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A club no one wants to belong to !

2/25/2018

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The more you delve into the American Medal of Honor and its recipients over the years, the more you hear some pretty strange stuff.

Here's one!

Many of the recipients of today have said that they hope there are no more members joining the Congressional Medal of Honor Society,. This of course is one of the most prestigious of clubs in the US. Its membership is limited to only those who have been awarded the nation's highest medal for bravery... the Medal of Honor.

To get one, except in rare cases, you have to have shown your worth in the very face of the enemy. And to have an enemy you have to have a war. And there-in is the source of the title above. These heroes do not want to see anymore wars, and thus no more members.

The Blue, Silver and Gold Star Families of the US of which I hope you have read much in the last several blogs, tell of those families who have lost a member, or even sadder, more than one member whilst in  the service of their country.

Today's blog will tell you about the Canadian equivalent to the American families, but more narrow in scope... to the Memorial Cross Mothers, sometimes called the Silver Cross Mothers, and later the National Silver Cross Mother for the entire country.

Yet again a club where none of the members wishes to have an expanded membership.

It was back in 1915 when the National Council of Women (NCW) started making their views known about the recognition due the mothers who lost their sons in battle for their homeland. Their thoughts were that instead of parading around in dreary black garments, woman should be allowed to wear a royal purple blue arm band with a suitable devise attached, that told all of their losses. (Ironic that a half century later my own mother, as the then current president of NCW was making presentations to PM Trudeau (the first) for the inclusion of women into the ranks of the RCMP as police officers instead of limited their functions to clerical or other non Peace Officer functions.)

Unlike Trudeau, Borden stalled but in the Fall of 1916 things changed, perhaps with the horrible news of the sinking of the Lusitania. Letters to the editor of Toronto papers, and clippings of same sent to Borden later from popular novelist WA Fraser got federal attention to the cause. He called for the making of a medal, to be called the Silver Cross and that it should... "pay a beautiful and deserved tribute to the mothers of slain Canadian soldiers." 

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This newspaper notice was in an Ottawa area paper in September 1916. Within 2 months it had been discussed in Parliament, and introduced on November 25th as an Order-in-Council. It was considered days later and on Dec 1,  1916, after having been approved by the  Minister of Militia and Defense, and with concurrence  of the Minister of Naval Services, became law.
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This is one of the earlier Memorial Crosses. Lance Sergeant Williams was born in Yarmouth NS, and enlisted from New Brunswick in the PPCLI for duty in WWl. He was badly wounded in battle about 40 Km South East of Paris France, in the small town on Tilloy. His late Sept wounds resulted in his death about a week later.
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These three Silver Crosses represent each of the three Monarch's and their Royal Cyphers. HRH King George V at left, who passed away in 1910, HRH King George VI at center, who passed away in 1952 and our reigning Monarch, HRH Queen Elizabeth II right.

Over the years there have been several changes regarding who in the family could receive a memorial Cross, how many could come to the family, and prerequisites needed even before a medal was, and is awarded.

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In 1936 the federal government created a new program that complimented the Memorial (Silver) Cross  Mothers program of the day. It then  created  NATIONAL Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother program. One which has one mother of a lost child representing all mothers and conducting certain national duties throughout the year. These include the most important wreath laying at Ottawa during the Remembrance Ceremony where her laying of a wreath comes second only to that of our Governor General, and before our Prime Minister.

2018 marks the 82nd year of this program where a mother had been appointed annually in all but just a few years  since 1936. Above we see the first woman so awarded. The job of selection falls to the  Royal Canadian Legion each year.

In 1936, Winnipeg's  Charlotte  Susan Wood, shown above,  became the first National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother. That year she traveled to England to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Westminster Abbey. (The unknown there is also a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross and the Medal of Honor.)

Mrs Wood lost two sons in battle, one at Mons Belgium August 1914 and another at Vimy in May 1917.  

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At one point there were up to three actual Silver Crosses that could be awarded to a family. Not sure what the current limits are. But I have discovered that in 1947 the Ribbon, shown above was introduced to those in the family that did not get the Silver Cross. Apparently up to 5 ribbons could be issued to a family.
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Readers may not realize it but while our troops served in Afghanistan, almost one in 10 was a woman.  And 310 of these woman served in combat roles.

Partly Antigonish Nova Scotia schooled and RMC graduated, Nichola Goddard joined the Canadian Forces and was soon in Afghanistan.  As one of those in combat roles Goddard of the PPCLI held the rank of Captain and was acting as a Forward Observation Officer while commanding a mission to capture 15 alleged Taliban in mid June 2006.

Enroute, her job had her often standing in her vehicle, and half exposed to potential enemy at any time. The team got ambushed, leading to a day long battle. When her vehicle was hit by two rocket propelled grenades, Capt Goddard and  an Afghan National Army soldier were killed. But so were about 40 of the enemy and another 20 captured by her team.

Captain Goddard was posthumously awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. Her husband was later awarded the Memorial Silver Cross. probably the first such award, as the Captain, shown above, was the first certified combat related death of a woman in our history.

A google search of The Captain's name will bring up considerable information about this brave woman. Hits will show of many tributes and memorials across the country to her service and sacrifice.

By going to...  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkgV5bl7kQ
you can listen to a wonderful song about heroes that was written and performed by the group... The Trews, from Antigonish NS. The song was written in honour of Captain Goddard. Please have a listen, and carefully to the words, and then pass it along to others.

And here is another site I want you to check out...

http://www.heroesofzorra.ca/index.php/about-the-project/2013-08-09-15-10-57/the-american-civil-war

I've told you about this site in the past. It is the web site that the good folks of Zorra Ontario created a few years back as a result of an original attending of the new grave marker unveiling in California in 2010 for Benjamin F Youngs, noted repeatedly on this site. He was from Zorra and was awarded the MOH for actions in the Civil War. I did much of the background work for the California event.

At this site the reasons for creating the site are shown at the right on the home page. The fourth item down is a song written and performed by Jack London and called the Highway of Heroes. Again please listen closely to the words. This song was also inspired by the heroism of  Captain Goddard. Please also pass this on to others..

Finally, before signing off, I note that there are only 3 more days in February, the month set aside across North America to honour Black History.

I've yet to see any Canadian print coverage this month that mentions the name of Joseph Noil, who is often mentioned in past blogs here. Only a few William Hall mentions have been found. Noil was a MOH recipient and Hall was a VC recipient. Both men were from Nova Scotia and both were of course men of colour.

While being awarded the highest medals for bravery in Canada and the US, I am left with he feeling that these black heroes are nor worthy of mention during the very month dedicated to the cause.

I find this VERY disheartening of our print media across the country. Not sure if the other  media outlets are in the same kettle.

The Black community I trust will take note of this lack of support for their cause. .

Back next week,

Bart.
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Hershel "Woody" Williams' legacy goes far beyond his Medal of Honor!

2/18/2018

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Over the last several weeks I have been sharing with you some of the incredible accomplishments of a war hero that it appears, wants to be known for everything but.

After strapping on his flame thrower and taking out an enemy machine gun bunker, he'd run out of gasoline and would back out to get another and another and yet even 4 more. When all was said and done it would seem that he was trying to take out most of the 21,000 Japanese fortified in their 18 miles or more of tunnels all by himself. 

The actions went well beyond the normal call of duty and resulted in his men gaining considerable ground. It was not long after that Woody found himself in Washington DC. There his president would drape the Medal of Honor around his neck. He would declare years later that he did not even know what the medal was when on the battlefield, nor had he ever even seen one before arriving at the White House.

The past blogs tell much of this. If you have missed these you should  take time to have a look at them. One of these told how Woody, like so many others, had been missing the boat when they so often talked about the Gold Star Mothers. Those who had lost a son or daughter in the military and sacrificing all of their tomorrows so that we could have our todays and so many more tomorrows.

The boats being missed were that the mothers were not alone. As said in an early blog, he was told at one ceremony honoring the Mothers, that Fathers also cried.. And what about the other children` and the greater family of relatives? Soon the message would sink in and  hesrtating dedicating much time to the expansion of the Gold Star Mothers into the Gold Star Families.

And rather than just talking, he did something about it.more.

In 2010 he created the Hershel "Woody" Williams Medal of Honor Educational Foundation. This was, and is a national not for profit charitable organization dedicated to many causes. Firstly, in memory of those lost, a wide variety of fund raising events would be used to provide scholarships to qualifying children. Money would be made available to help the family school the children and of course at the same time keep alive the memories of those so dearly loved and lost. 

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Woody recognized that while many of the families had a place within the US that they could go to visit the graves of their lost one, but many more did not. Looking at the bigger picture he also noted that while honouring the fallen, it was high time that the very families and the rest of the population should have places to go to that recognize their losses as well. (Almost 700,000 Americans died since WW1 in service of their homeland, and the world.)

Soon the Gold Star Families Memorial was created, and by 2013 the above memorial was erected at the Veterans Cemetery in Dunbar West Virginia.

Funds were raised to the tune of about $100,000 to build this gorgeous memorial and a pathway up to it. Since then an astounding number of 31 different US States  have a similar memorial or in some cases even more than one. Incredibly a total of 39 have been  dedicated and another 51 are in progress. 

And I do believe Woody has attended everyone of those already dedicated. And he is in his 90's folks!

Every one of them is a duplicate of the one shown above. The cut out represents the lost.. or missing, soldier, sailor, marine, airman or coastguard member gone forever.

While the fronts are all the same, the backs are left to the creativity of the communities. However one of each of the four panels must have a theme for the homeland, family, patriots and sacrifice.

And Woody has not stopped there. He has also recognized that there are few memorials dedicated to the memories of all the Medal of Honor recipients in various parts of the country. Therefore he has decided to raise further funds to create Medal of Honor Walls of Memory.

Many current displays are in  areas that the public are generally not allowed to enter. Thus, Woody's plan is to have a Wall of Memory in the veterans facilities were the vets themselves, family and friends visit. In these he wants to see a hallway dedicated to all, or as many as possible, of the MOH recipients that came from  that particular area of the country.

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Here we see Hershel Woody Williams and the reverse of one of the Gold Star Families Memorials. This one was un-veiled on  Memorial Day 2016 at  Grove City Ohio.
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Here we see the existing and proposed memorials.
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And here is a list of the memorials completed and proposed.

If you Google Woody's name you can read much about this hero, and these various foundations. A great utube video re the Gold Star Family Memorials  is at.... http://hwwmohf.org/monument-overview.html  (Scroll down less than a page and look at video link on the right.)

There is also a great video about his MOH Wall at...
http://hwwmohf.org/wall-of-memory.html  (Scoll down to find video link on left.)

Next week I will bring a story about Canada's Silver Cross Families.

hope you will join me then,

Bart

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94 and Still Waving the US Flag Cross Country!

2/11/2018

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Over the past few weeks I have been talking about the heroism of Woody Williams, a Medal of Honor recipient from his days on the island of Iwo Jima.

The stories started with the US Air Force woman who won a contest to get to meet Woody at a ceremony and how she was so impressed with his gift of gab. A gift spent not on  the war, or what he did in it or why he was awarded the Medal  Honor. But a message of hope for the nation and one that emphasized  those left behind at the home front when a loved one has not come home from battle. .

Much was said about the Gold Star mothers, and later fathers, and still later the families, as it should be. But in my description of the gold star itself, the banner of the same name, the blue and silver stars and their banners, also called service flags, I have come to realize that I had missed something.

I never told you about the banner that started it all. And that story involves this man...

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Though difficult to read, the signature is of Robert L Queisser,  born in Indiana in 1866 and educated there before moving to Ohio. Before the  Great War he served in  the 5th and 7th Ohio National Guard regiments then back to the 5th and still later would become the Aide De Camp for the state Governor.

While with the 5th he obtained the rank of Captain. He and sons, Charles and Robert Jr, 1st Lt and 2 Lt respectively, are shown below while all served in  the 5th.

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Captain Queisser is shown with his 2 sons, all in service of the 5th and along the Mexican border at El Paso on 30 December 1916.  The Captain is at left and beside son Charles, a 1st Lt. At right is son Robert Jr., a 2nd Lt.

Both sons would leave home to join the Great War not long after this photo was taken. While fighting in  the front lines, their father decided to show the family pride in the boys by making a banner he hung in his window. It had two blue stars, one for each officer "Doing Their Bit" for home and country. The stars appeared on a white background with the edge of the banner or flag having a red  border.

Neighbours would see this and so would the military families. Others soon made their own and community after community jumped on board so  much so that the state on 24 September 1917 officially adopted the flag as a symbol  for military families to display the pride they had in sons and daughters who had gone off to war for the country.

Captain Queisser not only designed and made the flag but he also sent off details to Washington with a sketch and indication that he wanted a patent on his creation.  On 6 November 1917 two patents were granted to the Captain. Number D0051463 for a 2 stared flag and D0051464 for another with 4 flags on it.

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While  not the original sketch these images depict what was sent to the Patent Office. The blue is supposed to represent hope and pride.

By 1918 an Indiana group called the the American War Mothers had been wearing a black arm band with a gold star on it  in honour of sons lost in battle. That year the Womens' Committee of National Defense lobbied President Wilson  for the formal approval, of the black armband and gold star  and in May got it. The gold then representing the cause of liberty and freedom and the costs and sacrifice in seeking this.

I am going to leave two important initiatives started by Woody Williams till Next Sunday in order to cover to other timely matters this week.

The first being the importance next Thursday of the day in our history. It is of course February 15th.

At precisely 12 noon of 15 February 1965 the old Red Ensign flag was lowered and Canada's new Maple Leaf flag was flown for the first time ever at the Peace Tower in Ottawa. The crowds sang Oh Canada, and God Save the Queen no doubt louder than many a heckler of the day,  and gave great cheers. But this, only after months and months of debate, more than 300 speeches in the Houses of Parliament  and after close examination of more than 5,900 designs, that a vote if parliament  that carried 163 to 78, to adopt the new flag.

Canadians from Coast to Coast will be celebrating the very day, proclaimed by Parliament as National Flag of Canada Day on Thursday. No doubt it will add some excitement at the Winter Olympics as well as across the country.

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 A little hard to read but well worth the effort.

And speaking of hard to read, I personally find it hard to accept that after all the coverage I have given to the story of the incredible heroism of Joseph Noil in this space, I have yet to see any news about him this February, It being Black History Month in Canada, and in fact the US as well.

I have taken great efforts to bring you his story of service in the US Navy, his being awarded the US Medal of Honor, his being buried under the wrong name for well over 100 years and his unveiled new marker with wonderful coverage a few years ago. But since then, little in the press last year or this re this man, born In Nova Scotia  and the only man of colour from Canada to be so awarded a MOH, one would think someone in the Black communities across the country  would take up the cause and keep his story alive.

But heck, Black History Month is only 1/3rd over. Maybe our communities will  be shocked yet!

Back next week,

Bart

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"I am Just a Caretaker of the Medal."

2/4/2018

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The last two blogs in this space started to bring you the story of Hershel "Woody" Williams, a US World War ll Medal of Honor recipient who was honoured for actions at Iwo Jima.

They have told of how this Marine Corps Corporal not only became a military hero, but after war service, he became a hero again, and again, and again. This for his life long journey in  recognition of not only the medaled, but for those who did not come home from war.

And yet further, those left behind on the home front that were then destined to a lifetime of loss and emptiness  when their brother or sister, mother or father or child, distant relative, neighbour or other loved one could no more live and share a life of hopes and dreams.

The blogs brought forth some of the tragedies that led others to move on, with the creation of the blue, silver and gold banner programs, and the powerful Gold Cross network of families.

If you missed these I would encourage you to go back to them and read of these important events in US history.

Here's a picture that everyone should recognize, put sadly I suspect too many do not. Can you tell me what it is??? 

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Maybe this image can help...
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Here's a hint. It is in Washington DC.

It is of course at the WWll National Memorial. You might think that every one of those GOLD STARS represented a service member who lost their lives, or became one of the MIA's  in their service to the country. But you would be very wrong.

Each Star actually represents ONE HUNDRED of these fallen or missing heroes. And there are more than 4 thousand stars at this memorial.

Here's a thought. With all the talk of building a wall, perhaps the location should be shifted to DC, and surrounding the greater metro area. A requirement should have all visitors standing in front of this most important reminder of war's past, and saluting it. Then they would get a stamped receipt evidencing the viewing required before being allowed to exit the walled area.

A small tax on all those with incomes beyond a million bucks would have it paid for by next Wednesday at noon, and just think of all the jobs it would create.

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This is a air photo of the National Memorial. The above wall is at left center..
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Here is the full shot of the curved wall. The sign in front proclaims ..."Here we Mark the Price of Freedom."
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This marker tells that the 4,048 Gold Stars represent the 405,399 killed or Missing in Action during WWll. It also notes that with such high numbers of losses and missing, the numbers where second only to the 1861-65 Civil War where over 600,000 were lost.

While the marker notes American deaths, one should keep in mind that a significant number of these may well have been non-American born.

For decades Woody Williams has dedicated considerable time and probably money by playing a leading role in the recognition of those families left behind to mourn their lost service members.

Clearly it is a miracle that his own family did not have to morn his own loss of life. He claims he was being watched over from above. 

He  began life on a dairy farm and grew up milking the cows and running a delivery service of the family product to the neighbourhood.  Odd jobs like driving trucks and even taxis's would bring in some money. Often he would be required to deliver the terrible news to families from the  Western Union that brought them to their knees with the message that a son or daughter or other family member had been either Missing or lost in the war effort.

He'd recall his school teacher making sure that he and his classmates knew that they had a duty to stand up when needed and that the freedoms they enjoyed did not come from the end of a pen.

When Pearl Harbour was attacked Woody knew what he had to do. But height restrictions barred his entry for about a year. But when it dropped he signed up with the United States Marine Corps. Knowing nothing about the USMC he saw them on furlough always wearing their uniforms, (a requirement of the day), and "guys in uniform always got the girl," he would later claim. And so it was to the Marines he would join.

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This is an actual telegram telling the recipient that a serviceman had gone Missing in Action.

Woody expected to be on the home guard but soon was sent overseas to an island he had never heard off. The Solomons and beyond. It would be at the Island of Iwo Jima, that he had landed just 2 days earlier, that Woody would earn his Medal of Honor.

Bad intel did not tell the troops that the Japanese had about 20 miles of underground tunnels and pill boxes that, because of construction and concealment, where most difficult to take out by bombers and tanks getting caught up at water's edge. Many of the Marines were being killed by machine gunners in the bunkers.

Woody, now a Corporal and in charge of a detonations team that included flame throwers was among many NCO's and a few officers rallying to figure out how to take out the bunkers. Soon Woody would find himself with the flame thrower and about 70 pounds of gasoline, a  moving target if ever there was such a thing, and with 4 Marines as personal guards, being sent out to try and destroy the enemy in the bunkers.

Each flame thrower, if used at full blast, only had enough fuel to last a few minutes. He'd soon gone through his first and 2nd... .and yet another 5 and would kill the enemy in seven bunkers that gave the marines a clear path to move forward. For this he would have the Medal of Honor draped around his neck by the President of the United States. A medal that he had never heard of, and knew nothing about till being the proud owner of one.

But as today's title suggests, Woody Williams felt very strongly that the medal did not belong to him. It belonged to the two Marines he lost protecting him, and to all the others that never got to come home. 

Next Sunday's conclusion will tell of his efforts to recognize the families of those lost and missing in war.

Hope you will join me  then,

Bart

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    Author;
    Bart Armstrong, C.D.,
    Recipient, Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers 

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