Canadians and War Volume 1

Canadians and War

Volume 1

Edited by Jeremy Lammi

Introduction by Jeremy Lammi and Karen Hann

Essays by

Maryanne Lewell

Alexander Fitzgerald-Black

Matthew Douglass

W.A. Leavey

Published by Lammi Publishing, Inc.

Headquartered in Coaldale, Alberta, Canada.

http://lammipublishing.ca

Lunenburg’s ‘Quiet Riot’ and Maritime Resistance to the 1917 Military Service Act © Maryanne Lewell, 2016. All rights reserved.

Canada’s Eagles over HUSKY: Canadian Airmen in the Battle of Sicily © Alexander Fitzgerald-Black, 2016. All rights reserved.

Who Were Their Liberators? © Matthew Douglass, 2016. All rights reserved.

Canadian Army Humour: Second World War © W.A. Leavey, 2016. All rights reserved.

Cover Image Credits

Capt. Jack H. Smith / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-144144

Ken Bell/Canada. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada/PA-116528

T. A. Rowe/Canada/Library and Archives Canada/PA-114490

Text and content editing by Karen Hann.

Cover design by Paul Hewitt Battlefield Design, UK.

Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com

Table of Contents

Introduction by Jeremy Lammi and Karen Hann

List of Contributors

Lunenburg’s ‘Quiet Riot’ and Maritime Resistance to the 1917 Military Service Act by Maryanne Lewell

Canada’s Eagles over HUSKY: Canadian Airmen in the Battle of Sicily by Alexander Fitzgerald-Black

Who Were Their Liberators? by Matthew Douglass, MA

Canadian Army Humour: Second World War by Lieutenant Colonel W.A. (Bill) Leavey, MA, CD (Retired)

About Lammi Publishing Inc.

Introduction

By Jeremy Lammi and Karen Hann

In spite of our best hopes for human endeavours, war has remained an indelible part of this world’s history and condition. It is not glamorous, pretty, or nice to think about. It brings forth the worst of humanity, showing the depths of depravity to which we as a species can sink. It may also show some of the best in human compassion and courage, but it comes at a terrible price. War has shaped religion, ideology, national borders, and many patterns of human diaspora. It has also helped shape national identity. From before Confederation to the mission in Afghanistan, our participation in global conflict has had a powerful impact on Canadians’ understanding of what has made us and who we are as a nation.

From school children to those bent with age, we stand together in silence at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, paying our respect and thanks to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to bring peace to a world that has known too little of it. When newcomers arrive within our borders, we give them poppies and teach them how to remember alongside those of us who were born and raised in this tradition.

Though we appreciate living in our civil, peaceful society, we do understand that this peace has come at a price. The price has been paid in blood, soaking into the dust of Boschbolt and Paardeberg, the muddy trenches of Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, the rocks of Dieppe, the tide of Juno Beach, the grassy fields of Kapyong, and the blazing hot sand of Kandahar. The price has been paid in the tears and grief of families who have gone on without their sons, fathers, husbands, brothers, daughters, mothers, wives, and sisters. The price has been paid in the broken bones, missing limbs, and scarred bodies of those who survived encounters with the enemy. The price has also been paid in tormented dreams, sleepless nights, anxiety attacks, flashbacks, and deep emotional turmoil of those whose wounds are not of the body, but of the mind and soul. That price was paid for us, as Canadians, so that we might live in a freer and more just and peaceful society where extreme ideologies and hate are not permitted to grow and fester.

There is nothing that anyone can do to express enough thanks to those brave men and women who have put their lives, limbs, and sanity on the line to keep us safe. What we can and must do is remember. We must hear their stories. We must teach those stories to our children so that they know from where their good life comes. We must make sure everyone knows the true and terrible cost of war so that we as a nation never enter into it without a grave understanding of what we will pay and an absolute certainty that there is no other way forward.

This is the purpose of Lammi Publishing, and it is the purpose of this text. We acknowledge the varying realities of war. We examine the motivations and actions of the men and women of Lunenberg’s quiet riot, who felt forced to participate in a war in which they did not believe. We fly high above Sicily as we take a close look at the fighter pilots of Operation HUSKY. We duck through the shadowed streets of Apeldoorn, learning about the Canadian liberators of the Netherlands and the Dutch woman who was determined to get to know those to whom she owed her freedom. Finally, we make our way through the structure of the Canadian Army itself, observing the way the cogs move in that massive machine and analyzing that popular and vital coping strategy of humour within the ranks.

These topics and approaches might not be thoroughly covered in the mainstream literature. Some of them may not be discussed at all outside of academic conferences. But they are topics that bear consideration, and they all contribute to the way we might think about our history, our military, and who we are as Canadians.

When people hear the word Lunenberg, they think about a quaint historical fishing village, but they don’t necessarily consider the fact that the people who once lived there had compelling reasons for committing what might seem to be a very unpatriotic act—fighting against the conscription calls of the First World War. Maryanne Lewell has combed through century-old newspaper archives and other sources to bring to life this quiet riot in Lunenberg and help us understand why and how it happened.

Movies have depicted the pulse-pounding excitement of flying fighter jets. We know that there were parts of the Second World War that were not fought on fields, but thousands of metres in the air. But who were these men? By Alexander Fitzgerald-Black introduces us to the brave Canadian airmen of Operation HUSKY, who came from the fields, farms, and fishing boats of Canada to act as a decisive force in the Battle of Sicily. These men have largely been ignored by history, but Fitzgerald-Black has given them a voice and helped find them their proper acknowledgment in history.

The Canadian actions during the Second World War are an integral part of the Dutch national consciousness. Matthew Douglass gives us a microcosm of this bond’s beginnings, telling the story of a little Dutch girl who spent her childhood under Nazi oppression before tasting liberation at the hands of the Canadians. This woman went on to become a Canadian herself, and dedicated the last years of her life to conducting major case studies on veterans, determined to get to know her liberators and tell their stories to the world.

War shows some of the darkest moments of humanity. Soldiers, whether citizen or career, witness things during their service that nobody can be mentally prepared to handle. War takes humanity beyond our bounds of endurance, yet somehow, we must cope. For our final piece, we are privileged with a true inside look at life in the Canadian military itself. Lieutenant Colonel W.A. (Bill) Leavey, (ret.) brings forth his forty-two years’ experience to a rollicking examination of one of the major ways the Second World War Canadian soldiers managed their experiences—through humour. Leavey unravels the intricate weave of military life and shows how soldiers manage the unimaginable, the miserable, and the uncomfortable by just throwing up their hands and laughing.

So join us on our journey to the salt-damp shores of Nova Scotia, into the air high above Sicily, to the cobbled streets of Appeldoorn, and into the baffling and darkly hilarious realities of life in the Canadian military. Learn the stories of those to whom we owe our freedom, and honour them through remembrance.

List of Contributors

Maryanne Lewell

Maryanne Lewell is a PhD candidate at the University of New Brunswick, where she is studying the Acadians of the Maritime Provinces in the Great War. She is also a high school history teacher at Saint John High School, where she has taught since 2002.

Alexander Fitzgerald-Black

Alex has been published in a number of popular and academic periodicals. Most recently, he wrote an article for Airforce Magazine entitled Two Canadian Aces of ‘The Greatest Air Battle of the Mediterranean War.’ In late 2013, Canadian Airmen over Italy appeared in Legion Magazine. Earlier that year, he co-authored Husky’s Price: A Window on 21 Lives Lost in Sicily in Canadian Military History, having previously published in that leading academic journal in 2012. He maintains a blog focusing mainly on his historical research at www.alexfitzblack.wordpress.com and is a contributor to balloonstodrones.wordpress.com. He also posts regularly on twitter as @alexfitzblack. He has an MA in History from the University of New Brunswick and is presently working to turn his thesis into a manuscript.

Matthew Douglass

Matthew Douglass is a Fredericton native. He obtained his Masters in History at the University of New Brunswick in 2013, where he examined the combat effectiveness of the New Brunswick Rangers, an Independent Heavy Machine Gun company during the Second World War. He was a participant of the 2012 Canadian Battlefields Foundation Tour to France and