimum of one zone meeting per year). These

resolutions were also void. However, Reiser later reported to delegates that command would investigate venues outside of the Lower Mainland and moving the convention to September to avoid high-season rates. Delegates heard three moving presentations. Many veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder become very isolated, said Barb Ashmead of Vancouver Island Compassion Dogs, who introduced six veterans and their service dogs. They recently completed the service and guide dog assessment exam. It costs $24,000 to $28,000 to train each dog, and currently there is funding to train 12 dogs a year, but 24 veterans are on the program’s waiting list on Vancouver Island alone. Expansion of the program depends on funding, she said. Navy veteran Stephan Moreau described how sports and the Invictus Games rescued him from suicidal thoughts and restored his purpose in life. “The Invictus Games changed my life,” he said “[Now] I can reach out to my brothers and sisters all over the world.” Finally, Dominion Vice-President Angus Stanfield showed a video about Battle of the Atlantic Place, a $200-million museum and memorial to be constructed in Halifax. Delegates enthusiastically voted to support the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust, which is seeking Legion endorsement at the next dominion convention. The trust is also seeking support from municipalities across Canada. L

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48th M  anitoba-Northwestern ONTARIO CONVENTION Ontario Convention

Girls’ effort to support veterans praised

T

By Tom MacGregor

hree girls were the special guests at the opening ceremonies for the 48th Manitoba-Northwestern Ontario Command Convention held June 10-12 in Winnipeg. These were the Cupcake Girls, three of four girls who began Project Cupcake at the Island Lakes Community School in Winnipeg almost four years ago as a fundraiser for the command poppy fund. “After hearing the stories of her great-grandfather’s service and her four great-uncles’ service in the Second World War, Katie Sitka wanted to give back and show her appreciation for all that the veterans have done for us,” said First Vice Ronn Anderson. “When Katie heard that some veterans are homeless and lacking daily basic needs, she knew she had to help.”

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With the help of her older sister, Madi, and two friends, Katrina Johnston and Ella Rumal, she launched Project Cupcake on April 14, 2014. That year and each year since, the girls have baked and iced more than 600 cupcakes to sell at the school. To date, they have raised $2,264 for the poppy fund. They were given a standing ovation by those in attendance. Also speaking at the opening ceremonies was Oliver Thorne, national operations director of the Veterans Transition Network, a program of veterans helping veterans which started at the University of British Columbia in 1997. The network provides group-based retreats with two psychologists and other professionals. The retreats are in three sessions totalling 10 days where the young veterans talk about their trauma and their problems finding work and acceptance. “To date 700 people have been through this program with a 98 per cent completion rate,” said Thorne. Dan Merlin of Brandon, Man., Branch joined Thorne as someone who had been through the program. “We were all ex-military. We bonded and were able to get rid of some of the baggage,” said Merlin. The convention had started earlier that day with a parade and remembrance service held in the Field of Honour at Brookside Cemetery. Dominion

Vice-President André Paquette joined Manitoba-Northwestern Ontario Command President Mel Willis, command Ladies Auxiliary President Annadee Erickson and other dignitaries in placing wreaths. Business began on the Sunday morning with 170 delegates in attendance. Certainly change was not in the air as Vice-President Jerry Lava read the Constitution and Laws Committee report. Resolutions to eliminate zones and the position of first vice had been non-concurred and delegates would not agree to have them brought to the floor. One concurred resolution led to heated debate. The resolution noted that the position of sergeantat-arms had been vacant since July 2015 and the command had operated successfully. It was resolved that the elected position be eliminated. Former presidents Brian Wilson and Roger Oakley both spoke against the resolution. “The colours are integral to our image in public. We need someone who will make sure they are

Tom MacGregor

2017-07-28 9:17 AM

clockwise from bottom left: The Cupcake Girls, (from left) Katrina Johnston, Madi Sitka and Katie Sitka, are recognized by delegates; First Vice Ronn Anderson addresses the convention; Dan Merlin (left) and Oliver Thorne talk about the Veterans Transition Network; President Mel Willis (left) receives his past officer’s medal from Dominion Vice-President André Paquette.

n

handled properly,” said Wilson. Former president Roland Fisette noted that other commands operated without the position but in the end delegates voted overwhelmingly to defeat the motion. Membership Committee Chair Ernie Tester told delegates that in 2016, the command had 22,762 members, achieving a 95.86 per cent retention rate. The largest membership gain for a branch with more than 100 members was Kenora, Ont., Branch with 50 new members and the best gain for a branch with less than 100 members was Lundar, Man., Branch with 22 new members. Greetings were brought by Assistant Deputy Minister Elizabeth Stuart of Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC). She reviewed a number of improvements in veterans’ benefits announced in the 2017 federal budget. “We have reopened district offices in Brandon, Man., and Thunder Bay, Ont. It is all part of the 400 new staff who have been hired,” she said. “We have also extended our outreach to veterans

in the north. VAC staff travel every month to communities in the north to visit our veterans.” Paquette brought greetings from Dominion Command. He urged branches to be more welcoming to new veterans. “The branch is often the first and last impression of the Legion. They are the face of the Legion,” he said. In his president’s report, Willis thanked members for all the well-wishes he received while he was ill during his term. Anderson gave an acting president’s report. He announced that at the last meeting of Dominion Executive Council he learned that Premium Sports’ national director had confirmed that Legion branches will be exempt from premiums charged to sports bars showing sporting events on large televisions. Alberta-Northwest Territories Command President Chris Strong told delegates how the Fort McMurray Wildfire Relief Fund money had been spent and thanked the command for its support. Dr. Sarah Pentry-Travis spoke to delegates about the Invictus Games to be held in Toronto in September. She won a silver medal in archery at last year’s games. She is attending this year as a competitor and a medical researcher. “We see athletes coming to these games who were ashamed of their broken bodies and leaving proud of their accomplishments,” she said. Sven Leppik of the Veterans Emergency Transition Services (VETS) explained how his organization visits missions and gets the word out to identify homeless veterans and connect them with help from VAC, the Legion or other organizations. “Not all homeless veterans are old men. I had one client who was 27. He couldn’t find a job after leaving the Forces and was living in a one-bedroom apartment with his sister, her child

and their mother. The mother called because she was worried he might do something drastic. “We were able to get him into his own apartment and he found a job in Calgary,” said Leppik. Under new business, delegates voted to hold the 2019 provincial convention in Fort Frances, Ont. In elections, Ronn Anderson of St. James Branch in Winnipeg was acclaimed as president. Vicepresidents Jerry Lava of Keewatin, Ont., Branch and Ken Milenko of Kakabeka Falls, Ont., Branch both ran for first vice with Lava winning. Six candidates ran for the three positions of vice-president including incumbents Milenko and Ernie Tester of Gladstone Branch, Robert Cutbush of Port Arthur Branch in Thunder Bay, Robert Penner of Flin Flon Branch, Tony Safronetz of Grandview Branch and Joan Wright of Brandon Branch. After two ballots, Tester, Cutbush and Penner were elected. Honorary Treasurer Rick Bennett of Fort Garry Branch in Winnipeg was acclaimed for a second term. Chairman Bette Vance of Norwood-St. Boniface Branch in Winnipeg withstood a challenge from former command president Dan Kidd of West Kildonan Branch in Winnipeg for a second term. Despite the keen interest in retaining the elected position of sergeant-at-arms, Ken Arsenault of St. James Branch was acclaimed to the position. In his brief acceptance speech, Anderson said, “I want to open up communications and it must be in two directions. We need good communications to help the citizens of Canada know what we are doing.” He also thanked Local Arrangements Committee Chair Betty Zarney and the members of St. James Branch who arranged entertainment and transportation throughout the convention. L

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Contest winner travels to Ottawa for Canada’s biggest party ever By Stephanie Slegtenhorst

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t was the biggest party of the year, and Barron McKay of Cache Creek, B.C., was the lucky winner of Legion Magazine’s contest to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday in the nation’s capital. Sponsored by Carlson Wagonlit Travel, the fourday visit included round-trip airfare and three-night accommodation in the heart of downtown Ottawa. Accompanying McKay on the trip was his wife, Carol, and sister-in-law Diane. After arriving in Ottawa on June 30, they started with a tour of the Canada Aviation and Space Museum. McKay, a self-proclaimed aviation buff, was eager to see the museum’s display on the Avro Arrow. Canada Day in the capital proved

to be as exciting as promised. Rain threatened to disrupt the celebrations, but the first-time visitors refused to let it keep them from joining the crowds. “The rain put a damper on everything but our spirits,” said McKay. “We more or less did a Gene Kelly number and danced in the rain.” They spent most of the day in the Byward Market, and McKay remarked that he was “blown away” by everyone’s national pride and friendliness. True Canadian spirit was evident everywhere, he said, from a grandfather in a wheelchair dancing with his grandson on his knee to how considerate everyone was for those who had trouble navigating the crowd. The day

Carol and Barron McKay and Diane Krahn at the Canada 150 festivities in Ottawa.

ended in their hotel room with a perfect view of the fireworks—which lasted 20 minutes and 17 seconds. The city made its mark on McKay and his family. So much so, said McKay, “that Diane wants to go back to Ottawa for a month… because we had so much fun.” L

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Courtesy of Barron McKay

2017-07-28 8:53 AM

SNAPSHOTS Volunteering in the community Alberta-Northwest Territories British Columbia/Yukon Nova Scotia/Nunavut Saskatchewan Manitoba-Northwestern Ontario Ontario New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Prince Edward Island Quebec Correspondents’ Addresses

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IN THIS

ISSUE Legion branches donate more than

$413,000 to their communities

High River, Alta., Branch hosts veterans from the Second World War, Korean War and modern conflicts at a veterans’ luncheon. KARYN LEE PORTRAITS

Devon Dispatch News reporter Alex Boates (centre) receives the Media Award from Devon, Alta., Branch representatives (from left) Stanley Abma, Larry Funge, Brian Morris and Janice Morris. THE DEVON DISPATCH NEWS

President Gord Morrison of Stony Plain, Alta, Branch receives a painting donated by local artist Terrence Krause during the Vimy Ridge commemoration at the branch.

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Volunteering in the community

Veterans Walter Burchnall (left) and Nathan Thompson represent Ponoka, Alta., Branch at the 2017 Ponoka Trade Fair.

Capt. Dan Gillmor of the Talon air cadet squadron accepts $2,000 from High Prairie, Alta., Branch President Don Ebbett.

President Barb Olsen (right) of Ponoka, Alta., Branch presents a donation to Kelly Sperber of Ponoka Youth Centre.

President Tim Murphy (left) and service officer Barrie Ward (right) of Alberni Valley Branch in Port Alberni, B.C., present a total of $4,700 from bingo funds to local charities and community organizations.

Karen Davis (left) and John Gates of Slocan Valley, B.C., Branch present $2,500 to Sandy Heatherington, who organizes monthly seniors’ luncheons for the W.E. Graham Community Service Society.

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Brent Rostad (left) of the Peace River Rotary Club receives $5,000 from Grimshaw, Alta., Branch representatives (from left) President Gordon Bickell, Sgt.-at-Arms Alph LeGrandeur and treasurer George Bolkowy.

Percy Smith of Crescent Branch in Surrey, B.C., presents $2,000 to Maj. Greg Dowler of the Black Knights air cadet squadron, accompanied by (from left) WO Tristan Dyke, WO2 Muneek Tatia and WO1 Schaefer Poppleton.

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Three new members of Valemount, B.C., Branch (from left) Byron Bustin, Krista Maxieiner and Fitz Plammondon receive badges from President Pete Pearson.

Vernon, B.C., Branch Sgt.-atArms Harry Pettigrew presents $1,000 to Gladys Fraser of the Vernon and Area Friends of the 55+ BC Games. The 55+ BC Games will be held in Vernon this year.

At the presentation of bursaries at ASM Branch in Abbotsford, B.C., are (from left) President Heinz Kempf, Nicole Harvey, Kylee Hickey, Evan Stevenson, Jensen Bako and bursary chair Neta Stowell.

Attending a Canada Day barbecue at ASM Branch in Abbotsford, B.C., are (from left) Elsie Lukiv, George Ulmer and Wendy Schmidt.

At the presentation of $1,000 to the Burnaby Hospice Society are (from left) acting president Peter Pasanen of South Burnaby, B.C., Branch, society representatives Jacqueline Merandi and Lucia Brum and branch Past President Doug Oates.

Directors John Angus (left) and Bill Langstaff of Chase, B.C., Branch present a new sign to members of the ladies auxiliary, including L.A. President Marilyn White (in uniform), marking 70 years of service.

Vancouver Island Crisis Society representative Heather Owen receives $1,000 from President Don Taylor of Qualicum Beach, B.C., Branch.

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SNAPSHOTS

Reg Gillis of Prince Edward Branch in Victoria receives his 50 Years Long Service Medal.

Volunteering in the community

Falcon air cadet squadron chair Ray Lee (centre) accepts $5,000 from Sgt.-at-Arms Anthony Terhaar and President Dave Taylor of North Burnaby, B.C., Branch.

President Tim Murphy of Alberni Valley Branch in Port Alberni, B.C., presents a $500 bursary for a returning student to Olivia Seguin-Coles.

At the opening of the new Veterans Affairs Canada office in Surrey, B.C., are (from left) Surrey Central MP Randeep Sarai, National TVS Secretary-Treasurer Sharel Fraser, National TVS President Kandys Merola and Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr.

Ed Robertson (left) and Nelson Winterburn of Diamond Head Branch in Squamish, B.C., present certificates in the poster and literary contests to winners at Don Ross Middle School.

Winners in the poster and literary contests at Squamish Elementary School are congratulated by (from left) Ed Robertson of Diamond Head Branch in Squamish, B.C., principal Rose Mackenzie and Nelson Winterburn.

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Dawson Creek, B.C., Branch President Barry Young (left) and B.C./Yukon Command First Vice Glenn Hodge present $2,500 to Director Diane Charette of the South Peace Hospice Palliative Care Society.

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Delta, B.C., Branch secretary Olwen Demidorr (second from left) and manager Jacky Hillairet (second from right) present $16,000 to Delta Hospital Foundation representatives (from left) Jeannette Coates, Lisa Hoglund and Angela Turner. Some of the money will go to the extended care unit at Mountain View Manor.

At the District A meeting, Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command Grand President Ted Martens (left) accepts $1,000 for the Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command Benevolent Fund from L’Ardoise, N.S., Branch President Neal MacDonald. DONNA McRURY

Treasurer Tom Easton (centre) of Delta, B.C., Branch presents $4,000 for the Legion Foundation to B.C./Yukon Command Treasurer Jim Diack (left) and Executive Director Sandy Reiser. The money is divided equally between the Veterans’ Transition Network, BCIT Military Skills Program, Cockrell House for Veterans and the veterans’ service dog program.

Sgt.-at-Arms Jack Perry (left) presents $1,000 from Amherst, N.S., Branch and $1,000 from the Nova Scotia/ Nunavut Command E.J. Lambert Memorial Scholarship to Marie Emma Bouchard. ED ZAZINSKY

Harold Patterson (left), service officer Ethel Bollong and poppy chair Howard Ferdinand of Arras Branch in Antigonish, N.S., present poster and literary contests awards to (from left) Dillan Giles, Jenny Mingo, Brooklynn Polley, Jessica Liebmann, Nathan McIver and Carol Ann Walton.

Honours and awards chair Charlie Williamson (right) of St. Peter’s, N.S., Branch presents bursaries to Richmond Education Centre/Academy students (from left) Haley Carter, Daniel Allen and Trent Martell. SHELDON O’BRIEN

Isle Madame Branch in Arichat, N.S., presents $1,000 to the St. Anne Centre Veterans Wing on behalf of the Cape Breton District Comfort Fund. At the presentation are (from left) branch member Charles Landry, President Donald Goyetche, St. Anne Centre recreation co-ordinator Connie Pierce, service officer Vincent Boudreau Jr. and branch member Raymond DeCoste. DAVE FORGERON

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Volunteering in the community

Wounded Warriors Weekend Foundation Director Brenda Fredrickson of Elrose, Sask., Branch receives a $400 donation from Rosetown Branch President Dean Morrison, on behalf of Herschel Branch. WWW hosts an annual retreat for veterans with physical and/or mental wounds. ELROSE BRANCH

President Dean Morrison of Rosetown, Sask., Branch (right) presents $3,000 to Saskatchewan Command Executive Director Chad Wagner for Paws for Veterans, which provides medical service dogs to Canadian veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder or associated physical disabilities. ELROSE BRANCH

President Darrell Webster (left) and poppy chair Brian Morris of Robert Combe VC Branch in Melville, Sask., present $500 to two young clients of Rail City Industries’ day program. The funds will help buy a wheelchair-accessible van.

President Sherry Huntley (left) and Donna Bagamery of Indian Head, Sask., Branch congratulate zone winners of the poster contest from Indian Head Elementary School (from left) Aeslynn Daniels, Jacob Potter and Abbey Klein. DONNA BAGAMERY, INDIAN HEAD LEGION

Saskatchewan Command Vice President Keith Andrews (left) presents a plaque to provincial eight-ball champions Doug Jensen, Leonard Grube, Frosty Forrest and Willie Forrest of Estevan Branch. ESTEVAN BRANCH

MELVILLE BRANCH

Local artists and volunteers painted a new mural gracing Souris, Man., Branch.

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Sophie Long of Pinawa Secondary School receives an award for her intermediate essay from Zone 61 Commander Dwayne Wickstrom and Lac du Bonnet, Man., Branch poppy chair Jackie Hampshire.

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President Stan Howie (left) and bursary chair Robert Varin of Polish Veterans Branch in Kitchener, Ont., present Megan Jade Magier with a $300 bursary.

Cobden, Ont., Branch President Gene Phillion (left) presents $1,000 to curling club representative Howard Winters.

Representative Dianne Chambers accepts $11,500 from the Port Perry, Ont., Branch poppy fund and $14,000 from the District F Hospital Trust Fund for the Lakeridge-Port Perry Hospital Foundation. Flanking her are (from left) President Dave Durham, poppy chair Anne Marie Christie, Zone F-1 Commander Lorraine Duncan and First Vice Barb Doupe.

At Dr. W.C. Little Branch in Barrie, Ont., public relations chair Steve Glover (second from right) presents $4,200 to Barrie air cadet squadron. Accepting the donation are (from left) representative Brian St. Jean, WO2 Jeff St. Jean and Maj. Amber Reid.

President Tim Shaghnessy (left) and poppy chair Tom Roduck of Dr. W.C. Little Branch in Barrie, Ont., present $7,638 to Hospice Simcoe representatives Lynda Murtha (second from left) and Samantha White.

Milton Wesley Branch in Newmarket, Ont., presents $4,847 to DeafBlind Ontario Services on behalf of the Ontario Command, Branches and L.A. Charitable Foundation. At the presentation are (from left) poppy chair Tammy Raper, Past President Ian Smith, DeafBlind Ontario Services representative Suzanne Gaudet, L.A. treasurer June Sweet and service officer Heino Mineur.

At Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Branch, Zone H-4 Commander Sandy Ross (left) and President Wayne Paulencu present the Legionnaire of the Year award to Mary Anne Martin.

Wayne Wilson of Bay Ridges Branch in Pickering, Ont., receives the Legionnaire of the Year award from honours and awards chair Donna Connelly.

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Madoc, Ont., Branch members (front, from left) Frank Potter and Reg Smith are presented with the 50 Years Long Service Medal by (rear, from left) Past President Tom Forsyth and President Ron Butcher.

In Colborne, Ont., Lieut. Charles Rutherford VC Branch President Patti May (right) presents the Legionnaire of the Year award to Gerry Howe.

Winchester, Ont., Branch President Janet Morris (centre) presents $4,000 to the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre Foundation. Accepting the donation are (from left) foundation executive director Daniel Clapin, director Doug Brousseau, development officer Delphine Haslé, chair Charles Lemieux and development officer Jannine Atkinson.

Lakefield, Ont., Branch President Jim Marsden presents Lorna MacDonald with the Legionnaire of the Year award.

At the presentation of $10,000 from Barrhaven Branch in Ottawa to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario are (from left) President Ed Schelenz, manager of philanthropy Tracy Donahue, Ellie Schelenz, Monique Desmarais, Danny Desmarais and foundation director David Rattray.

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At the presentation of $10,000 from Rockland, Ont., Branch to the Leave the Streets Behind homeless veterans program are (from left) Past President Bob Cleroux, President John Mogensen and Second Vice Peter Smith.

At Flesherton-Markdale Branch in Flesherton, Ont., Legionnaire of the Year recipient Jim Griffin (centre) receives congratulations from (from left) John Lupton, vice president Gord Webb, President Shawn Ankenmann and Zone C-3 Commander Daryl Minifie.

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President Ed Schelenz (left) and poppy chair Sharon Wilson of Barrhaven Branch in Ottawa present $5,000 to Barrhaven Food Cupboard representatives (from left) Kevin Miller, Dave Sereda and David Rattray.

Harriston, Ont., Branch donates $1,500 to two local food banks. At the presentation are (from left) Clifford Food Bank representatives Margaret and Bruce Shannon, President Ken Reuber, and Harriston Food Bank representative Dave Mallet.

Rockland, Ont., Branch supports the Twillick air cadet squadron with a $1,500 donation. At the presentation are (front, from left), WO1 Simon Henrie, President Bob Cleroux, WO1 Cedric Laniel, Capt. Tina Burns, sponsoring committee chair Benoit Dellisse, (rear) Second Vice Peter Smith and First Vice John Morgensen.

Ontario Command doubles darts champions (from left) Murray Thompson and John Verwey of Blyth Branch are congratulated by District D Deputy Commander Shelly Sing and Provincial Sports Officer Vic Newey.

Welcoming 14 new members at the Bertie Township Branch in Ridgeway, Ont., are (front, from left) Second Vice Joy Crotinger, First Vice Marianne Matthews, secretary-treasurer Gordon Foulds, President Barbara Hopkins and Sgt.-at-Arms Dennis Gibbons.

President Shawn Taillon of Bells Corners Branch in Nepean, Ont., presents $2,500 to CWO Eunice Kabasele for the Maj. E.J.C. Holland VC army cadet corps.

St. George, Ont., Branch President Steve Schmitt (rear, left) and youth and education chair Donna Howell congratulate poster and literary contests branch and zone winners (from left) Seonaidh MacLachlan and Caleb Sieders, and national second-place primary colour poster winner Abriel Hart. legionmagazine.com > SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017

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Volunteering in the community

President Shawn Ankemann (left) of Flesherton-Markdale Branch in Flesherton, Ont., presents (from left) Grey Highlands Fire Services Chief Rod Leeson and Mayor Paul McQueen with $6,500 from the poppy fund to purchase new thermal imaging devices.

Mount Dennis Branch in Toronto conducts a memorial service commemorating the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge. Attending the ceremony are (from left) colour bearers Mark Coveyduck, David Ratcliff, Will Smith and David E. Smith.

Blyth, Ont., Branch member John Verwey receives congratulations on winning the provincial single darts championship from District D Deputy Commander Shelly Sing and Provincial Sports Officer Vic Newey.

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President Greg Walbeck (left), youth education chair Ella Box and Past President Ron Kilby of Renfrew, Ont., Branch present awards to the winners of the public speaking competition.

Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Branch presents $10,764 from the poppy fund to St. Vincent Place. At the presentation are (from left) poppy committee members Elane Turner and Ann Robichaud, St. Vincent Place board chair Vince LaRue, general manager Nat Cicchelli, President Wayne Paulencu, Gwen Dinsdale and Second Vice Ron Rouleau.

At Lambeth Branch in London, Ont., entertainment chair Bob McFarlane (left) and President Tom Shields presents $1,020 to Canadian Cancer Society representatives Joan VandenHoven and Ellen Morritt.

George Meloche (centre) of Trenton, Ont., Branch presents $500 bursaries to École secondaire public Marc-Garneau graduates Daniel Gobeil (left) and Noémie Brouillard.

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Keith Gilbertson (centre) of Col. John McCrae Memorial Branch in Guelph, Ont., receives the Legionnaire of the Year award from Past President Doug Dolby (left) and President Wayne Rahn.

In St. Catharines, Ont., H.T. Church Branch Legionnaire of the Year Sam Doak receives congratulations from President Lloyd Cull (left) and honours and awards chair Miles Scriven.

Cobourg, Ont., Branch presents $10,000 to the Northumberland Hills Hospital Foundation from the poppy fund. At the presentation are (from left), L.A. Past President Linda Bevan, President John Aitken, executive director Rhonda Cunningham, Past President Josephine Upton and poppy chair Iris Milne.

Port Colborne, Ont., Branch poppy chair Carol Madden (left) and President Irene Leslie presents $5,741 to OneFoundation for Niagara Health System outreach director Mary Sergenese on behalf of the Ontario Command, Branches, and L.A. Charitable Foundation.

At Walkerton, Ont., Branch, Brockton Mayor David Inglis shows a new street sign for Veterans Way to Dennis Tayor (left) and President Bryan Preston. The sign will replace an old one for Scott Street.

Kim Cosgrove (second from right) of Merritton Branch in St. Catharines, Ont., receives the Legionnaire of the Year award from (from left) honours and awards chair Kevin Froats, President Trish Gander and Past President Alex Verdile.

Debbie Holmes (left) receives the Legionnaire of the Year award at Trenton, Ont., Branch from Sgt.-at-Arms Guy Pratt and Past President Manny Raspberry.

President Jim Marsden (left) of Lakefield, Ont., Branch presents the 50 Years Long Service Medal to David Watson.

Leonard Shapiro, accompanied by his wife Ruth, of Gen. Wingate Branch in Toronto, celebrates his 100th birthday. Extending congratulations are (rear, from left) First Vice Morris Polansky, President Shelley Rosen and treasurer Stuart MacPherson.

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Volunteering in the community

Renfrew Victoria Hospital Foundation representative Barb Desilets (second from left) accepts $2,000 from (from left) Renfrew, Ont., Branch poppy chair Ron Kilby, President Greg Walbeck and Second Vice Cheryl Babcock.

Sgt.-at-Arms Bruce McNab (left), membership chair Gisele Pharand and President Jim Young of Dr. Fred Starr Branch in Sudbury, Ont., welcome new members Arthur Choquette and Brenda Caine.

At Lord Elgin Branch in St. Thomas, Ont., Valerie Clark (left) and Second Vice Velma Taylor (right) present $3,000 to Cathy Freeman for the Legion Track and Field club.

District F presents $100,000 to the Ontario Command, Branches and L.A. Charitable Foundation. At the presentation are (from left) District F Commander Robert Buchanan, Deputy Commander Don Ramsey, foundation chair Marg Emery and provincial L.A. President Kim Adams.

H.T. Church Branch in St. Catharines, Ont., presents $8,000 to the OneFoundation for Niagara Health System. At the presentation are (from left) service officer Sam Doak, Past President Tom Townsley, President Lloyd Cull and Second Vice Cliff Waterhouse.

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Andre Larose (centre) of Brig.-Gen. G.H. Ralston Branch in Port Hope, Ont., accepts the Legionnaire of the Year award from President Wayne Byer (right) and honours and awards chair Jean Kimball.

Sick and visiting Chair Carolyn Vlar (left) and President John Orchard of Port Dalhousie Branch in St. Catharines, Ont., present $4,100 to OneFoundation for Niagara Health System representative Mary Sergenese.

Wayne Eagles (centre) of Port Elgin, Ont., Branch receives the 50 Years Long Service Medal. Congratulating him are (from left) President Dan Kelly, Past President Mike Atkinson, honours and awards chair Elizabeth Eby and Blair Eby.

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Lord Elgin Branch in St. Thomas, Ont., conducts a membership drive and information table for Canada’s 150th birthday and the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge at the Elgin Mall. At the table are (from left) Sgt.-at-Arms Bill Stinson, membership chair Valerie Clark and public relations chair Tony Bendel.

At the presentation of $2,000 from Pte. Joe Waters Branch in Milton, Ont., to the Chaudiere sea cadet corps are (from left) cadet corps support committee chair Don Dsouza, cadet liaison officer Bob Elliott, poppy chair Kathleen Bland and Lieut.(N) Monika Hannon.

Meaford, Ont., Branch Sgt.-at-Arms Tony Bell describes the Battle of Vimy Ridge at the service commemorating the 100th anniversary.

Peninsula Branch in Clifton Royal, N.B., presents $250 to MacDonald Consolidated School for new signage. At the presentation are (from left) First Vice Jim Haslett, vice-principal Laura Stoddard, principal Ellen Whittaker-Brown, parentstudent support committee representative Lisa Fraser and President Joe Stack.

Polish Veterans Branch in St. Catharines, Ont., presents $1,000 to the Sir Isaac Brock sea cadet corps. At the presentation are (from left) President Yvonne Glowacki, Lieut.(N) J. Joseph Trembley, PO1 Aaron Cardona, and poppy chair Mira Ananicz.

Veteran Earl McGlinchey (left), Miramichi-Grand Lake MP Pat Finnegan and Harcourt N.B., Branch President Stella Ward gather with students of Harcourt Elementary School for the planting of a Vimy Oak tree.

Provincial-level poster and literary contests winners are awarded by Sussex, N.B., Branch. At the presentation are (rear, from left) contest chair Marsha Speight, Zone Commander Ervin Ellis, Eve Bustin, Hope Boyd, Madison Worth, First Vice Doug McLean, President Joe Butler, (front) Daniel Jung and Gus Graef. legionmagazine.com > SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017

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Richibucto, N.B., Branch President Al Corcoran (left) and veteran Edmond Daigle present 2nd Lieut. Lise Martin with $1,867 for the Richibucto air cadet squadron.

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Norton, N.B., Branch presents Makaya Cole with first place in the provincial-level black and white poster contest. She is congratulated by (from left) Ken Newell, District Commander Terry Campbell and First Vice Mike Saunders.

Harcourt, N.B., Branch refurbished the community cenotaph with a grant from Veterans Affairs Canada and local fundraising efforts. Wings on each side were added to provide additional information.

A Battle of the Atlantic service at Lancaster Branch in Saint John, N.B., is attended by (from left) Bernard Cormier, Donna D’Eon, Henry D’Eon, Mayor Don Darling, padre Clayton Misner, Sgt.-at-Arms Allen Wickens, New Brunswick Command Second Vice Brian Roberts and branch President Larry Lynch.

President Ralph LeBlanc (second from right) of Lower Southampton Branch in Nackawic, N.B., is the Capital District Legionnaire of the Year. Congratulating him are (from left) district treasurer Ardith Armstrong, District Commander Daryl Alward and district Sgt.-at-Arms Wayne Reid.

Twillingate, N.L., Branch President Ron Sloan (left) and treasurer Fred Pearce, present $300 to members of the Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital Auxiliary.

Supply officer Clinton Lackey (left) and Lieut.(N) Amanda Mouland accept $300 from Twillingate, N.L., Branch President Ron Sloan for the Briton sea cadet corps.

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Christine Farrell (rear left) and Margaret Power of Bay d’Espoir Branch in St. Alban’s, N.L., congratulate intermediate and senior winners of the poster and literary contests from Bay d’Espoir Academy (from left) Evan Stoodley, Shayna Brushett, Alexandra Strickland, Jada Rose, Amber Willcott, Lyndsay Organ, Rebecca Skinner and Kaylee Keeping.

At the donation of $600 from Harbour Grace, N.L., Branch to the Beothic sea cadets are (front, from left) First Vice Roy Abbott, Second Vice Timmy Pasha, President Paulette Morrissey and navy lieutenants Paul Sheppard and Gary Rogers, accompanied by cadets.

Margaret Power (left) and Christine Farrell of Bay d’Espoir Branch in St. Alban’s, N.L., congratulate primary and junior winners of the poster and literary contests from Bay d’Espoir Academy (from left) Anya Hill, Logan Collie, MacKenzie Young, Tessa Cox and Janessa Davis.

Sarah Hart, who took second place in the poster and literary contests at provincial level, is congratulated by Botwood, N.L., Branch members (from left) poppy chair Randy Hancock, First Vice Barry Arch, Terry Shepard, Brenda Williams and Gail Hancock.

Randolph Whiffen (right) of Clarenville, N.L., Branch presents the Legionnaire of the Year award to Wesley Stringer. President Paulette Morrissey, in the red sash, of Harbour Grace, N.L., Branch, accompanied by executive members, congratulates winners of the poster and literary contests from St. Francis School.

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At the presentation of $1,500 from Bay d’Espoir, N.L., Branch and L.A. to the disaster fund for Bay d’Espoir Academy are (from left) Christine Farrell, Rebecca Parsons, principal Connie Willcott, Adam Molloy, Robin Blackwood and Margaret Power. The school was recently destroyed by arson.

Heather Matheson of the Prince County Hospital Foundation receives $3,000 from poppy chair Roy Crozier (left) and President Jim Steele of George Pearkes VC Branch in Summerside, P.E.I.

Alan Curtis (right), of Saint Anthony Branch in Bloomfield, P.E.I., presents a donation to Capt. Neil Abbott of the Salvation Army.

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Sgt.-at-Arms Jeff White (left) and President Whit Stagg of Catalina, N.L., Branch present $8,795 to Janice Little of Catalina, winner of the annual provincial command 50/50 draw.

Poppy chair Roy Crozier of George Pearkes VC Branch in Summerside, P.E.I., presents $3,608 to Summerside sea cadet corps representative Linda Desroches.

President Davis Gosse of Saint Anthony Branch in Bloomfield, P.E.I., presents a donation to president Sherril Horne of West Prince Caring Cupboard.

Trois-Rivières, Que., Branch donates $1,500 to the Navy League of Quebec. At the presentation are (from left) Second Vice Richard Keep, Navy League of Quebec president François Nolet, and President Jacques Pellan. CHANTAL DE LONGCHAMPS

Montcalm Memorial Branch in Rawdon, Que., presents $500 to the Joliette sea cadets. At the presentation are (from left) MS Tommy Whifford, Jean Sebastien and President John Dietzel.

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President Alain Boisvert (left) and poster and literary contests chair Conrad Boucher of Lt.-Col. Robert Grondin Branch in Shawinigan, Que., present poster contest awards to Shawinigan High School students (from left) Maïka Lessard, Salomé Lemire, Ludovic Dauphinais, Dominique Wilma Beaudoin, Éliane Lacourse, Meagan McGregor and Félipe Victoria Cabreno. ALAIN BOISVERT

Pierre-Luc Byham (left) of the Hawkesbury General Hospital Foundation receives $2,000 from poppy fund representative Moe LaFoley and President Eric Connor of Hudson, Que., Branch, as Patrick O’Grady looks on.

Poppy chair Jack Gammon shows off Greenfield Park, Que., Branch’s plaque on the Wall of Honour at the Pierre Boucher Hospital for having reached $5,000 in donations. CLIFFORD WALKER

President John Dietzel of Montcalm Memorial Branch in Rawdon, Que., presents $2,000 to Ste-Julienne army cadet corps acting president Brigitte Masson.

NEWS

ROD HODGSON

community organizations including the George Derby, Brock Fahrni and Amos Gordon Ferguson long-term care facilities.

ALBERTA

FRIENDSHIP AWARD FOR COMBAT ENGINEERS

Devon Branch presented a Friendship Award to 1 Combat Engineer Regiment from the Edmonton Garrison.

BRITISH COLUMBIA/YUKON

KAMLOOPS HONOURS CADETS Hudson, Que., Branch commemorates the 73rd anniversary of the Normandy landings. Attending the commemorations are (from left) co-organizer Patrick Daunais, D-Day veterans Ian Walker, Peter Hughes and Harry Trenholme and Second Vice Rod Hodgson. JAMES PARRY

Kamloops Branch presented the Cadet Medal of Excellence to sea cadet PO1 Christie Lester, army cadet MWO Sheldon Baitz and air cadet WO1 Lauryn Burlock. Whalley Branch and L.A. donated a total of $109,000 to various schools, Legion projects and

Carol Haldin received the Legionnaire of the Year award from Chilliwack Branch. The branch presented 60-year long service awards to James Stevenson, Doug Matthews and Nick Kosowan, while Warner Hockin was honoured for 70 years.

NEW BRUNSWICK

CADET HONOURED

Kennebecasis Branch in Rothesay presented the Cadet Medal of Excellence to CPO Blake Holt of the Bras D’Or sea cadet corps.

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CORRESPONDENTS’ ADDRESSES NEW­FOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

EMERGENCY RESPONSE APPRECIATED

Clarenville Branch presented Dan Seaward a Certificate of Merit for saving the life of a visitor to the branch by performing CPR until arrival of paramedics. Corner Brook Branch presented a Certificate of Merit to Derek Hamlyn. The branch also recognized George Dingwell for 70 years of service and Fred Alteen for 65 years. Twillingate Branch presented the Cadet Medal of Excellence to CP02 Mark Pardy of Briton sea cadet corps.

NOVA SCOTIA/NUNAVUT

LONG SERVICE RECOGNIZED

Amherst Branch presented a 60-year service award to Robert Grant and a posthumous 50 Years Long Service Medal to Joseph Kohout.

ONTARIO

L.A.s SUPPORT BRANCHES

Bowmanville L.A. presented $10,000 to the branch. Lambeth L.A. in London donated $6,000 to the branch. H.T. Church L.A. in St. Catharines donated $2,000 to the branch. The branch presented a Certificate of Merit to Miles Scriven. Gen. Nelles Branch in NiagaraOn-The-Lake presented certificates of merit to Lou-Anne Cairns and William Walker Jr.

The branch presented 50-year service medals to John A. Baker, James E. McGrath and Aurele Leblanc, a 60-year pin to Norman Poolton, a 70-year pin to Mel Lemarquand and a 75-year pin to George R. Smith. Burlington Branch presented a 70-year pin to John Pierce. Madoc Branch presented certificates of merit to Madoc Foodland, Madoc Farm Supply Ltd., One Stop Butcher, Madoc Home Hardware and Dino’s Pizza. The branch presented a Media Award to Hastings Cable Vision. Brig.-Gen. G.H. Ralston Branch in Port Hope presented a Certificate of Merit to Melodie Hodges.

BRITISH COLUMBIA/YUKON: Graham Fox, 4199 Steede Ave., Port Alberni, BC V9Y 8B6, [email protected] ALBERTA–NORTHWEST TERRITORIES: Bobbi Foulds, Box 5162, Stn Main, Edson AB T7E 1T4, [email protected] SASKATCHEWAN: Jessica McFadden, 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: Janice Pampu, 44 Penfold St., Thunder Bay, ON P7A 3J7, [email protected] ONTARIO: Mary Ann Goheen, Box 308, Gravenhurst, ON P1P 1T7, [email protected]

Pte. Joe Waters Branch in Milton presented the Cadet Medal of Excellence to sea cadet MS Memphis Jaime Muise, army cadet WO Estrella Carpio and air cadet WO2 Daniel Dobrowolski.

QUEBEC: Len Pelletier, 389 Malette, Gatineau, QC J8L 2Y7, [email protected]

QUEBEC

PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: Dianne Kennedy, Box 81, Borden-Carleton, PE C0B 1X0, [email protected]

STUDENTS PRESENT PAINTING TO BRANCH

Students at Des Chutes Secondary School in Shawinigan presented a painting to Lt.-Col. Robert Grondin Branch. It will hang in the Shawinigan Armoury. Trois-Rivières Branch presented sea cadet Mélanie St-Cyr with the Cadet Medal of Excellence. Montcalm Memorial Branch in Rawdon presented the Cadet Medal of Excellence to Karina Provost of the Ste-Julienne army cadet corps.

Sault Ste. Marie Branch presented the Cadet Medal of Excellence to Sgt. Ken Edwards of Borden Gray GC air cadet squadron.

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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:

NEW BRUNSWICK: ­Marianne Harris, 115 McGrath Cres., Miramichi, NB E1V 3Y1, [email protected] NOVA SCOTIA/NUNAVUT: Rita Connors, 30 Lennox Dr. Lower Sackville, NS B4C 3B2, [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]. 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]. TECHNICAL SPECS FOR PHOTO SUBMISSIONS DIGITAL PHOTOS—Photos submitted to Command Correspondents electronically must have a minimum width of 1,350 pixels, or 4.5 inches. Final resolution must be 300 dots per inch or greater. As a rough guideline, colour JPEGs would be between 0.5 megabytes (MB) and 1 MB. PHOTO PRINTS—Glossy prints from a photofinishing lab are best because they do not contain the dot pattern that some printers produce. If possible, please submit digital photos electronically.

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SNAPSHOTS

Honours and awards

MERITORIOUS SERVICE MEDALS AND MERITORIOUS SERVICE AWARDS

LONG SERVICE AWARDS 60

years

VIVIAN SHEETS

ANN FEAGAN

WARREN PIHLAJA

Amherst Br., N.S.

Sault Ste. Marie Br., Ont.

Lakefield Br., Ont.

WALTER CARTER

DOUG GARRETT

GRAHAM HAMILTON

EL WILDMAN

RONALD MELVIN

Bay Ridges Br., Pickering, Ont.

Lakefield Br., Ont.

Herman Good VC Br., Bathurst, N.B.

Prince Edward Br., Victoria

Gen. Nelles Br., Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ont.

JAMES McCREADY

JEAN CAHILL

IVAN JOLLOTA

Goderich L.A., Ont.

Carleton Place Br., Ont.

Tignish Br., P.E.I.

65

years

GORDIE LAING

FRANK YOUNG

GEORGE ULMER

ALLEN DECIMA

ARTHUR HOLLAND

St. James Br., Winipeg

Col. Fred Tilston VC Br., Aurora, Ont.

ASM Br., Abbotsford, B.C.

Oliver Br., B.C.

Amherst Br., N.S.

70

years

ALEX MORRISON

ALEX FRAME

BILL MUNDELL

NICK MARINO

MARGARET HEINMILLER

RUSSELL GOAD

St. Peter’s Br., N.S.

Devon Br., Alta.

Erin Br., Ont.

Gen. Nelles Br., Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ont.

Frank Lambier Br., Palmerston, Ont.

Bay Ridges Br., Pickering, Ont.

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Advertisement

LOST TRAILS CH124 SEA KING RETIREMENT—Sea King retirement event to be held December 2018 in Victoria. Seeking past maintainers and aircrew who served in Sea King squadrons. Those interested are welcome to visit www.skr18.ca or contact Paul Peacey, 6-7768 East Saanich Road, Saanichton, BC V8M 1Y6, 250-652-2738, [email protected]. EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS—1944-45, two children found alone in ditch, a boy, Jan, 6, and sister, 4, and were brought to field kitchen. Quartermaster made them clothes out of blanket, and children remained with them for two weeks. Possibly adopted by senior officer and moved to Saskatchewan. Contact with children, friends, or community members sought. Dr. Roly Armitage, 3154 Torwood Drive, Dunrobin, ON K0A 1T0, 613-832-1666, 613-296-7566, [email protected]. GODDARD, LAWRENCE—Joined RCAF, 1967. Lived in Estevan, Sask. and attended Estevan Collegiate Institute, 1966-67. Served in South Saskatchewan Regiment in Estevan. Old friend from reserves would like to get in touch. Norman Graham, 3748 Queens Gate, Regina, SK S4S 7J1, 306-550-5886, [email protected]. LEACH, MAJ. F.H. (FRED)—RCEME, former Canadian Army pilot. Friends of Canadian Army Aviation wish to contact. John Dicker, 1703 Boisbriand Cres., Orleans, ON K1C 4V1, 613-834-9470, [email protected]. LEMARQUAND, SYDNEY—DCM, 458592, granddaughter seeks location of his First World War uniform. May be on display at Legion branch near Newport, Que. Would like picture of uniform or have it returned if no longer on display. Gail Obder, 5399 Shelly Drive, Kamloops, BC V2C 5A7, [email protected]. MILMORE, SHARON—Served in RCAF, around 1965 or after. May have served in radio or communication services at base in Ontario. Lived in Campbell River, B.C. Contact with veteran sought. Jack Feka, Vicente Reyes 305, Villarrica, Chile, 604-229-9526, [email protected]. SANDERS, PTE. VICTOR LESLIE—C37812, Canadian Scottish Regiment, RCIC, killed in action, Belgium, Oct. 16, 1944. Buried at Adegem Canadian Military Cemetery. Information sought, along with contact with living relatives. Freddy Vervaet, Begoniastraat 9, B-8020 Oostkamp, Belgium, [email protected]. STEELE, BILL—Served in RCN at Halifax, 1959, possibly in electronics. Born 1932-33 in Ontario. Contact sought by relative. Dave Goodwin, 149 Susan Dr., Lincoln, NB E3B 0P9, 506-206-8334, [email protected]. VERMEIRE, RICHARD (DICK), OSCAR AND CARLOS, AND L’ECLUSE FAMILY—Second World War service information sought by

relative. Served with Canadian Army in Ghent, Belgium, 1944. Also seeking service information on L’Ecluse family from Alberta and British Columbia. Filip Willems, Te Waterstraat 3, 4543BZ, Zaamslag, The Netherlands, 32 475 643052, [email protected]. VETERANS’ STORIES—Author seeking veteran memories and experiences from various conflicts for book on veterans. Greg Kieszkowski, 1030 Booth St., Cobourg, ON K9A 5G4, 289-677-0106, [email protected].

NOTICE OF

ANNUAL MEETING

OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION The Dominion Executive Council of The Royal Canadian Legion hereby gives notice of an Annual General Meeting of the organization which will take place at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, 26 November 2017 at Legion House, 86 Aird Place, Ottawa, Ontario. Agenda for the meeting: 1. Presentation of the audited financial statements 2. A  pproval of the auditors for 2017-2018

WELSH, WARREN DONALD (DON)—A64485, enlisted in London, Ont., at Camp Borden, Nov. 14, 1942, discharged Oct. 9, 1946. Information sought by wife on comrades who served with him, possibly Harold Worden, Frank Curtis, George Graham, Walter Scott, Nancy Beck and Joe Madden. Gwen Welsh, 705-421 Dalhousie St. S., Amherstburg, ON N9V 3W8, [email protected].

This meeting is being held to fulfill the requirements of the Canada Not-For-Profit Corporations Act. Members wishing to make comment or raise questions on these two items may do so by written submission to Dominion Command, 86 Aird Place, Ottawa, ON K2L 0A1 to be received no later than 27 October 2017.

REQUESTS

Documentation pertaining to this annual meeting shall be made available on the Legion website at www.legion.ca at least 21 days prior to the annual meeting or upon written request by a member, enclosing a self-addressed stamped envelope (9" x 12" envelope with $1.76 in postage) received at Dominion Command at least 14 days prior to the annual meeting.

5TH REGIMENT ROYAL SCOTS OF CANADA— Collector wishes to purchase 1904 head badge of similar size to R.H.C. head badge. S.A. Mehlitz Sr., 269 Dundonald St., Fredericton, NB E3B 1X1, 506-455-6450, [email protected].

UNIT REUNIONS ELGIN REGIMENT—Sept. 9, St. Thomas, Ont. Egide Vernackt, 2 Cedar St., St. Thomas, ON N5R 1M3, 519-633-1118, [email protected]. QUEEN’S OWN HIGHLANDERS OF CANADA— Sept. 8-9, Winnipeg. The Cameron Association in Canada, 713 Cambridge St., Winnipeg, MB R3M 3G2, Hugh O’Donnell, hodonnell@ draega.net. RCASC (ATLANTIC)—Sept. 15-17, Summerside, P.E.I., Fred Beairsto, Box 673, Kensington, PE C0B 1M0, 902-439-6862, beairstofred@ gmail.com. 8TH CANADIAN HUSSARS (PRINCESS LOUISE’S), RADLEY-WALTERS CHAPTER— May 25-27, 2018, Petawawa, Ont., Frank Smith, 25 Albert St., Petawawa, ON K8H 2N5, [email protected], Bob Lescombe, [email protected].

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING MISCELLANEOUS Experiencing bladder leaks? We can help. Healthwick has Canada’s largest selection of incontinence products, delivered discreetly by mail. Depend, TENA, Prevail and more. Try before you buy with FREE samples when you pay shipping. We offer direct billing via Veterans Affairs with Blue Cross. Shop online at www.healthwick.ca or call toll free 877-775-6656. Lammi Publishing seeking autobiographies, stories, diaries from veterans. http://lammipublishing.ca

CHANGES TO MEMBER BENEFITS PACKAGE Effective August 25, 2017, Lifeline Systems Canada Inc. will no longer be a partner in The Royal Canadian Legion (RCL) Member Benefits Package (MBP). Any member who purchases products from them will no longer receive The RCL MBP discount. The other partners are Medipac Travel Insurance, Carlson Wagonlit Travel,

Best Western International, IRIS Eyeware, SimplyConnect, Canadian Safe Step Walk-In Tubs, Revera Inc., Arbor Memorial Services Inc., Hearing Life and MBNA Canada Bank. Look for their listing on page 6 of this issue and for more information and links to savings please check them out at https://legionmagazine. com/en/member-benefits-package/

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CANADA AND THE COLD WAR

By J.L. Granatstein

Cuba, Canada and Camelot Just how problematic was the tension between Diefenbaker and Kennedy?

T

he Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was certainly the most dangerous of Cold War disputes between the United States and the Soviet Union. For several days, the world watched with growing anxiety as tensions escalated, and once Moscow agreed to withdraw its intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Cuba, the global sigh of relief was heartfelt. The resolution of the standoff established President John F. Kennedy’s reputation as a tough, principled leader. But the crisis did harm Canada’s relations with the United States. Prime Minister John Diefenbaker had been unhappy with the Americans’ tough stance on Cuba since the communist revolution that put Fidel Castro into power in 1959. Despite Washington’s efforts to create an economic embargo against the island nation, the Canadian government had permitted trade to increase, angering the Kennedy administration. Livingston Merchant, the U.S. ambassador

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in Ottawa, had called Ottawa’s stubborn and independent position on trade with Castro’s regime just Diefenbaker blowing “the bagpipe of Canadian sovereignty.” Then, and much more seriously during the missile crisis itself, the Diefenbaker government hesitated for a “three-day stutter,” as British diplomats put it, by not placing Canada’s fighter aircraft in the North American Air Defence Command (Norad) on alert or bringing the Royal Canadian Navy’s ships in the Atlantic Ocean to readiness. (In fact, Canada’s defence minister Douglas Harkness acted on his own and ordered the air force, navy and army to get ready for action.) Diefenbaker and many of his ministers were furious that Ottawa had not been consulted before Kennedy implemented a naval blockade around Cuba. However, some 80 per cent of the Canadian public, according to opinion polls, blasted the Conservative government’s delay in support for Washington once they learned of Diefenbaker’s tardiness

University of Saskatchewan/University Archives and Special Collections/John G. Diefenbaker fonds/MG 411, JGD 1377

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and became convinced that the Americans were correct in acting as they had. For its part, the U.S. administration noted the delays in Ottawa: The president’s brother, attorney general Robert Kennedy, later complained that Canada was the only ally that had been hesitant in supporting the Americans’ tough stance. This interpretation of the events in Ottawa has been widely accepted by contemporaries and historians. But as new documents become open to research, the story is changing in some of its particulars. The best source is a recent and well-researched book by Asa McKercher, a historian at McMaster University, entitled Camelot and Canada: CanadianAmerican Relations in the Kennedy Era. On the issue of trade, McKercher acknowledges that shipments did increase from $13 million in 1960 to $30 million in 1961. These were relatively insignificant sums, however. More to the point, he notes, was that Canada was restricting trade in strategic materials and products, and the American administration was not very unhappy with Ottawa about these limited commercial ties. McKercher also points out that the Canadian embassy in Havana actively gathered intelligence in and on Cuba, and Ottawa routinely passed everything of importance to Washington. Such intelligence included economics, of course, but in the summer of 1962, the embassy also reported on the growing Soviet military presence (see “Canada’s man in Havana” on page 32). The Americans genuinely appreciated this. And it is worth recalling that Moscow in 1961 had promised the Kennedy administration that it would not place long-range missiles in Cuba. The president for his part had warned Moscow against putting “offensive” weapons on the island— by  which he meant nuclear weapons. There is nothing to suggest that the Canadian embassy had learned of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. McKercher’s interpretation of Diefenbaker’s complaints about not being consulted—merely informed a few hours before Kennedy went on television to announce the blockade of Cuba— have a good deal to substantiate them. In the first place, when Kennedy visited Ottawa in May 1961, he had told the prime minister that he would be consulted. He wasn’t. The North American Air Defence Agreement also required the Norad commander, a United States Air Force general, to consult both the American and Canadian governments before going on alert. The commander did not consult Ottawa, and

Kennedy’s executive committee planning the response to the Soviet missiles in Cuba apparently did not even think of Norad. Air defence was a military responsibility, and Canada’s role in jointly defending North America against a Soviet attack was scarcely considered. Diefenbaker later claimed that he had telephoned Kennedy during the crisis to complain about the lack of consultation. This, he said, turned into a shouting match. McKercher notes politely that there is no record of any such call in either the Canadian or American files and that if that call had been made, there would have been some record of it. Certainly, the U.S. administration had come to mistrust Diefenbaker and his judgment, and there was no love lost between the two leaders. But there was no heated phone call during the Cuban missile crisis, apparently. Perhaps there ought to have been.

American president John F. Kennedy and Canadian prime minister John Diefenbaker met face-to-face in 1961. In his address to Parliament Kennedy said, “Geography has made us neighbours; history has made us friends.”

After Kennedy’s televised speech imposing the blockade, the Department KENNEDY of External Affairs sought some way for Canada to play a role in resolving the HAD TOLD crisis. The Under Secretary, Norman THE PRIME Robertson, one of Canada’s ablest MINISTER public servants of the time, suggested THAT HE that the neutral members of the United Nations Disarmament Committee WOULD BE should constitute themselves as a factCONSULTED. finding investigatory commission to HE WASN’T. provide an “objective answer” to what was actually happening in Cuba. Diefenbaker at once made it sound as if the Canadian government doubted Kennedy’s word. Diefenbaker had been shown photographs of the Soviet missile installations, and he knew the truth, but his suggestion upset many in the Kennedy administration. McKercher reminds us, however, that the investigatory commission was cheered by the Liberal leader of the opposition, Lester Pearson, and applauded as well in Canadian newspaper editorials. Nonetheless, Diefenbaker did nothing to enhance his reputation in the United States. The Cuban government, for its part, rejected the Canadian suggestion. The Cuban missile crisis soon led to the fierce disagreement between Ottawa and Washington over the nuclear arming of the Bomarc missiles Canada had purchased. That controversy would split the cabinet and bring down the Diefenbaker government at the beginning of February 1963 and, after an election, install Pearson’s Liberals in power. L

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HUMOUR HUNT

By Terry Fallis

Hubris, hyperbole, hope and hockey

A

s summer wanes and autumn beckons, millions of Canadians of a particular persuasion get ready to board the annual ninemonth, 82-game roller coaster. That is the lot of the hometown hockey fan, especially if you carry the torch for a certain Toronto franchise decked out in blue and white. Every year it’s the same. When the leaves fall, the Leafs rise, and along with them the hopes and dreams of diehard fans across the country. I confess to being a member in good standing of Leafs Nation. I’ve been a stalwart Leafs fan since I was a toddler. I’ve been told my first word was not ‘Mama,’ but ‘Mahovolich.’ Apparently my eyes would light up upon hearing the dulcet vocal stylings of Foster Hewitt. I know what you’re thinking. I’m just another deluded, demented, deranged Leafs fan. But hear me out. I concede that since 1967, when the Leafs last won the Stanley Cup, Leafs fans have endured bleak, lean years. (And yes, I’m quite aware that it’s now been 50 years since captain George Armstrong scored to seal that victory. Thanks so much for reminding me.)

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Oh sure, there was the odd (and I do mean odd) encouraging season when we could briefly pull the paper bag from our heads, feel the sun on our faces, and at least experience a novel inkling of pride. But they were few and far between. Real oldtimers will remember the Leafs’ miraculous Stanley Cup comeback over the Detroit Red Wings in 1942. This was just before the NHL almost stopped play because of the Second World War, when 74 of the league’s 120 players signed up or were ordered to report for duty. Three of the Leafs’ four defenceman—Rudy (Bingo) Kampman, Wally Stanowski and Bob Goldham—enlisted. To Leafs fans across the country, Hewitt’s play-by-play radio broadcasts offered a brief escape from the stresses of wartime. Yes, there are Leafs fans everywhere in Canada and the same can be said for Leafs haters. If you came of age in Canada before 1970 and followed the NHL, you were almost certainly either a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Montreal Canadiens. If you lived in either Toronto or Montreal, or even Ontario or Quebec, your allegiance seemed quite straightforward. But in other parts of the country, you actually had a choice. If you embraced the Habs, well-played, my friends,

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as they have had a pretty good run. (You can tell a Habs fan by the smug look of one whose team has snared quite a few Stanley Cups and perennially gone deep into the playoffs.) If, on the other hand, you sided with the blue and white, well, let’s just say we’re now clinging to our sanity by our fingernails. Of course, as more Canadian teams joined the NHL—Vancouver in 1970, Edmonton, Quebec City and Winnipeg in 1979, Calgary in 1980 and Ottawa in 1992—Leafs fans outside of Toronto defected to the new teams in droves. But there are still many of us blue-bleeders hanging on to the hubris, hyperbole and hope that each new season brings. And we’re more excited than ever after a 2016-17 season that surpassed all expectations, even those of the most rabid Leafs fan (an honour for which I am always in the running). With a new coach and crop of young talent, the annual refrain of “this could be our year” actually prompts serious consideration rather than the unadulterated ridicule it triggered in past years. Leafs fans everywhere are walking a little taller— sometimes even strutting—as we pine for the start of this year’s campaign. Our young guns are stepping up and leading the team. The

WHEN THE LEAVES FALL, THE LEAFS RISE.

Illustration by Malcolm Jones

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old names of Bower, Keon, Ellis and Stanley that used to echo through Maple Leaf Gardens have been supplanted by chants of Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Zaitsev. That only one of those rookies is Canadian matters not. The Stanley Cup? That matters a whole lot. I cannot begin to fathom what would happen in Toronto if the Leafs somehow pulled off the miracle and won the Cup in 2017-18. My heart might not be able to take it. There’s always a danger in filing the paperwork and securing the parade permit early—call it premature administration—but there is optimism in the air. Now if only it could be reflected on the ice. Go Leafs, Go! L

> Check out Humour Hunt online! Go to legionmagazine.com/en/category/ blog/humour-hunt/

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HEROES AND VILLAINS

“D

By Mark Zuehlke

Ferdina Princ

own there, they will throw bombs at us,” Archduke Franz Ferdinand joked as he set out from Vienna, Austria, to the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. As inspector general of AustriaHungary’s armed forces, Ferdinand ostensibly travelled to observe army manoeuvres but also to showcase his wife publicly in a quasi-royal role. Sophie Chotek’s lack of direct lineage to a European dynasty technically rendered her ineligible to marry into the Imperial House of Habsburg. Thoroughly besotted, however, Ferdinand had wrangled Emperor Franz Joseph’s permission to marry her in 1900. But Sophie was denied royal status and prohibited from appearing publicly alongside the archduke. Ferdinand’s marrying HE QUICKLY outside of convention ESTABLISHED A reflected his headREPUTATION AS strong temperament. SHORT-TEMPERED, Born in 1863, a series of deaths within the PRIDEFUL AND Habsburg family made MISTRUSTING. him heir-apparent to the throne in 1896. He quickly established a reputation as short-tempered, prideful and mistrusting. These attributes, combined with a lack of charisma, made him generally unpopular, as did his intention, on attaining the throne, to give the empire’s Slavic population an equal voice in government

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alongside the German and Magyar elites. Ironically, this plan to accommodate the empire’s Slavs led radical nationalists with links to the Serbian government to target Ferdinand for assassination. They feared such policies would quell Slavic unrest and dash dreams for a Greater Serbia. Against this backdrop, a six-car motorcade set out in Sarajevo on June 28 with Ferdinand and Sophie riding in the open-topped second car. The route following the river to city hall had been well publicized. Mingled into the assembled throngs were six young assassins, one of whom threw a bomb that exploded next to the third vehicle. Several officers were injured and a small splinter cut Sophie’s cheek. The assailant was quickly arrested. “Come on, that fellow is clearly insane, let us proceed with our program,” Ferdinand said. Arriving at city hall, Ferdinand lashed out at Sarajevo’s mayor. “I come here as your guest and you people greet me with bombs!” he shouted. The cheering crowd and mayor’s conciliatory speech, however, mollified Ferdinand. A more direct route was agreed on for the return trip, but the motorcade drivers were not informed. When the lead car turned according to the original plan, the second followed before halting to turn around. This was Gavrilo Princip’s opportunity. He fired two point-blank shots. Sophie was hit in the abdomen, Ferdinand in the neck. “Sophie, Sophie, don’t die,” Ferdinand implored. But both wounds were fatal. L

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nand ncip

The June 28, 1914, assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by Gavrilo Princip triggered the first global war

G

avrilo Princip was one of many young Bosnians inspired by Bogdan Žerajić, a 22-year-old student who killed himself after a failed 1910 assassination attempt on Herzegovina’s governor. Žerajić’s Sarajevo grave became a radical shrine. “I often spent whole nights there thinking about our situation, about our miserable conditions,” Princip said during his trial. It was there “that I resolved to carry out the assassination” of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Princip was an ethnic Serb born in 1894 to impoverished parents in remote western Bosnia. In 1907, he moved to Sarajevo to get a secondary education. Here he met young radicals opposed to Austro-Hungarian rule. Grades falling and truancy rate rising, he was expelled in 1912. Moving to Belgrade, Princip volunteered to join Serbian guerillas fighting Ottoman Turks, but was rejected as unfit. In Belgrade, Princip came into contact with members of the Black Hand—a secret Serb nationalist group with covert government ties that sought to create a Greater Serbia which would absorb the Bosnian Croats and Muslims. Princip rejected this agenda. “I am a Yugoslav nationalist, aiming for the unification of all Yugoslavs, and I do not care what form of state, but it must be free from Austria,” he declared. The Black Hand provided Princip and two accomplices with four Browning pistols, six small bombs and cyanide powder

Alamy/HRFP4D; Wikimedia

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to take their own lives after the deed was “I do not care what form of state, done. The organization smuggled them but it must be into Bosnia at the end of May. In Sarajevo, free from Austria.” they met a Black Hand cell whose leader —Gavrilo Princip (ABOVE) provided three more recruits. The oldest of the six would-be assassins was 28, the “Sophie, Sophie, youngest, 17. Princip and two others were 19. don’t die, stay alive On Sunday, June 28, they scattered for our children!” among the thousands gathered to wel —Archduke Franz come Ferdinand and his wife to Sarajevo Ferdinand (OPPOSITE) and prepared to individually attack the motorcade. The first team member panicked and fled, while 19-year-old Nedeljko Čabrinović’s bomb missed Ferdinand’s car. When the motorcade THE BLACK route was changed, the HAND PROVIDED remaining members were left out of posiPRINCIP AND TWO tion, except for Princip ACCOMPLICES WITH who happened to be at FOUR BROWNING an intersection when PISTOLS, SIX SMALL the first two vehicles stopped to turn around. BOMBS AND Princip ran forward CYANIDE POWDER. and fired his two fateful shots. As he tried to shoot himself, members of the crowd knocked both weapon > To voice your and cyanide from his hands. opinion, go to Being under 20, Princip was spared the legionmagazine. death penalty and instead sentenced to 20 com/HeroesAnd years. He succumbed to skeletal tuberculosis Villains. in a prison hospital on April 28, 1918. L

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ARTIFACTS

By Sharon Adams

War on two wheels Motorcycles were indispensable in both world wars FIRST WORLD WAR

O The dispatch rider’s badge was worn on the lower sleeve in the Second World War.

The HarleyDavidson WLC model (the ‘WL’ was the engine type and the ‘C’ was for Canadian) was among the motorcycles driven by Canadian dispatch riders and military police in the Second World War and Korean War.

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nly a handful of motorcycles went across when the Canadians embarked for Europe, but by war’s end, thousands had been put to good use. Linemen used them to check telegraph wires, officers as transport, infantry for scouting. Their riders delivered medical supplies and evacuated the wounded. A few had sidecars fitted with guns. But their biggest role was ferrying messages to and from headquarters, to distant units in England, and to battalions and batteries at the front. Dispatch riders (DRs) even delivered carrier pigeons in wicker baskets strapped to their backs. Wherever Canadian troops went, so went motorcycles— even to Vladivostok, on Russia’s Pacific coast. On the Western Front, DRs became adept at adjusting their speed according to intervals between shell bursts. Canadians preferred Hendee Indian motorcycles

manufactured in Canada, but used a variety of machines, including the British Triumph, Clyno-Vickers and Douglas. Motorcycles broke down often and required expertise and ingenuity to repair. “A motorcycle wouldn’t last two months,” recalled Corporal Bert Bennes in The Winged Wheel Patch. Bennes once helped steal and dismantle two officers’ motorcycles unwisely left unguarded outside a pub. A rear wheel went to one DR, handlebars, front wheel, gearbox to others. “We’d file the numbers off, throw our

bashed-up pieces into the canal and have new parts. That’s the way we kept the motorcycles moving.” In the final 100 days of the war, motorcycles scouted for Canadian shock troops, identifying strongpoints to be taken out by the gun brigade, cavalry and infantry, according to Clive M. Law, author of The Canadian Military Motorcycle. “The first Allied soldier to touch German soil after truce was declared, did so upon a motorcycle,” wrote Max Burns and Ken Messenger in The Winged Wheel Patch.

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BIKES IN BATTLE

300,000+

Estimated number of motorcycles used by Allies in the First World War

500,000+

Estimated number of motorcycles used by Commonwealth forces in the Second World War

4,426

Number of Harley-Davidsons ordered by Canada in 1941

“No other vehicle could offer them so much freedom, and freedom was, after all, what the war was supposed to be about.” —The Winged Wheel Patch

they were used by signal, intelligence and reconnaissance corps, military police and invading troops. They chased down crashing enemy aircraft to capture crew. A dozen were waterproofed and fitted SECOND WORLD WAR with snorkels for the Dieppe Raid, though none of he speed, adaptability the DRs got off the beach. and sheer power of the Machines included snortin’ motorcycle was invaluNortons, trusty Triumphs, able; the Allies produced Indians, Harley-Davidsons, more than 700,000 of them. BSAs, Matchless, James “Next to marksmanship, and Servi-Cycles, among the ability to ride a motorcycle others, including capwas perhaps the most widely tured enemy machines. held military qualification,” Where trucks were wrote Law, and courses were impeded by traffic or offered in safety, map readweather, doughty motoring, maintenance and repair. cycles did their duty. They Some said only the absence guided transport through the of gunfire made the riding Falaise Gap, buzzed around courses safer than combat. after the D-Day landings, Every regiment was slogged through mud and assigned motorcycles, and traversed rivers in Italy.

T

The distinctive profile of Canadian DRs—riding upright at high speed, seated on the gas tank (and risking disciplinary action)—earned them a nickname: Crazy Canucks. Dispatch riders had particularly dangerous jobs—delivering information the enemy was eager to seize or destroy. DRs travelled unmarked roads, sometimes under fire or strafing, often in the dark without headlights, which minimized sniper risk, but increased collisions. They escorted convoys, zipping up and down the line and between vehicles. The toll was high, both on men and machines. “I smashed up nine motorcycles…in Italy,” Darrell White recalled for a Memory Project interview. Nazi propagandist Lord Haw Haw said Canadians weren’t a worry. “Just give them a bottle of whisky and a motorcycle and they will kill themselves.” L

CWM/19910090-001; RCL Branch 641 Barrhaven; LAC/PA-161885; LAC/PA-000714

The Canadian Press/REF#TK; National Air and Space Museum Archives 80-2393; all others: Wikimedia Pg110-111_Artifacts.indd 111

In Falaise, France, in 1944, LanceCorporal Bill Baggott (top) grabs a couple of winks on his motorcycle, which bears signs of wear from Canadians sitting on the gas tank. Muddy terrain (above) bogs down a rider from a First World War machinegun unit, given a helping hand by soldiers of the Canadian Scottish Regiment.

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2017-07-28 9:00 AM

O CANADA

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Dallaire’s

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too was a commander who set out on what I thought was an exciting adventure,” Romeo Dallaire writes in Waiting for First Light: My Ongoing Battle with PTSD, “only to bear witness to the most terrible horrors on earth.” It is a familiar story, one first heard in slaughter, but by the disturbing knowlmodern times in the Boer War, and given edge that it could have been prevented. full flower in the slaughter of the First World When he returned to Canada and War. A soldier goes to a foreign land with domestic life—choosing a new sofa pattern, a sense of duty and adventure and finds ensuring his children ate their vegetables, himself in a hell he was unable to imagine. mowing the lawn—the transition was onerThe exciting adventure for Dallaire was ous. Compared to his battle against evil, the a peacekeeping mission in Rwanda in materialism of Canadian life seemed obscene. 1994, where 800,000 people were evenWhile soldiers who return from battle tually slaughtered. He described this in often connect with one another and find supShake Hands with the Devil: The Failure port in their shared experience, the same isn’t of Humanity in Rwanda. What he didn’t true for a general. Dallaire couldn’t sit around describe was the effect it had on him. with fellow veterans and talk about his “PTSD,” he writes in his new fears over a beer. “I came book, “which was known in home alone,” he writes. He was scarred not just by the past as ‘shell shock,’ ‘battle Suicide became a reality. fatigue,’ ‘combat stress reaction,’ the slaughter, but by the He thought about drivdisturbing knowledge that it and even derogatory names ing his car into a concrete such as ‘malingering,’ destroyed could have been prevented. bridge support. He cut the person I was.” He became himself extensively, swaltwo men in the wake of his lowed pills. One of the injury—the outward man who remained problems with PTSD is that as the years go duty-bound and functioning, and another by, people expect the experience to fade. But man inside, who still lived on the battlefield. it doesn’t fade; it comes back in nightmares Dallaire’s account is one of the most and flashbacks and unwanted images. As detailed and harrowing, and certainly the Dallaire noted, it has always just happened, highest ranking, stories of PTSD. When even 20 years after the fact. He developed he left Rwanda, he took its horrors with a fear of himself and how he would react, him. He had witnessed the ravaging of triggered by a smell, a sound, a child’s face. a nation—rape, mutilation, murder, Dallaire showed remarkable courage in starvation, hundreds of thousands of Rwanda and shows it again now with his corpses left to rot. But he also witnessed descriptions of PTSD. It is, he writes, “a moral bureaucratic ineptitude, the heartbreakinjury that ravages our minds, our souls.” ing indifference of the United Nations’ He emerged from the experience in leadership, and global neglect in the wake Rwanda a different man, though he kept of genocide. He was scarred not just by the the best of the man who came before. L

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Peter Bregg

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