They fought for our freedom

[Nasturtium]

http://members.shaw.ca/flyingaces/cairns/

http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/view.php?uid=211151

Lest we forget

[maryjane48]

ty for posting

[Pat-Taporter]

I’ve dithered for close to two months over posting this. But here goes . . ..

Death by Moonlight: Bomber Command
Brian McKenna
1991 | 1 h 44 min

This is a riveting and controversial history documentary that has captivated me for almost twenty-five years.

My two uncles were in the RAF overseas. One was a Lancaster navigator who lost his life during a big raid deep in Germany. The other uncle armed bombers back at base in England. My mother worked in Vancouver’s Sea Island factory attaching bomb bay doors to B-29s. And my dad was in the Navy on North Atlantic convoy escort out of Halifax.

As I said, this film is extremely controversial. I studied it as part of a course that I took back in the 90s. I hope people here will watch the whole thing, and especially those who feel compelled to make a comment.

After I saw it at school, I brought a copy home and showed it to my mother and surviving uncle. For days afterwards, they fought tooth and nail over it.

My mother was con: “Those *bleeps* killed my older brother! And now this McKenna guy . . ..”

My uncle was pro: “I helped load those incendiaries that leveled Hamburg. And we could only imagine what we were doing, but still we had to do it. Now I wish I could go over there. (He never did.)”

Me, I wished I could have met the two featured Canadian pilots, Mr. Harvey and Mr. Brown. Because I would have given them great big hugs for having the courage afterwards to face the people who survived the raids; for them doing another very tough job for us; and for their representing themselves and Canadians to those survivors, in person, as honourable and compassionate people. Long after the war, they, once again, proved themselves to be among our greatest heroes. God bless them all.

[dizzydi]

They fought & died for us, our ancesters & now our goverment is giving our Country away :{ Are they going to get rid off Rememberance day as well as it may upset someone?

[Pat-Taporter]

For maryjane48, the McKenna film the Battle of Hong Kong - A Savage Christmas 1941.

[delSol97]

Best thread I've read on here, ever .. keep it up.

[OldIslander]

I’ve dithered for close to two months over posting this. But here goes . . ..

Pat, Thanks for posting this -- saw it years ago when it was first aired, and never forgot it. It was very moving to watch it again. Both my dad and uncle were stationed in England, and flew in the Halifax long range bombers as wireless operators and rear tail gunners. Dad came home but his brother remained behind -- in an Allied war cemetery in Germany. He was just 20 years old when his plane was shot down after a raid on Berlin...

[OldIslander]

Further to the video above -- Death by Moonlight, there is an excellent book about Canada's contribution to the Allied air war, during WW2. It is:

Reap the Whirlwind: The Untold Story of 6 Group R.A.F. - Canada's Bomber Force of World War II - by Spencer Dunmore

You don't have to buy it -- I got it at the library (couldn't find a copy in print...). In the video, Kenna leaves out some really important information. He spoke of the British distain of having their country overrun with Canadian 'colonists' and from other commonwealth countries, too. To their credit, Canada would not allow their airmen to serve under British officers, and Group 6 was born -- a wholly Canadian division with it's own air bases. Group 6 still received their operational orders from Bomber Harris, but at least its airmen and ground personnel, all reported to Canadian officers.

While reading it, I was stunned when Dunmore devoted several pages, describing the night of the raid in which my uncle was lost. It is both sad and fascinating reading... Highly recommended.

[maryjane48]

there use to be a rac bomber navigator that was born in scotland and retiered in kelowna but folught in canadas airforce in ww2 . i met him because he made his own wine and i helped him stir it up as he was past 70 . one thing that always stayed with me is if he drank to much he would get me put on a bagpipe version of the blackwatch and stand at attention whole time the song was on with tears streaming down his face .

he sure had some tales to tell about the burma theatre and black white photos of planes like the vampire and few others

[maryjane48]

If the name looks like it was an afterthought, it's because it was. Norwest's was added to the cenotaph in 2008, an action formally honouring the Métis marksman who died 90 years earlier, during the First World War.

Sunday marks 100 years since Canadian troops began the assault on Vimy Ridge in northeast France. By April 14, the Canadians had won the battle, but lost almost 3,600.

"There is no doubt in mind that he is in a place of peace," says Marilyn Buffalo, Norwest's great-granddaughter.

"There is a special place for warriors like him."


With war underway in Europe, he eagerly enlisted in Wetaskiwin, Alta., under the name Henry Louie, but his initial military stint was short-lived. Records from the time show that he was discharged three months later because of what was then referred to as "drunkenness."

Still determined to fight overseas, he headed south to Calgary and enlisted again, this time under the name Henry Norwest.


Before he left for England, he went to say goodbye to his three girls, who at the time were living in a residential school in Ermineskin, Alta.

Buffalo remembers her grandmother telling her about the last time she saw him.

"There was a very handsome man who came to bid her goodbye at the residential school and that was her dad."



Starting out earning a monthly wage of $15, Norwest quickly established himself as a skilled sniper while fighting in France with Calgary's 50th Battalion.

Snipers typically worked with an observer, but Buffalo says she heard stories about Norwest sometimes creeping through no man's land on his own, slipping out of the trench at night and returning to camp early in the morning.

During the war, First Nation soldiers were among Canada's top snipers, and Norwest's upbringing and experience as a hunter were evident, says Al Judson, curator of the King's Own Calgary Regiment Museum, where one of Norwest's rifles is on display.

"He could move well, quietly with stealth," says Judson.

"He could use camouflage and the natural foliage around him to hide."


He had a reputation that was feared by the Germans and revered by his comrades.

In military records, he is described by a fellow soldier as understanding "better than most of the us the cost of life and the price of death."

"He showed complete detachment from everything while he was in the line."

Off the battlefield, he was jovial and popular with the women in the dance halls, which is how Buffalo says her great-grandfather earned his nickname "Ducky."

"He would dance all night and then duck out on the girls at the end of the night."


On April 9, 1917, under a barrage of heavy fire, Norwest was among the thousands of Canadian troops who made the deadly push to capture Vimy Ridge.

Norwest was awarded a Military Medal for his efforts to help allied forces capture "the Pimple," a significant point along the ridge.

In his award citation, officials said he showed great bravery and "saved a great number of our men's lives."

In the three months leading up the to the battle, he shot and killed 59 men from opposing forces.


In August of the following year, he fought during the battle of Amiens, taking out snipers and machine gunners. But just three months before the First World War ended, Norwest himself became the target of a German sharpshooter and the 33-year-old was shot and killed.

On his temporary grave marker, one of his fellow soldiers wrote: "It must have been a damned good sniper that got Norwest."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... -1.4044782

[GordonH]

To all who have given ultimate sacrifice at battle of Vimy Ridge, may we never forget. Thank-you

[Bsuds]

My thanks to them as well.

Now if could get our Gov't to fully support the Veterans who have been injured while fighting for those freedoms!

[GordonH]

My thanks to them as well.

Now if could get our Gov't to fully support the Veterans who have been injured while fighting for those freedoms!

Exactly, all I ever hear is from every single loud mouth Politician is empty lip service. Thank-you for your service, now get the hell out of sight & shut the up.

[Ken7]

Then there are those who where just greater than others and lived in their own fantasy as a hero!

[seewood]

Currently watching History Channel. Searching for 43 lost Canadian Scottish Regiment solders from the battle of Vimy that were in an unmarked mass grave.
DND and Vetrans affairs refused to help n the search so social media raised the funds, the French farmer gave permission to search, the French Society Civil checked for XO, Golder and Associates volunteered their time and equipment ( ground penetrating radar).
Currently have found some anomalies that could be the soldiers.
Shameful the Canadian Gov. did not come to bat to put these souls to rest in a proper burial.