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Canadian, US and British updates on Medal of Honor and Victoria Cross recipients are coveredĀ  in today's blog.

6/28/2015

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The last 2 blogs in this place brought you some news about Toronto born Peter Lemon, a Medal of Honor recipient from the War in Vietnam, and Canada's last living MOH recipient. There were many MOH men born in Toronto and within  a few hours drive in most directions. So too, for many Victoria Cross heroes.

Traveling north west about 90 miles is a small community of around 5,000 folks in a unicorporated community called Mount Forest. Back a little before the early 1850's the area was a village, turned township and was actually thought to be located on one river system but later found to be on another. Such was the cause of it them having to abandon an old name for the current one.

A Wikipedia entry makes note of four notable men from Mount Forest. One was a physique champ, another a commedian, another a senator, and finally there was Fred.

Fred was no doubt in good physical shape and  probably didn't find much humor in his chosen profession. He no doubt could have taught ethics to more than one senator, and is still remembered today as a true hero.

Fred died a hero. In fact his fatal shot was received on one of the battle fields of the Great War and on his 48th birthday. Some present!  Within days his wounds took his life. The story will be in this space in the near future.

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The above marker commemorating the life and bravery of Captain Frederick William Campbell and is located outside the legion named in his honour at Mount Forest.  His image also is shown above.

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In May of this year Fred Campbell was again honoured with the unveiling of a display at the legion named after him. Military engineering members, legion officals and others played a role in collating some of Fred's historic records, official military documents and even letters home from the battlefield.

These are contained in front of the display in the book shown above. Within the display are also some memorabilia including his medal group with the Victoria Cross shown at the left on the medal bar above. 

There have been about 1350 Victoria Crosses awarded since the mid 1850's. Internet figures for those coming to Canadians and those with connections to Canada are not up to date. If truth be known, I believe almost one in every 13 had a Canadian connection.  Fred's was of course one of these.

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Moving along, it was 100 years ago last month that this 510 foot monster terrorized the skies over London. She was the size of two ball fields and sailed way out of reach of conventional craft of the day. The bombs thrown overboard from the two gonolas hanging below the dirrigible did plenty of damage on the streets of London. But her notes thrown overboard were even more horrendous. They said... "You English, we have come and we will come again soon to kill or cure." 

But Rex put a stop to that. His story has been covered in past blogs in this space. Use the search engine at above right and look for  Rex Warneford.

When Rex was only 23 years old, he found himself on his first ever night flight. It was near Brussels when he spotted a rather large cigar shaped craft in the distance. He gave chase, got forced off by the German balloon, but kept following it from a distance. He would eventually be the first ever to shoot one of these monsters down when he bombed the famous LZ 37, the very craft above pictured and to 1st drop bombs on Britain. The very next day, in June of 1915 he was awarded the Victoria Cross and soon after, the French Legion d Honeur for his actions.


My earlier stories on this hero have noted that he was born in India, and like Colonel Bent from Halifax, both cases and others caused a furror in Britian when that country decided to honour all the WWl VC recipients that were born in Britain. But not Bent or Warneford... and as it turns out...about another 175 heroes as well.

Past blogs have told how government reversed its position and decided that all should be properly honoured, regardless of place of birth. Today I bring news that earlier this month, again of the 100th anniversary of the June event, Warneford's Paving Stone was unveiled in England... Here is an image of the stone..

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This month saw several memorials honouring Rex.The paving stone above was unveiled near his mother's home at Highworth. The picture above was probably one of the last taken beore he was killed in Paris whilst on a second test flight the very day he received his French medal.

Had there been no crash, he was to fly the plane to England and there, get his VC presented by the King.

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Crossing the ocean and back to North American, we go for the third update to Clinton Ohio, which is about  60 miles south east of the state capital at Columbus.

At Clinton's Veterans Park are many significant memorials to those who have served for their country in one of the miltary branches. There is a reflecting pool in remebrance of POW's and those still listed as Missing in Action. An impressive Purple Heart memorial is also on the grounds as is the country's longest free standing granite wall in the country.  It honours over 3,000 lost in Vietnam.


About 325 Medals of Honor were awarded to men with a connection to Ohio. The very first six awarded back in March of 1863 went to Ohio men..or better stated, boys in some cases. Their stories have also appeared in these blogs. Search under Andrews Raiders.

About 2/3rds of the medals were awarded for Civil War actions. One of these came to a fellow named Fred Rock who was born in Germany. He came to the US as a child, with his family, later moved to Canada briefly and then returned to the US and fought at Vicksburg with so many other Canadians. He and two others came away with Medals Of Honor, and are part of an ever expanding Canadian list now well over 100.  One of them was even recommended for the medal..by the ENEMY.

Earlier this month at the Veterans Park a memorial to all the MOH recipients was unveiled, as shown above. Note the three sides with images for the Navy/Marines and Coast Guard, the Army and the Air Force.

Unveiling officials inluded a Congressman, the town Mayor and Woody Willams, the last living Medal of Honor recipient from actions at Iwo Jima.

(The famous image of the men raising the flag includes an American born to Canadian parents.)

See you next week
Bart


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Peter Lemon is Canada's last living Medal of Honor recipient. But his accomplishments do not end with Vietnam heroism!

6/21/2015

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Last week I wrote about my 2013 research trip to Gettysburg and on to Washington DC regarding the Canadian MOH recipients. The blog mentioned that the timing of the trip was as a result of my continuous "news" searches of these recipients and thus learning of the Medal Of Honor convention in Pa at that time. The trip's timing was further influenced when I learned of the memorial being built to honour the then living recipients, and the opportunity for my contribution in that regard. 

Along these same lines, another search in early May of this year led me to a wonderful story in the Toronto Sun about Peter Lemon. Very rarely are these Canadian heroes covered in the Canadian press so I was very pleased to see the 27 April article. While it has taken me this long to get to bring it to you, I would encourage you taking a few minutes to read it. You can find it at. 
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/04/27/the-vietnam-war-hero-canada-forgot

Much has been written in this place and on the net about Peter's heroism back in Vietnam days. Actions that led to his being subsequently awarded the MOH for bravery. Some of this is repeated in the Sun story. But it adds a new twist. It tells of a move on the net to see Peter awarded our own county's Order of Canada, a move this blog fully supports. A move I discussed with Peter a few years back, but somehow ended up getting put on a back burner unfortunately.

You can join me in support of the recomendation by going to the site at... https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peter-C-Lemon-deserves-the-Order-of-Canada/1604298196478773

At this site you will see some very unfortunate  comments about Peter's choice of fighting in Vietnam, and also regarding his choice to become an American Citizen.

Peter and his sister moved with his parents to the US when he was less than 3 years of age. The move was probably not his choice! He was given many freedoms in the US, attended public and high school and went with his parents when they took out US citizenship. He was only  12 years of age at the time.

After public and high school, Peter answered the call of his newly adopted country, like so many Canadians did when their counrty made the same call. He did not start the war, but he gave his blood for it... repeatedly... and helped so many others that his adopted country awarded him with the highest medal they had.. the Medal of Honor. There are over 300 million in the US, yet only about 3,500 got this highest of highest honours.

A fact apparently missed by some of those commenting at the above Order of Canada  recomendation site!

Peter Lemon is much more than a military hero. After the war he tried to improve his less than honourable record of schooling. He had taken on a few jobs but wanted to better himself. So he tried and tried and tried and tried to get higher education. His previous schooling records precluded those giving higher education to open the doors to him. 

But I will let Peter tell you this story himself. Go to this link, and be prepared to hear a dynamic speaker motivate you, like the hundreds of thousands he has spoken to over the years since Vietnam days. Here is the link... https://vimeo.com/77234909

Peter over several decades has made a living not only in the business world but as an international motivation speaker. He talks of his medal and the three men he lost in battle and how he wears the medal... not for himself but for those three men. In fact, if truth be known, when awarded the medal he hid it in a box and did not wear it for about TWO DECADES.

He talks about the conflicts and obstructions thrown in his way over the years and how he has overcome them and how you too,  can do the same thing.

His wonderful story about getting a haircut should have you in stitches. It's here ...
https://www.google.ca/#q=https:%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9iMaHFXNJ
_s

You can learn more about the Order of Canada by googling it. There are there levels, the lowest being as a member, the second as an officer and the third as a companion. Peter's accomplishments deserve an award at the highest level, not the lowest.

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Peter Lemon has brought his message of hope, conquering of obstacles and duty to family, community and country to, I suspect, hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of women and men and children from all walks of life over the decades. His trips to see school children number in the hundreds. And his message is not about war..but peace. His gift of talk has resulted in considerable accolade from leaders in may fields, from presidents to the public schoolroom.

Shown at above left, his compilation of the stories of many Medal of Honor recipients resulted in  the above center pictured book which he has donated to over 17,000 schools in the US. One of the high points in Peter's life must have been one of his many visits to DC. This one in  2009 shows President Obama presenting the Outstanding American By Choice Award, spondored by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

While about 100 of these awards have been presented since inception back in 2006, to men and woman from over 40 countries, Peter would be one of I believe only two such recipients from Canada. The above presentation was the first ever by a serving President.


In commenting on making the award to Peter, President Obama said that... " his experience is a testament to the men and women who have come to this country to work for a better life for themselves and their families and also have, by their very accomplishments, made America a better place as well."

Most interesting as these words seem to sum up some of what you can see on our own Order of Canada site and reasons for making that award.

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Peter Lemon's heroism is recognized throughout the United States, but not so in Canada, a shame if ever there was a shame in Canada. His name can be found enscribed in various places. His awards and acknowledgements are  far and wide..in the US.

And weeks back this continued with yet another series of stamps honouring the brave Medal of Honor men. This one is for the recipients from Vietnam. There are 50 of these heroes still alive, and 48 gave the US Post permission to use their images on these memorial stamps.

Called the Vietnam Memorial Forever Stamps, they were unveiled in the presence of several of these heroes on Memorial Day at the Vietnam Memorial Monument at the National Mall at Washington DC, shown above.

Peter Lemon's image is at the top and third from the left. Both the Canadian Embassy at Washington and the Press Secretary for the Minister of National Defence at Ottawa have been contacted by me to advise that this former Canadian is now being celebrated across the United States on these stamps. Yet again I made the plea that these Canadian Medal of Honor heroes need considerable more attention given to them in THIS country as well.

I have already purchased copies of these stamps and you can too by contacting the US Post.

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Peter Lemon is shown here visiting a US Post office where he once lived and bringing along an image of the new stamps, representing the three main services.

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Each folio of stamps consists of 24 stamps that can be peeled off and used. The folio opens up and a description of the criteria for receipt of the MOH is given. It also notes that of the 268 recipients from the Vietnam war, only 50 survive today, and 48 of these are depicted.

At the right, as shown above, are the names of these 48 Vietnam recipients. Peter Lemon's name appears at mid page on the line shown by the red arrow.


See you next week,
Bart

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Every Canadian should stand up and salute Pete! And while you are doing that, take the time to wish him a happy 65th birthday!

6/17/2015

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Regular readers of these blogs know that I like to not only bring you stories of Canadian Medal of Honor recipients, but also stories about our Victoria Cross heroes as well. Sometimes I also go off on other mission to bring miltary stories that I believe are of sigficance to this site.

I also spend considerable time trying to keep up with any news or updates that I think you should be aware of regarding these Canadian and US heroes. Often what appears here, is little covered...if at all by the  Canadian media.  This is most unfortunate and sad.

It is now about 2 years ago that I first learned of a plan in the US to honour all the then living Medal of Honor men with a special  memorial at the famous town of Gettysburg, Pa. The site chosen was most significant. The timing was also important because most of the then living Medal of Honor recipients, members all, of the very prestigious Congressional Medal of Honor Society, would be at Gettysburg for their annual several day convention. One of the numerous public events was the unveiling of the above mentioned monument.

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The town memorial to be built consisted of a series of bricks inscribed with the names of about 80 MOH recipients that were still alive. The "Main Street Gettysburg" organization, who were planning the memorial sought public donations for the work and bricks were sold to help with costs. I donated the funds for the brick inscribed with the name of Toronto born Peter Lemon. I'm told this donation was the only one from Canada.

I then decided that I would actually go to Gettysburg for the unveiling and even attend several of the public functions hosted by the Medal of Honor men. Back then I brought you about 20 daily blogs from the field about my trip to Pa. I also told of my continuing on to DC, a visit to the Canadian Embassy, Arlington, the Pentagon and the National Archives. These were published in September and Oct of 2013 and can still be found on this site.


(The above three images are of the current Navy, Marine and  Coast Guard Medal of Honor, the Air Force MOH and at the bottom, the  Army MOH.)

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The picture at the left is of the entrance to the 1860's Wills home at Gettysburg, (now a museum). It is here that President Lincoln (and a future Canadian Father of Confederation)  spent the night before riding out to the cemetery, and the giving of the  famous Gettysburg Address. Next, standing in front of the bench are Deb Adams, President, and Pat Bucker, Operations Manager of the "Main Street Gettysburg" folks who created the memorial. At far right is the memorial marker and below it, in the 3rd image is the dark border, and within, all the individual inscribed bricks.

These ladies unveiled the memorial  for the first time to anyone not having a role in its building, when they showed it to me hours before the public ceremony took place. At the time they told me of a few workers that were very moved at the stories of the heroes. Some were so humbled at the chance to work on the preserving this history that they actually had tears in their eyes.

Nine MOH recipients attended the ceremony and I too was very humbled at the opportunity being given to meet and chat briefly with each man. Many of the remainder of about 45 recipients were on school duty that day. They were visiting many schools and tallking to the staff, teachers and students about the CMOH society and its role and messages it wanted to bring to the youth of the country. 

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If you have a look back at my 2013 articles you will find this picture and the identity of the nine Medal of Honor men who witrnessed the unveiling of the very bricks containg their names and others. At the right, in its lower left corner you can hopefully read the name of Peter Lemon, Canada's last living Medal of Honor recipient.
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Much has been written about Peter Lemon in past blogs, searchable in this space. Here he is pictured probably at about 19 years of age, when he performed the heroic deeds that later saw him standing in front of President Nixon at the White House and receiving his Medal of Honor. Before his term of some 4 years was up he would have an impressive chest full of bravery medals.

About 2 weeks ago this teen turned 65.  Happy birthday Pete!

If memory is correct, it was Vice President Chaney whom once said that.... "the Presidency and Vice-Presidency may be the highest office in the land... but there's an even greater distinction that our country bestowes... the Congressional Medal of Honor."

Despite calling it by the wrong name, his message is still very clear.

But I believe Peter Lemon needs to be remembered for far more than his incredible military heroism.  More about this on Sunday.

Hope you can join me then!
Bart



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Due to other obligations, today's blog will not appear till Wednesday night. Sorry folks!

6/14/2015

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Another very important Civil War artifact joins prestigious collection on public Display!

6/7/2015

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It is hoped that regular readers of these blogs will recall the sad story of Lindsay Ontario born Denis Buckley. As a youth he was lured away,  probably by inducemeants, to join the Union Army in the US. He mustered into the 136th New York Infantry where he served, was taken prisoner, later released to rejoin his regiment and then killed in battle at Peachtree Creek Georgia in 1864. He had just captured an enemy flag and was rallying his troops when a bullet bounced off the flag poll and struck him in the head. He had yet to reach his 21st birthday.

His story has appeared, with updates on this site and can be found by using the search engine at upper right on this very page.

Denis was buried at the site of battle and his rermains were later moved to the National Cemetery at Marietta Georgia, some 25 km North West. But ne was buried under the wrong name. His marker also did not include the fact that he was a Medal of Honor recipient.

Over 100 years later and after tremedous efforts of a fellow named John Dubois, descendant of another 136th vet, and others, the marker was found and steps taken to have a new marker issued that reflected Buckley's hero status, correct spelling, and with the new designed MOH marker. A very impressive ceremony was conducted to unveil the stone in 2006. The following year I played a roll in unveiling  a memorial at Lindsay Ontario for Buckley and was most priviedged to be join by  John Dubois in its unveiling.

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The center image shows the new marker that replaced the one on the left. John Dubois is at the centre of the right image, with me at its right and at left, looking at the 3rd image is the then, Chief Consular Officer Jeff Tunis, representing the United States through his offices at the US Consular Office at Toronto.

It was just a few years earlier that this same community of Marietta Georgia played a historic roll in the US Civil War. So too, for the beginning of the Medal of Honor story. 
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At the bottom of this map you can see Atlanta Georgia. Just north a few miles a few miles is Marietta. At the top of the map is Chattanooga Tn.,  just north of the border between both states.

This very area was a major hub for several rail lines. Control of these gave considerable  military advantage to either the North..or the South... in the war.

In early 1862 that control rested with the Southern States and the North badly needed it. Therefore they gave  plenty of attention to a civilian spy by the name of Andrews. He came up with a plan, not once but twice, to take a handful of men, infiltrate deep into enemy Southern lands, take contol of a train, blow up a buch of important bridges, pull a few rails and cut telegraph lines. Success would mean major problems for the South and  major benefits to the North who wanted to make a move on Chattannooga from the South West.

The Walt Disney movie about the capture of the train locomotive..called ... the GENERAL... made the story famous. All except the part that Disney got wrong. More about this can be learned by searching for the story on this site.

Andrews and his "raiders" were a bust at first go...because the very man they planned to operate the locomotive was drafted... by the SOUTH,  just as the operation was to begin. Revised plans had a much different result.

Just North of Marietta the 2nd group of men seized an engine and a few box cars as the operator, small crew and passengers were opposite the machine in a stop-over and enjoying morning breakfast.

The raiders jumped the train and raced out heading northbound while two of the train operators began a chace starting on foot. Soon the raiders  had to pull of track to allow other trains to pass by. The delays caused the Southern pursuers to get very close, even though their own train locomotive was giving chase...backwards.


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This is an early artist's sketch of the engine after  a few box cars had been ditched. The last being actually set on firre and left on a bridge hoping to have it also  go to flames and destroyed. But like several earlier attempts to light logs and burn bridges, all failed as bad weather of late had everything too wet to ignite. 

While managing to pull a few ties, cut some telegraph lines and make a lot of people very mad, the plan was a flop when the raiders ran out of fuel to burn and had to abandon the line and head for the woods and their own safety.

But thousands of Cavalry, slave hunters with bloodhounds and neighbourhood men were by then scouring the area and closing in. Eventually most were caught and coutmarshalled, all being convicted in kangaroo court style. Eight were hung within days. The remained were moved about repeadly and some would escape, but the final six were actually traded for the release of  southern prisoners held by the North. 


The six released made their way to Wahington DC and met with the Secretary of War and other officials including the Vice President. Most recently the President had approved the creation of the Medal of Honor for the ARMY, and these six men would be the first to receive them. Later a few others would get the medal for actions before the Andrews Raiders seized this train. (This presentaion took place on 25 March 1863, and thus today in many parts of the US they celebrate Medal of Honor Day on this date.)

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Civilans were not entitled to be awaded the medal in 1863 so some of the raiders did not get it.

While not one of the 6 first to get it, above is an image of raider John M Scott. Shown above is the very medal he was awarded back in 1863. It is being presented by Linda Waggoner, one of Scott's descendants.

This medal was first loaned, and recently actually presented to the Southern Mureum of Civil War and Locomotive History at Kennesaw Georgia. Their holdings also include the very locomotive captured so many years earlier by the raiders.

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Above is fellow raider Wilson W Brown. His Civil War version of the medal is not shown and this one is a replacement medal awarded to him when the  actual form of the medal was altered in about 1904.

The above museum has also been most priviledged and honoured to now be in receipt of this 2nd medal. At the right are descendants making the presentation. The Museum has committed to having both medals on display in the GENERAL display area for the rest of 2015. Future plans are unknown at this time.

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Here is a picture of the much restored General of Civil War days. Below this is the current display at the museum that tells the story of the raiders and focuses in on the two heroes Wilson Brown and  John Scott and of course houses their very medals for rolls in the raid.

This display commemorates the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. It was on 26 April 1865 when Southern General Joseph Johnston surrendered his army to Union General  William Sherman in North Carolina.

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When the first six heroes met with The Secretary of War,  and other officials, the first medal was presented to Jacob Parrott, who was at the time of the raid, only 16 years of age.

When he and others were captured the Southerners demanded to known who their leader was. None would tell. So they picked on the youngest, whom they felt was the easiest to break.

They removed much of his clothing and had arms outstretched and held by two soldiers holding him across a large rock. Then then proceeded to whip him at least one hundred times. They only stopped when he fainted.

Quoting his tender age, and the abuse received, he was selected to be the first ever to be presented with the Medal of Honor. Elsewhere on this site you can read of my interviews of one of his descendants and the whereabouts today of his actual medal.

He attended the above reunion and is pictured with his wife at the front center.

If ever in the Atlanta area you are encouraged to visit the Museum. And of course please do not forget to also visit Canadian hero Denis Buckley's final resting place as well.

See you next week.

Bart

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