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March 25th was Medal of Honor Day in then US, but it was also a busy day elsewhere!

3/30/2014

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Last week I brought you a number of updates including the significance of March 25th In the US, and perhaps it ought to be celebrated in many other countries... including Canada where so many of the Medal's recipients were either born or had other connections.

While scanning through the web a few weeks back another March 25th story came to my attention. A year ago on this date it was the 95th year since Walter Tull died. You no doubt will not know his name, but perhaps we should all reflect on his contributions to the war effort in WW 1, and to the British Empire itself.

Walter was a black man. He was the first black  to play professional football in his area, and soon after going off to war he would earn not one or two or three...but four rapid promotions because of his bravery and further qualifications in uniform. In 1917, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. That very commissioning made him the FIRST EVER BLACK commissioned officer in the British Army. He'd been in several major battles by them, earned a Mentions in Dispatch and also would be the first black officer to lead men into battle..and even bring them all back after the attack. Then came the Somme and a machine gun burst that took his life. There never found his body.


He was then recommended for the Military Cross but never got it! 

Years would go by and efforts were made to get him his Militray Cross. On the 95th anniversary of his battlefield death, efforts were still ongoin last year on 25 March, as they are today. Word came down that the Minster of Defence indicated that as the rules stood, a posthumous award could not be awarded more than five years after the event. Today on the net I see that another excuse has popped up. While it is OK for the Brits to take pride in the fact that Tull was their first ever black officer, they apparently felt that the rules of the game should sometimes apply. One of these was a military law back in those days that said that if you were a British Citizen of non-European descent, you cannot hold a commission in the British services at all.

But nothing was said about reversing his rank. Hmmmm!

Last week I wrote a letter to the MP for his area in London suggesting that the rules based on time lines can be changed by his colleagues in the Parliament. I suggested that he visit the situation in the US where there have been repeated cases over the years where time lines have been set aside, cases even going back to Civil War days. Some even involving British Subjects, that got their Medals of Honor once the US Congress considered the merits, found them valid, and changed either the law or passed a special Act to cover the fellow in question. 

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l also said that since the Tull case has been suggested by many to be one that was based on a conflict with a superior over his race, that lawmakers also might pay some attention to the fact that the President in the US just reversed 24 cases of prejudice and awarded Medals of Honor just a few weeks back. I added that surely THE PARLIAMENT of all parliaments , the very Jewel of British Democracy should  take steps to lead rather then follow and take the necessary steps to sort out the Tull case and give the posthumous award if it is felt the merits of this 1918 case is deserving.

My email has been acknowledged with a form letter saying thanks for the note and I'll try and get back to you soon. I'll wait. In the mean time here is a photo of the British Army's first ever Black officer, and MC awardee in waiting... hopefully. 

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On another matter, regular readers of these blogs are award of my concern, one I hope you share, with regards to Hollywood hype when it brings us yet another story based on true life historic events, and leaves the movie as being the most remembered story of those events, be they true or not.

Hollywood is not history. Hollywood is entertainment. But when you look back at movies... take for example the several volume series about the Civil War, you may want to believe that these volumes are the be all, and end all, of the events pertained therein. And often this is in fact... quite the opposite. But years later who will remember over one hundred Canadians who were signed up with Colonel Chamberlain's 20th Maine for sake of argument, when all they have often to go by is the movie they saw last week or month. A movie that did not even contain the word Canada  or Canadians.

The same applies to the movie of over a decade ago about the 54th Massachusssetts. A great movie, called GLORY, but it forgot one thing. In amongst all those heroes were no less than 30 plus black Canadians, but you heard not a word of those while you watched it. Nor was the word mentioned when you watched the Gods and Generals. Nor was there any real prominence given to the incredible role that Canadians played in the story many of us saw recently, and still playing about the Monuments Men.

Heck, it took the former President, Jimmy Carter to come forth in a CNN interview about the recent showing of ARGO about the horrible Iran crisis of many years back. The movie was Hollywood hype and gave most of the credit for the saving of the 6 American hostages that were spirited out of Iran by Canada. Carter acknowledged that the movie hype took most of the credit when clearly, it was due to then Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor's actions and those of the men and women with him at the embassy there, in Ottawa and elsewhere that pulled that heroic mission off. They risked their lives to save the Americans but a careful study of the movie has them playing 2nd fiddle to the Ben Aflick's character. A character indeed.


This brings me to the point again about March 25th. That was the day that the Great Escape of WW11 in Germany came to an end and was later made famous by more Hollywood hype in 1963 with many of the stars of the day, mainly American, telling a mostly non American story.

The story has more life in the news over the past week and I will share this with you in the next blog.

Bart
















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Part 4 of George, his Camel, the Victoria Cross and 11 more bravery awards

3/26/2014

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It is not very often that I have done 4 blogs in a row about one hero, but today's is a fourth on George who's incredible military career has been a challenge to cover and do the man justice.

The last segment covered 1918 and his shooting down an enemy ace, being promoted to Major and having the thrill and responsibility of taking the  Prince of Wales, who had just been assigned duties in Italy, for an air view deep into enemy lines. The year also saw George being awarded his third Mentions in Dispatch, the Distinguished Service Order, a 2nd bar to his Military Cross, a second DSO, the highest award that the King of France could award and the same for Italy. In fact the King of Italy awarded two of them to George.

I wonder if he had to declare the extra weight of all these medals when boarding his craft for these missions. (hehe)  Missions in which he repeated shot done more and more enemy planes and balloons. Kills officially totalling 42, but unofficially much higher.

In the Fall of 1918 George was ordered back to London to take charge of a fighter pilot training centre a dozen miles west of London. For the 2nd time in his career he was so appointed and managed to wiggle out of it. He reported for duty but argued that with the latest developments in the air, he was needed in the air to see what was going on, and thus better able to instruct the new recruits.

The brass were convinced and off to the Western Front George was sent for a few weeks. And this time he was taking along the latest British development in planes. It was called a SNIPE and was made by the Sopwith firm who had made the Camels. And it had the best of all Camel abilities and much more and was a match for whatever he came across. In fact, per usual, George knocked even more planes out of the sky over France. His kill total now was at 46 German and Austrian planes and 9 balloons. In late October George was again ordered back to England to resume duties at the flight training center.

Having shipped all of his goods back to London, he took his plane up for one last look at the area, some 150 miles north east of Paris and at place called La Foret de Mormal France. Flying at about 22,000 feet above the ground he spotted an enemy observation plane. He gave chase and a fight ensued with the enemy getting shot down. But in the process another enemy craft came up behind George and strafed his craft with powerful cannon fire that sent George into a dive. He passed out but came to by onrushing air, pulled out of the dive, caught up with the enemy again  and sent another the ground ablaze.

But by spiralling down he ended up in the midst of about 60 enemy planes who immediately started to fire their cannons at him. He shot two more down and went again into a downward spin, passed out again, again came to and charged after the closest enemy and shot him down but because of so much damage to the plane George was going down also... and fast. 

Heading towards his base he came across a fleet of enemy planes and soared through them, shooting yet another down and dispersing the rest in all directions. But he was only a few thousand feet off the ground and still going down, managing to finally just clear some tree tops he brought the plane...at full speed... to a crash. It flipped over and George was pulled free... alive but with many wounds The entire battle was witnessed by thousands of friendly forces including Canada's own General Andrew McNaughton.

George was rushed to a hospital about 90 miles north west of Paris where he remained unconscious for several days. He would received acknowledgements for his heroism from the Prime Ministers of Canada and England, the King and Prince of Wales and others including his flying comrade... Lt Col Billy Bishop VC

In November of 1918 Canada's George, from Alberta, who's complete name was William George Barker, was awarded the  British Empire's highest medal for bravery... the Victoria Cross.

If you laid all of his bravery medals out, here is what they would look like...
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While there are a few others that actually shot more enemy planes out of the skies, there is no other hero from Canada, or anywhere else in the British Commonwealth that earned more bravery medals than George. His actual medal group does not contain duplicates of those medals awarded more than once. For these, a bar is issue for each further award.

Having said this, here is an image of George's actual medal group...


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George was severely wounded and remained in hospital for some time before being moved back to London. He was too ill to even attend a VC presentation till much later than the actual date of the award.

In the Spring of 1919 George was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and later that year returned to Canada where he joined up in a business with Billy Bishop, flying tourists out of the Toronto harbour airport. But business failed and he then went back to military duties as an attaché in England with the Air Force.

He then returned to work in the tobacco industry in Ontario for a few years before becoming an executive with the  Fairchild Aviation Company at Montreal.

In March of 1930 he was demonstrating a new Fairchild plane when he took it for a steep dive over Ottawa and the engine stalled bringing the plane to a crash and instantly killing the British Empire's most medalled  hero.

Here is Lt. Col Barker's London Gazette account of his heroism and the awarding of the Victoria Cross...

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Note that he was listed still as an acting Major when the VC was awarded.

For more information there is quite a lot of information on the net on this man. Just Google his name.

I expect to be away from my computer on Friday, and thus the next blog will be probably on Saturday, but check on Friday as plans often change.

cheers

Bart


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Part 3 of George, his camel, the Victoria cross and 11 more bravery awards.

3/22/2014

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A week ago today I started with the first of four blogs on a fellow I am calling George who came into this world in a log cabin in a place that years later would become Dauphin Manitoba. The boy  grew up on a farm and learned to shoot as a kid and got so good at it that he would not only be winning all the local shooting contests, but he would also be bringing home the food for the  workers employed at his father's sawmill. 

In his teens George would  become involved with the boy scouts, then the Manitoba Horse, a militia unit of the day and then he'd join the regular army and served in the trenches of France with the First Manitoba Rifles. The 2nd blog told of his crawling out of the trenches after about 8 months and switching into the air force by enlisting with the Royal Flying Corps. By the Fall of 1917, and then with about three years service under his belt  George would have been promoted to the commissioned rank of a lieutenant and moved up from a machine gunner and observer to that of pilot.

By the end of the 2nd blog he had already shot down over a half dozen enemy planes and became an air ace in the process. For these he would be awarded the first four of 12 medals he would eventually get for bravery. These were not one, but 2 Mentions in Dispatches,  and also 2 Military Crosses for bravery while flying combat missions over France.

With the capture of some 80,000 Italian's near their front and the country's near collapse, the British ordered four squadrons to leave France and do their best to aid the Italians. George would travel with one of the squadrons and would actually command most of the flyers sent. It did not take long for the Brits to realize that the Germans and Austrians commanded the air space, having already had so much success over the Italians. Thus the job for the Brits was to set the tone and let the enemy know that they meant business.

Very soon after arrival George and three other Camels were ambushed by 12 of the enemy, but the Camels took to battle right away and sent a message to the enemy... they had no intention of turning and running. In fact in one of the earliest dog-fights 12 German planes attacked the 4 Camels... and all were driven off with exception of the one George forced into the ground, having already shot of one of its wings.

On another flight George and his squadron came across two large observation balloons tied off quite close to the ground in a large field. A long line of tucks carrying enemy supplies was also in the area. George immediately dropped out of the sky and flew very low and took out both balloons and set the trucks scrambling to safety. Later when he got back to base he was given a lecture from his boss who noted the instructions of the day did not permit such low flying. George simply responded that upon seeing the obvious targets he just forget the order.

Not long after this they came across five balloons and set them all afire and also shot up a German staff car which flipped over under the Camel's intense cannon fire. 

Being in good Christmas spirits three Camels including George piloting one of them, flew over an enemy camp and dropped out a large cardboard message...  from the RFC to the Austrian Flying Corps,  Have a Merry Xmas. They then circled around and fired into the camp site killing over a dozen and left planes and hangars ablaze. No credits were given the men because it, like many others, were unauthorized raids. (Ernest Hemingway's short fictional story... The Snow's of Kilimanjaro was based on this event.)

The next morning about 40 enemy planes woke the Brits to an air attack but it was a sloppy job as most apparently were still under the influence of too much partying the night before. The Brits raced to their planes and after many dogfights drove about a dozen enemy planes to the ground. But en-route back to their base the Brits came under attack by about a dozen of the most formidable German craft... the Gotha bombers. But the Brits managed to drive two out of the air. Again the men were not awarded for the credits they deserved because the enemy attack was due to their disobeying commands earlier and conducting unauthorized raids.

On Jan 1 1918 George was on another mission escorting some Brit bombers, but doing so from off in the distance. The enemy not seeing him when they swooped into for some kills. George then jumped the enemy and blew one from the skies. He would be awarded his first Distinguished Service Order for this action. The DSO is just one medal down from the Victoria Cross. Days later he would be shooting down 2 more enemy craft.

Because of his flying skills, the British command would often turn to George to do the most difficult jobs. One of these being the dropping of spies into certain target areas. He was so successful with numerous missions of this sort that the King of Italy  awarded him first a Silver Medal for Valor, and later even a 2nd one. This medal is the highest medal Italy can award a non Italian for war time bravery.

In April, and May of 1918 George would shoot down another 9 enemy planes. A second bar to his Military Cross would soon be presented. And soon the French government presented its Croix de Guerre for his support role in defending their bomber missions into as deep as five miles into those enemy lines. In May one of his victims was an Austrian air ace. By June of 1918 the Austrians had lost  about 150 of their 200 aircraft.

So they were little in the mood for George's invite to come and do battle. He had invited the enemy in the past with similar challenges but this time told the enemy his boys would be doing bombing runs for the next 2 weeks and gave the times and places and invited the enemy to come up and say hello. They never showed up. And so the Brits did just what they said they would do. They dropped their bombs with impunity.

In July a new squadron was formed and George, now with the rank of Major was given its command. The following day 3 of his planes ran into 5 of the enemy and drove two from the sky. Days later they would drive five to the ground. Another 24 hrs. would pass and George's team ran into the enemy. This time they decided they wanted nothing to do with the Brits and sped off. Within a few more days George would down 3 more planes. It was at about this time that he would get yet another Mentions in Dispatch.

Now with an acknowelged record of 33 planes and 9 balloons, George was awarded a bar to his Distinguished Service Order. The equivalent of earning two of the very medal just one down from the VC. The numbers were really much higher, but credits were not given for those he shot down before becoming an officer and those shot down on unauthorized raids.

In August of 1918 George flew the Prince of Wales on a flight over the enemy territory so that the Prince could see the battleground for himself.

George's next assignment involved relocating back to England and commanding the fighter pilot training, but I'll bring George's  blogs to a close with that story next Wednesday.

Bart



















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24 Medal of Honor Corrections and  a Victoria Cross one and a few updates....

3/19/2014

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The buzz in US newsrooms across the country yesterday was the White House East Room ceremony to award 24 Medals of Honor, the most in one gathering since the days of WW11.

A previous blog alerted you to the event to take place on the 18th, and yesterday families and dignitaries and a few current Medal of Honor heroes attended the historic occasion.  US President Barrack Obama's comments quickly turned to the wrongs  of the past and noted that..." No nation is perfect, but here in America, we confront our imperfections." He added that..." Some of these fellows fought and died for a country that did not always see them as equals."


Indeed they did not!

About a dozen years ago the US Congress ordered a review of over 6,500 cases where a soldier was awarded a Distinguished  Service Cross. Awards covered WW11, Korean and Vietnam service and concentrated on the Army, and those veterans that were either Hispanic or Jewish. The review was later extended to Black Americans.

And the review did not come easily. A fellow named Mitchell Libman can take the credit for starting this. Some 50 years ago he wondered why his buddy only got a Distinguished Service Cross, one down from the MOH when feelings amongst many was that he ought to have been awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest of all military awards. He began a 50 year fight to see justice being done. The President himself congratulated Libman on what he actually accomplished with this decades long battle to set things right.

Twenty four men were found in the review to have been awarded the lower medal when indeed they were deserving of the MOH. Eight from Vietnam, nine from Korea and seven from WW11. One of these is still listed as missing, ten others never came home. Yesterday only three of the 24 were still alive and were presented their medals in person by Obama in Washington. All but the three received their awards posthumously, and yesterday's medals presented to relatives at the White House.
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Sgt First Class Melvin Morris on the left, at center is Master Sergeant Jose Rodela, and Spc Santiago Erevia are proudly wearing their Medals of Honor. All earned them for actions in 1969 in Vietnam.

Their very stern looks might be saying lots about the 50 years of discrimination they, the remaining 21 and possible thousands of other experienced during those  horrible war years, and perhaps since. 

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Moving along, but still with corrections.. back on July 7 last year I brought you a story of Lt. Colonel James Forbes-Roberstson, a Scottish born officer who was placed in command  for a short period with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment back during WW1.
Well, last week a sharp eyed reader dropped me a note to say what a nice story it was but that I had made a glaring error. Turns out he was not only right but I goofed on two points. His comments now appear on that page and the blog can be reread at...   http://www.canadianmedalofhonor.com/1/post/2013/07/ten-men-do-the-job-of-40000-thats-4000-per-man-and-every-last-one-of-them-got-rewarded-for-their-heroism.html

The story about the regiment happened in 1917 but I had stated that it was during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. While the unit definitely fought most heroically there,  and was almost whipped out, the story in the blog was in fact about another battle the next year.

I ended the blog by also mixing up the Colonel's  dates of birth and death. His correct date of death was 5 August 1955 and his birthday was 7 July 1884.

I thank that reader for holding my feet to the fire and am sorry for these errors.

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Again moving along, watch out for the news coverage next week on March 25th. That day is National Medal of Honor Day in the US, and ought also be recognized in Canada but doubtfully you will see any news coverage in Canada about it.

Back in 1863, that was the day when six of the survivors from the Andrews Raiders were in Washington DC and met with the Secretary of War and presented with the first ever Medals of Honor. They were later taken down the road to the offices of the White House and met President Abraham Lincoln. These medals of course were the first presented but not the first earned. Later that year and for years to come others would be awarded the medal for actions that actually dated before the events involved in the Andrews Raid.

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And finally a note of thanks to Mark Sumner who has taken a great interest in my blogs and come to my assistance with information about Newfoundland born John Hayes. Much has been written in past blogs about Hayes and the famous battle of 1864 between the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg France. Hayes and another fellow thought  for years( in error)  to be a Canadian, Joachim Pease, were among several from that battle to be awarded the Medal of Honor.

Mark has sent me many tidbits on Hayes and has recently actually visited the grave in Iowa. He has also taken a Medal of Honor flag to the cemetery and posted it at the grave sight and noted that in a few months there will be a commemoration ceremony at this grave. Stay tuned for more on that, but in the mean time here are three of several photos he has sent along regarding this Canadian hero of Civil War days.

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Mark poses at the grave, with the US flag flying and the Grand Army of the Republic marker on display. Also shown is the relatively new government created Medal of Honor flag that all recipients are entitled to. Now if we can just get a Canadian flag in the next shot. hehe

Back on Friday with the last on Victoria Cross recipient George.

Bart


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Part two of George's bravery, his riding the camel and earning a Victoria Cross.

3/17/2014

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George's earning the Victoria Cross had to be the highlight of his military career. But it ought never be forgotten that on the road to receiving the VC he also earned another 11 medals for bravery in the face of the enemy.

The last column left off with him being awarded the first of the dozen for actions in France were he forced one plane down, set another crashing to earth in flames and in the process did what he was originally sent off to do...gain valuable intelligence on enemy movements in the area...and doing so by flying very low and constantly in incredible danger throughout. This was in July 1916. And he had just returned a few months earlier from England were he took further training and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant.

Two months later, during the Battle of Cambrai, George was air bound again taking photos of the German defences and also the newly developed German tanks. He as usual had to fly very low to get good intelligence on not only movement and placement of weaponry but also to find evidence of new movement and defenses. While doing so he and his pilot came under attack by two German aircraft but both were driven off. Then they found themselves in the midst of 4 enemy planes but these too were driven off.

About mid November 1916 the British forces finally overtook the village of Beaumont Hamel and the RFC were given instructions to keep an eye of the area for any enemy movements that could result in the village falling to the Germans. It was George and his pilot that came across a massive  assembly of about 4,000 enemy not far away obviously gathered to attempt to retake the village. He called in the co-ordinates and directed artillery fire that when completed, saw the massive destruction of the enemy and saved the village from falling again.

Two months later George was awarded the Military Cross for these actions.

Days after his bravery during the Beaumont Hamel incident George's desires to become a commissioned pilot instead of an observer/gunner and co-pilot were supported and he was sent off to England for training. This formally began in January of 1917.

At that time it must be recognized that the training was very limited. You were shown how to get the plane up and down, a little about map work and how to load the Lewis machineguns while air born and little else. The incredible demand for pilots did not give a lot of time for training. And none was given on how to pull out of spiral dives, dogfighting  or anything other than the bare bones basics. It was no wonder that in those days the life expectancy of a pilot was only 11 days.  But  George still took to the basics so fast that he was taking his first solo flight after only 55 minutes of formal training. 

Soon graduating and commissioned as a Captain, he would be back in the air over France. And as soon he would be battling in the Arras Offensive were he not only shot down yet another plane but discovered an enemy trench loaded with about 1,000 Germans. He directed the very successful shelling of the trench and two very powerful long range guns. On 18 July he was awarded another MID and another Military Cross for these actions. It would result in the first of two bars he would eventually  have on his original MC. Said another way, he would have three Military Cross awards. He was also promoted to Flight Commander.
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The oak leaves on this pin represent the medal called the MID or  Mentions in Dispatch. The Military Cross is just two medals in ranking below the Victoria Cross.

After numerous other flights and several minor wounds George was sent back to England for a short rest. There his talents were put to good use in the training of the never ending line up of new recruit pilots. 

And it would be here that he would be assigned to a Sopwith Camel. A two winged one, not a four legged one.

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Here is a picture of George and his Camel. It is a one seat biplane named after the British founder Thomas Sopwith. His Sopwith Aviation Company unveiled the plane in 1917 and armed it with two synchronized Vickers machineguns. The plane was light but well armoured and was very easy to handle by the experienced pilot and could bank to the right in less than half the time of enemy planes. By war's end it would prove to be the  most successful model of plane and to its credit brought down almost 1,300 enemy planes. It would be George's favorite plane and under his command would bring down almost 50 enemy aircraft.

George continued training the recruits but had heard of development in the airplanes of the enemy back and France and continually pushing his bosses to be reassigned back on the Western Front. Finally after he chose to buzz the training headquarters at a very low height they decided his talents were better used buzzing the enemy instead of the HQ building and sent him packing again back to France and to a squadron of flying Camels to boot.

(And they say, thank goodness cows don't fly, hehe)

In late October 1917 George was leading a squad of Camels in France when they came under attack by the new German very powerful Albatros warplanes. The Brits were attacking a long line of soldiers in a blinding rainstorm. Out of nowhere came the German planes. Two Camels were forced to the ground and George's plane was racked from one end to the other and he was fighting for his life. He went into an immediate tight turn to the right and just missed clearing the tops of some trees and suddenly pulled into a loop that saw him finally pull out when just a few feet off the ground. His burst of shells into a pursuing enemy saw that plane burst into flames. Then another came at him, and again he went into a sudden loop that caught the enemy by surprise. Pulling out of the loop he then shot that plane out of the sky. Two days later he took out yet a third.  He was now a war ace with five or more kills to his credit.

George was well on his way to becoming a top ace when plans called for his moving out of the Western Front and into another theatre of war.

More on this on Friday.

But on Wednesday I return to cover a few other matters.

See you then.

Bart


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Bet you never heard the story of the fellow who rode a camel and shot an enemy plane out of the sky and earned a Victoria Cross for doing it... again  and again and again and again... some 50 times! (41 planes and nine balloons, perhaps even more.)

3/15/2014

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George did!

Like so many other boys, George got some of his initial upbringing not only by the family and relatives but also the boy scouts, were the youth were taught very early of their duties to God, others and self. There he would also learn that the scout mission was to develop well grounded youth, and thus enabling them to prepare very early in life for personal success and worldly contributions.  And George learned these principals well.

For over 100 years they have been drilled into the hearts and minds of well over 17 million Canadians.These youth would grow into teens and young men and close to 100,000 would one day serve their country in war. At least 18 would be awarded the Victoria Cross in WW1 alone. In the same conflict these trained former scouts would also earn almost 300 Military Crosses and over 600 Military Medals. And that was just in the Great War. In all conflicts, the scouts would be awarded a Victoria Cross at least 37 times. (The boy scout movement in England was advised yesterday by this blog about two of these recipients it did not previously have listed.)


Seven Victoria Cross recipients, starting out as scouts, came from Canada. Google the names of RE Cruikshank, GB McKean, JW Foote, C Hoey, WG Barker, C Merritt and JC Richardson, to learn more about these heroes. Some of these men had their stories told in earlier blogs.

George was born in a log cabin, the first of nine siblings, in area that was so small it did not even become a village till eight years after he was born. It's population at the time was about 1,000, now about 8,000 and known as Dauphin and near the SW corner of the province of Manitoba.

The family moved about 150 Km SW to Russell Manitoba in about 1902 and operated a farm and a sawmill till about 1913 when they returned to Dauphin. George would often be pulled from school for weeks on end as a teen to help cut the logs. If not at school or working on the farm or at the mill, George was out riding his horses and shooting his lever action rifle. He got so good at shooting, especially while on horseback that just about anytime he entered the local turkey shoots he'd win the prize. Often beating out the adults competing. He'd as often be spending his allowance on ammunition and at one point even designed his own peep sight for the rifle. His very sharpshooting skills were also put to good use as the hunter for much of the food the workers at the family sawmill ate each day. Years later a biographer would state that his shooting skills were so good that he could have been a trick shooter at a circus. It was here that George also participated in the scout movement.
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In 1914 George signed up with the local militia by joining with the Cavalry unit called the 32nd Manitoba Horse. By late December he decided to leave his grade 11 class at high school and signed up with the regular army by joining the First Mounted Rifles as a Trooper. Both cap badges are shown above.

In June of 1915 George went with his unit to England and soon qualified as a Machine Gunner on the Lewis MG's. By September he was in France and spent the next 8 months fighting in the trenches with his machinegun. George soon came to realize that in trench warfare, there was not a lot of use for the customary cavalryman's horse. And the trench was wet, full of mud and the odd rat. In fact many odd rats! Apparently some were the size of cats! The going was slow and very dangerous having to deal with very heavy enemy fire, barbed wire, artillery shells, the gas attacks and fear of either freezing or drowning in those very pits.  

Looking up into the sky George tended to wander off in thoughts of being in one of those planes involved in the dogfights. He could even recall seeing the stunt flyers back in Manitoba at many of the county fairs he attended during his turkey shooting days. And the prevailing thoughts were how to get out of the trenches and into those dogfights.

His chance came when he heard that Britain's Royal Flying Corps were always looking for good men. Men who were good shots and men who had abilities on a horse... and thus an excellent sense  of balance ..be they upright or not. He obviously fit all the bills and applied and was as quickly rejected. But he remembered his boy scout training about pushing for success and tried again and this time got accepted... and given the rank of a corporal to boot... but not as a flyer but as a mechanic... It was a start!

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George would also be trained as an observer of the land, the movement of troops, maps and compass etc  and methods of communicating this information to friendly forces below. Soon he would receive the observer's qualifying breast flash  shown to the right of his new RFC shoulder flash. This training would occur in England and soon after he would be back in France again and posted to an RFC operational squadron there.

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George was assigned as an observer and machine gunner on a Royal Aircraft Factory built light biplane bomber known as the  BE 2c, a model is shown on the left. By mid July of 1916 he would be in the 2nd cockpit from the front and his sharpshooting skills from back home were put to the test. A test he passed with the  driving down of an enemy LFG Roland.(model shown on right and above)  The following month George's accuracy sent another Roland earthbound in flames. 

For these actions he was awarded an MID, a Mentions in Dispatch, which is in itself a bravery award. He would get two more of these before the war was out. And George would get many more bravery awards before war's end. In fact so many that he would become Canada's most highly decorated soldier, sailor or airman in our History. So too for the entire British Empire and also the Commonwealth of Nations.

But more on this on Monday.  Much more! 

Join me and hear all about the Camel.

Bart






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Friday's blog is taking more time than anticipated and will appear in 2 parts, the first tomorrow by 6 and a special 2nd one on Monday of next week. Sorry for the delay...

3/14/2014

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There are a dozen war heroes that Canadian's need to reflect on just in the first half of March alone. Five earned the Medal of Honor and 7 earned the Victoria Cross... all with March connections.

3/12/2014

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Over the past year or slightly more, I have brought you well over 200 blogs about the Medal of Honor, the Victoria Cross and matters connected to both.

The five Medal of Honor men mentioned in the title above were Wilcox, Byrd, Miller, Phillips and Stoddard. I hope their names ring a bell.

General Wilcox, while not a Canadian, spent the last few years of his life in Ontario, at Cobourg. His MOH was approved with what, in the US they call a General Order, and this was dated on 2 March 1895 and awarded the medal for actions at the 1st Battle of Bull Run in July of 1861 and almost at the very beginning of the US Civil War. Much more can be read about this famous General at at...
http://www.canadianmedalofhonor.com/1/post/2013/07/promotions-from-2nd-lt-to-major-generalover-26-yr-career-earns-medal-of-honor-in-1st-yr-but-has-to-waitanother-34-years-to-get-it.html 

Seaman James Stoddard, born at Port Robinson Ontario, also earned a Medal of Honor for bravery in the Civil War during actions at Yazoo City Mississippi on 5 March 1964. More can be read at http://www.canadianmedalofhonor.com/1/post/2013/03/medal-of-honor-awarded-to-sailor-from-near-niagara-falls.html

Naval Machinist George Frederick Phillips from Saint John NB was born on 7 March 1862 and would served on several US warships during and after the Spanish American War, He earned his MOH in Cuba during the famous sinking of the Merrimac in 1898. More about his exploits can be read at...  http://www.canadianmedalofhonor.com/1/post/2013/03/7-prisoners-of-war-6-medals-of-honor-then-a-7th.html

Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd died on 11 March 1957. This Virginian and Arctic explorer earned his medal in 1927 for his work in both the North and South Poles. His medal is rather rare as it is the Tiffany type, only used for a very short period of time. More on the Admiral can be found at... http://www.canadianmedalofhonor.com/1/post/2013/02/on-top-of-the-world.html

Harry Herbert  Miller was a Seamen in the US Navy with his bother. Both were born at Noel Shore Nova Scotia. Harry passed away on 12 March 1968. Both men and a few others from Canada all earned their medals during the Spanish American War, the brothers actions being during the famous cable-cutting incident in Cuba. Their story is told at...   http://www.canadianmedalofhonor.com/1/post/2013/02/brothers-in-life-and-in-arms.html 
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History has yet to produce a photo of James Stoddard.

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But it sure has produced lots of pictures of the USS Stoddard that was built in 1943 and named in this Canadian hero's honour. This photo was taken near Bremerton Washington State in 1944. The ship's patch is also shown.


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In 1993 The Queen of Canada introduced the new Canadian Victoria Cross, awarded on the same principles as the British Commonwealth's VC, shown on the left. There are slight changes to the new Canadian version on the right. No new Canadian versions have yet been awarded.

Over the past several months I have brought you several stories of Canadian VC recipients. One of these, Fred Tilston, born at Toronto Ontario, earned his VC for bravery  on 1 March 1945. His actions were  near Uedem Germany, close to the border to the Netherlands. His story can be revisited at...  http://www.canadianmedalofhonor.com/1/post/2013/06/switches-paper-route-for-ammunition-route-claims-just-inwrong-place-atwrong-time-becomes-national-hero-anyway.html

There are six other Canadian Victoria Cross recipients with connections to the month of March. None of their stories have appeared in these blogs yet but will hopefully  be done in the months to come.

The first two of these are also birthday boys, both on 5 March. Robert Spall served with the Canadian Forces (PPCLI)  but was born at Ealing, Essex County, England. His bravery near Parvillers France  on 13 August 1918 resulted in being awarded the VC. He was born in 1890.

Fellow birthday boy William Hew Clark-Kennedy was born on the same day but in 1879, and while also serving with the Canadians, he was actually born at Dunskey, Kirkcudbrightshire Scotland. His VC was earned for actions on 27/28 August 1918 at the Fresnes-Rouvroy Line also in France.

Thomas Fasti Dinesen died on 10 March 1979. He was born at Rungsted Denmark and served with the famous Black Watch. His bravery was recognized with a VC for actions in France at Parvillers on 27 October 1918, just about two months after Robert Spall, mentioned above. 

On 12 March 1930 William George Baker of Dauphin Manitoba passed away. His bravery for actions of 27 October 1918 at Foret de Mormal France earned him the Victoria Cross.

On March 13th in 1978 Canada lost yet another hero when Milton Fowler Gregg passed away. Born at Mountain Dale, Kings County NB, his actions at Canal Du Nord again in France 28/30 Sept. 1918 resulted in his being awarded the VC.

And on 15 March 1890 Jean Baptiste Arthur Brillant was born at Assemetquagan, Routhierville Quebec. He was awarded the VC for his actions during the Battle of Amiens on 8/9 August of 1918 and died the following day.

On Friday I will bring you a story of one of these heroes. It will be not be one you can afford to miss.

see you then,

Bart


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Part 2 ... Gave away 4 leaf Clover, bravery cost his life, awaded Victoria Cross Posthumously

3/7/2014

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Wednesday's blog introduced you to Andy from Winnipeg who had joined the militia and then the air force, had served in several Canadian bases, then in England. He'd done well in the service for this first several years and rising in rank to Pilot Officer and with a specialty as an air gunner. His position on the plane was manning the turret that sat on the top of the plane at about the mid section of its length.  (See photo below.)

The story left Andy and a crew of 7 others  on a bombing run over German occupied Northern France. Their target was a railway marshalling yard at Cambrai and to avoid high civilian casualties they had to fly very low. Just a few thousand feet off the ground, far lower than their usual 25,000 ft. bombing runs. But, as mentioned on Wednesday, being so low they got caught in blinding enemy search lights and had to quickly dive and then pull out of the dive to get out of the light.

But no sooner had they escape that trap, they entered into another when a German night bomber came out of nowhere and started emptying it's cannon fire into the belly of the Canadian plane from below. The devastating  blasts knocked out two port engines, much of the plane's hydraulics and set it ablaze in several areas. The pilot immediately realized that the plane was going down within minutes and nothing could save it. He gave the order for all  to immediately bail out.

When  the pilot thought the entire crew had escaped, he parachuted out himself. But only five had gotten out... by way of the front escape hatch. Andy was still on board. And so was his Thunder Bay Ontario buddy, pilot Officer Pat Brophy, who had an even more serious problem to deal with. The plane's rear turret is very small, and there was no room in it for a parachute which had to be stored in the belly of the plane, but close bye.

When  Brophy turned the turret to deal with the attacking enemy plane, the turret revolved partially along its track, but in doing so it passed by the escape door from the turret back into the belly of the plane. And since the hydraulics were now out, the only way out was to crank the turret back to the position of the door..and to do this by hand. Brophy moved it a little,  but then the crank broke...and when that happened he quickly came to realize it was the end for him. There was no escape.  Period! 
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As noted on Wednesday, this is not Andy's plane but another, made in 1945 and later repainted with his crew's markings on it. Andy worked the guns on the top and Pat the guns at the rear end of the plane.

When Andy got out of his own turret and down to the escape hatch between him and Pat, he looked back through the flames inside the cabin and could see through a plexiglass window that Andy was still inside his turret and struggling to get the door open. Andy fell to his hands and knees and crawled through the flames  of hydraulic oil as he made his way to the back. Grabbing a fire axe on the way he finally got to the rear but his own clothing AND parachute were on fire, but nevertheless he hackled away at the door but could not get it open. He then dropped the axe and tried with his bare hands to get it open but could not get it too budge.

His buddy knew that it was useless and ordered Andy to leave him and at least he could escape and live to fight another battle. Andy ignored him and kept trying, but finally had to give it up and crawled back... still on fire and through fire... and made it to the escape hatch.

Andy then stood up...still on fire, came to attention and faced Pat, he saluted his buddy and senior Pilot Officer and said something. It was probably the very words he uttered a hundred times in the past as each went off to bed. It was probably... "Good night Sir."

Andy then plummeted to earth. His shute was so badly burned that it did not open. French farmers near bye witnessed the ball of fire falling earthbound and raced to the scene to find Andy, amazingly still alive.. and still of fire. After the flames were put out they rushed him to a local doctor, his burns overcame him and Andy died not from the fall, but from the flames. He was buried near bye and later removed to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's Meharicourt Communal Cemetery about 30 km from Amiens France. He now rests with 40 other airmen, 12 from Canada, 21 from the RAF, 6 from the Royal Australian AF and 2 from the Royal New Zealand AF.

When the plan crashed if first struck a tree and a wing was torn off. Then the plane broke into many pieces. With it bouncing about, the rear turret was broken away from the plane. Within seconds Pat Brophy miraculous came too. He had been blown from the turret and smashed into a tree, and knocked out for a few seconds. When he awoke, he took off his helmet and his four leaf clover fell out. The very clover that was given to him for good luck from his buddy... Andy... who was now dead. Other than a few scratches and being badly knocked about, Pat was others wise quite fit for duty. Pat looked at his watch it was 13 minutes past Midnight. And for the triskaidekaphobia readers yes, it was Friday the thirteenth, in June of  1944. And to boot it was the crew's 13th mission.

Pat made it too a local village and heard troops coming so hid in a doorway. From behind two men approached him and muffled him and took him away. They were resistance men and Pat joined up with them and continued to fight till finally repatriated back to England. He then met others from his crew and for the first time told the others what his fellow gunner Andy tried to do to save his life. It was only then that he learned that Andy had died. 

Andy's commanding Officer, on learning of this heroism immediately wrote the story up and recommended Andy for the Victoria Cross. It was supported by the most senior officers in the RCAF and the RAF and  finally approved at London in the Fall of 1946. Here is the London Gazette's posthumous award...

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From the above you can now see that Andy had a last name. His full name of course being Andrew Charles Mynarski. Two months after the above announcement of the Victoria Cross being awarded it was presented to Andy's mother in Alberta. It was presented by the then serving Lt. Governor, the Honorable J.A. McWilliams.

It should be mentioned that days after the D Day landings it was learned that the efforts of the air forces involved definitely had a bearing on the landings and the days following. The Panzer divisions arrived without their tanks. And it was said that they could not get through due to so many traffic jams and ties ups because of all the damage the bombers did.

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Pilot Officer Andy Mynarski, VC is shown here probably about a year before he was killed in action. At the time of the photograph he was a Warrant Officer. He was promoted the day before being killed in action,  to that rank of a Pilot Officer. Shown also are the wings of an air gunner and thus the initials... A and G.

There are numerous memorials to this officer's heroism in Canada. At Winnipeg the First Canadian Air Division's HQ there is a Mynarski memorial Room and here they proudly display this hero's Victoria Cross. At CFB Cold Lake the very axe he used, and recovered from the crash site, is on display.

There is a highschool in Winnipeg, a park in Alberta, A Royal Canadian Legion and an air cadet Squadron named in his honor.  A three lake chain in Alberta is named for the hero. CFB Penhold has an officer's quarters so named and the officer has been inducted into the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame.

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The Andrew Mynarski VC Plaque above was unveiled at Winnipeg's Kildonan Park in 2005. The middle statute, over 8 feet high was unveiled in 2005 at the Durham  Tees Valley International Airport which is located on the very land that Andy once served and then known as MIddleton St George, in England. Air passengers pass right past it enroute to wherever they are off to. And among others is the bust outside of our own parliament Buildings in Ottawa known as the Valiants Memorial which consists of 9 busts and five statutes.

The above pictured plane will be travelling to England to join up with the only other Lancaster that still flies and will spend a month touring. It is said to be one of Canada's most famous symbols of the war and readers ought to watch the news in August to catch get the story. In the mean time much can be learned about Andy by  doing a Google search of his name.

Hope you enjoyed,

See you on Wednesday next,

Bart






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Couldn't have been a triskaidekaphobiac, so gave away 4 Leaf Clover. Bravery cost his life. Awarded  Victoria Cross posthumously!

3/5/2014

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When we think of heroes from Winnipeg Manitoba we usually recall the names of Leo Clarke, Fred Hall and Robert Shankland who all lived at some point on the Pine Street...and even in the same block.  Each served in WW1 and the incredible bravery of all three was later rewarded by each earning the Victoria Cross, the British Empire's very highest of awards for bravery in the face of the enemy. Folks  were so proud of these men that in 1925 Pine Street was renamed in their honour and is now known world wide as Valour Road.

Well folks, not all of the heroes in Winnipeg came from the army.

Let me tell you about Andy.

Andy was one of six siblings born to Polish Immigrants. He attended two primary schools in that city and by the age of 16 he was probably in high school when his father passed away. Like most boys Andy took on odd jobs after school hours to help make ends meet. He'd find work cutting chamois (the famous cloth used in car washing) and in carpentry. He was a great woodworker and loved even making furniture.
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Also like so many young men Andy joined up with the local militia in 1940 and served briefly with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles. This is their cap badge.

In 1941 his thoughts of soaring through the clouds saw him joining the RCAF. Basic training at Edmonton followed by wireless courses at Calgary, gunnery school at MacDonald Manitoba and by Christmas of 1941 Private Andy was graduating  from air gunnery school at Halifax and wearing the rank of a Temporary Sergeant.

By December of the following year Andy had shipped oversees and joined up with the 419th Moose Squadron, so called after the squadron's first commander. The men would become known then and to this day as Moosemen. He was assigned the job of mid upper gunner which meant that his place of work was inside a small turret on top of the plane and about mid way along its length.

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Temporary Sergeant Andy, shown here, is wearing the badge of an air gunner on his left chest.

He would take initial training and part in various sorties on several types of planes operating out of Middleton St. George, Yorkshire England. Some of these include the Vickers Wellington, Hadley Page Halifax, Avro Lancaster and finally the Avro Lancaster MK X bombers.

These later bombers were built in Ontario by Victory Aircraft Ltd,  later becoming A.V. Roe Canada Ltd and still later the company Avro Canada, who, by war's end had made 430 planes for the war effort. 

By June of 1944 Andy would find himself in the thick of battle whilst carrying out the duties laid out in General Eisenhower's plans to create a massive disruption to the transportation system of the Western Europe. This plan called for the US Air Force and the British Air Force (read Canada as well) in bombing highways and rail lines and any routes the Germans could take to bring forces anywhere near the Normandy beaches were the massive landings were planned to take place.

On 12 June 1944 all of the gunners were promoted to the rank of Pilot Officers. At about 10 p.m. that night Andy and the rest of the 7 man crew of his plane (6 were Canadians)  were given their orders to board the plane for a mission. Just before boarding Andy  looked down at the ground near his plane and found a four leaf clover, the world renown sign of good fortunes. He picked it up and before boarding he gave it to his close friend and crew member, Pat Bromphy from Port Arthur, now Thunder Bay Ont. For some time Pat had held the rank of Pilot Officer and so was senior to Andy, but ranks aside both were very close friends and tended to hang out together and off from the rest of the crew. Both were gunners and so that strengthened their friendship.


The MK X was designed for flights at the 25,000 ft. range... not the 2,000 ft. range above ground. But it was at this drastically lower altitude that the men had to fly  to ensure incredible accuracy to destroy their very important targets, yet not have high collateral damage. A failed mission would result in far higher casualties during the several days of Normandy landings. But at such low range their were sitting ducks for the flak sent into the air and the low altitude flying  German night bombers.

The target that night was the heavily protected rail marshalling yards at Cambrai in Northern France, shown below and marked with the letter... "A". In the upper left of the map you can see the southern tip of England.

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On the very night of this attack, Andy's old comrades in the Royal Winnipeg Riffles were carrying out their duties in the area marked with the letter "B" above. Perhaps they saw the formation of planes flying overhead or Andy observed them enroute to his own destiny. We may never know!

It was very soon after leaving the English Channel behind them that the crew became "coned." An Air Force term meaning they had been caught in the blinding lights of several land based high powered search lights. The 22 year old pilot quickly put the plane into a dive and then reversed directions upwards and escaped the lights but no sooner had this been avoided when the crew found themselves in the cross hairs of a enemy night bomber called the Junkers JU 88. These planes had heavy cannons on board and also the ability to not only fly low as a routine, but could fire  almost straight up and thus at the soft belly of the Lancaster MK X, a plane that unlike many other types, did not have and under belly gunner and turret. 

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This plane was made at Malton Ontario in 1945 and never saw combat service. Years later it was repainted in honour of the plane involved in this story. It is an exact replica of Andy's plane. Note the upper mid body turret position  were Andy was stationed, and the turret at the back of the plane were his buddy Pat served.

On Friday I'll return with more on the incredibly amazing story of Andy and his crew.

You do not want to miss this one!

Bart




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