WAR
As I stated in last week's column, the Great Depression ended with the Declaration of the Second World War. Thousands of Canadian men left home, some for the first time in their lives, to fight a battle in Europe. Many would never return.
There is no way to mitigate the grief of those at home concerning casualties of the battlefront. It was the burden of those at home to anxiously await news of loved ones that were stationed overseas. Some communities experienced the loss of many young men in the war. Winnipeg was hit by double tragedy. In late 1941, one hundred and thirty-nine Winnipeg Grenadiers were killed in the fall of Hong Kong. In 1942, Dieppe claimed the lives of sixty Cameron Highlanders while one hundred three were wounded and one hundred sixty seven were taken prisoner of war.
Dieppe was a disaster for Canadians. As well as the men from Winnipeg, thousands of others were killed, wounded and captured by the Germans. My uncle was among the wounded. He was taken to a field hospital and when he had recuperated, was sent back into the field. It was only a short time until he was wounded again. This time, he was given a Medical Discharge and shipped home. He carried shrapnel in his body for the rest of his life. Both physical and emotional scars were permanent. He died in 1981, when a piece of that shrapnel hit his heart.
In 1939, Britain declared war on Germany. Since Canada was a British Colony, she too was at war, though she officially declared war independently on September 10. I remember my father telling me that he and his two brothers volunteered for the war. This way, they could join the branch of service of their choice. If they'd waited for Conscription, they would have been told which branch they were to enter. All three of them joined the Canadian Army.
Within a few weeks of the Declaration of War, Canada sent an advance party of Canadian officers to Britain. They were to prepare the way for the expeditionary force that was to follow. But Canada had allowed its Armed Forces to decline at the end of WWI. There were only 4,500 men and 7 women in the active militia in 1938. The Royal Canadian Navy consisted of destroyers that were seven decades old, a few coastal patrol vessels and less than 2,000 officers and enlisted men. The Royal Canadian Air Force was insignificant as it was undergoing a peacetime expansion.
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