Canadian Veteran Biographies

We live in strange times. Our neighbour, the USA, is no longer defending democracy. They've elected a convicted felon to the presidency but an unelected billionaire appears to be running the government. They've placed tariffs on Canada, supposedly because of fentanyl and illegal migrants, although everyone knows drugs and guns flow north over the 49th parallel.   

Canada, on the other hand, has lurched to the left. Maple MAGA and the Freedom Convoy notwithstanding, the past few years have witnessed the toppling of statues, the renaming of our schools, calls for a republic, a rise in Antisemitism, the DEI obsession, a recent Prime Minister who claimed we have no core identity, and a school that decided a Palestinian song was appropriate for Remembrance Day.

I'd like to discuss that last one because it bothers me. Not because a Palestinian song was played, but because it was the only song played. Perhaps the teachers running the Remembrance Day programme  at Sir Robert Borden High think Canada's own wars are too long ago to matter. Or perhaps our history is just too white. The principal stated that he didn't want students to think the day was just about "a white guy who has done something related to the military." 

Since everybody's history matters and Canadian history should matter to Canadians, it's annoying that there should be such a disconnect between our history and our schools. While students should be encouraged to think about current events, they also need to understand our past. That includes our military heritage, especially on Remembrance Day.

So I'm proud to introduce Nick Corrie's new website, Canadian Veteran Biographies. Nick, a member of London's own First Hussars, has been writing biographies of 1H veterans for years, mainly for the use of their families and the First Hussars Museum. These bios of WWII vets tell the stories of the men's lives - where they were from, why they joined the Hussars, what they went through during the war, and the lives they lived afterward - if they made it home. The bios will be a great educational tool for future military historians. 

The biographies are revealing and deeply touching. Howard Spark Wright, for example, was a pilot in the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, flying more than 30 different aircraft across the Atlantic. Finally, he and his navigator disappeared while delivering a Canadian-made Mosquito bomber to Scotland. When his pregnant wife received the letter advising her of his death, she was so overwhelmed that her tiny daughter, Carol, had to tell her baby brothers that Daddy was never coming home.

Or Major James Stewart Duncan of the First Hussars, who, suffering from the horrors of the D-Day landing and its aftermath, asked to be relieved of his command. Despite resigning for the good of his regiment, the stigma of cowardice haunted him for the rest of his days.  

Or Manni Peterson, who wrote his own story, including his return to his parents' Manitoba farm in January 1946:  "Many times over the years in the army I used to long for my mother’s home-baked hot brown bread with fresh butter. Even before I got to the door, I could smell it. My father wondered why I had tears running down my cheeks when I should be happy to be home."

So far, the bios are only for the Second World War. Contributions are needed, especially for World War I. If you have stories to contribute, please send them to Nick. Because these stories are extraordinarily important, not only for us but for future generations. If we want a world that continues to respect freedom, sacrifice, history, and tradition, we must remember the world wars and the men who fought them.