The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Canadian heroes When we think of Canadian "heroes" we generally think in terms of Armed Forces members, past and present, who have excelled in bravery or sacrificed themselves for their country or fellow warriors. However, one could certainly also include frontline workers such as firefighters and police who put their lives on the line many times each year. The Flin Flon RCMP officer who in June risked his life in a burning building to save a resident is a fine example of a Canadian hero. But it is military heroes that are the stuff of movies, documentaries and books, and the subject of this article. All of us who had family involved in the great conflicts of the 20th century consider them to be Canadian heroes, fighting for king/queen, country, and freedom against tyranny and oppression. I consider my great uncles, Jack and Dick Secord, both killed in the Great War, to be in this category, and as well my father and his six brothers who served in all theatres of World War Two from 1939 to 1945 Ð even though none of them were injured. As well, the thousands of soldiers who stormed the beaches at Normandy on June 6, 1944, with so many not returning, are considered to be in the hero category. A question: Do you know which ex-premier of Manitoba was among the D-Day invaders? (Answer at the end of this article). Conservative health critic Steven Fletcher ran into a hornet's nest of criticism when he represented the government at a veteran's meeting in May. Steven spoke of his grandfather's treatment as a prisoner of war after the fall of Singapore in 1942, how he and his fellow soldiers were mistreated and used as slave labor Ð and worse. Steven used some obscenities when referring to the captors and was roundly criticized by Japanese-Canadians and even Liberals such as Ruby Dhalla for his choice of language. As neither Dhalla nor any of her family had ever defended Canada, she was an unfortunate choice as spokesperson for the Liberals. Several Japanese-Canadians attacked Fletcher and compared his words to the treatment of Japanese in Canada during the war when they were interned, losing their rights and property. Fletcher apologized for the slang words he had used, but said he was speaking in the context of the 1940s, and expressing the feelings of his family. One veteran, a Hong Kong prisoner of war who attended the meeting, supported Fletcher. The vet also noted that even though the Canadian government has apologized and paid compensation to the affected Japanese-Canadians, Japan has never apologized or paid compensation for the dreadful treatment of their prisoners. Students of military history can point out that to be taken prisoner in the Japanese mind was a disgrace, and their soldiers were instructed never to surrender, thus they could justify the ill-treatment of those they captured. Fletcher spoke of the "context of the times." And he is right. Young children and early elementary students were taught by schools and government in those years about the evilness and inferiority of the Japanese. This writer's father was with the American-Canadian-British commandos in the spring of 1943 that liberated the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska that had been occupied by the Japanese. He told us that when the Japanese withdrew, they mined everything. Several commandos lost lives and limbs by trying on boots and other clothes left behind, their purpose to kill or maim. It is hard to be politically correct when one is personally affected, either as a prisoner of war or as a soldier. One Canadian recently touted as an Armed Forces hero is Lt. Gen. Romeo Dalaire, who was U.N. forces commander in 1993-94 Rwanda, the scene of the murder of close to a million Rwandans in 100 days. Dalaire's small peacekeeping force was abandoned by the major powers and was unable to stop the slaughter. He returned home mentally broken and suicidal, slipping into alcoholism. Lt. Gen. Dalaire's best-selling book Shake Hands With The Devil won several Canadian honours and plaudits from Canadian writers, some of whom dubbed him a hero. Belgium did not agree, as Dalaire refused to send his meager force to prevent the slaughter of 10 Belgian soldiers under his command. They considered him a "war criminal." Dalaire's book related the Rwandan horror and defends his decisions. Paul Martin appointed him a Canadian senator, and Dalaire spoke out about the Sudan massacres in the context of his experience in Rwanda. Was Romeo Dalaire a hero? There is no doubt that Andrew Mynarski, V.C., is a true Canadian hero. A north-end Winnipeg boy, the son of Polish immigrants, Mynarski was a gunner on a Lancaster bomber who lost his life shortly after D-Day. Ordered to bail out, Mynarski desperately tried to save his tail-gunner friend who amazingly survived the crash. Andrew, only 27, died of his wounds but was awarded the Victoria Cross for his attempts to save his friend. He was the first member of the RCAF to receive the Victoria Cross, and has had a north-end junior high school, a park, a street and other things named in his honour. Big Liberal Tom Axworthy (a former Trudeau staffer), the executive director of the Historical Foundation of Canada and a graduate of Andrew Mynarski V.C. Junior High School, is attempting to organize the purchase of a statue of Andrew on the school grounds. Recently, at his old aerodrome in England, an eight-foot bronze statue of the Canadian hero was erected, paid for by fundraising in England and Canada. The cost was a mere $98,000. The cost of a similar statue in Winnipeg (I would suggest it be erected at the Legislative building) will be even less, and well within the capabilities of the federal or provincial governments, or of a fundraising drive. Let's hope that Axworthy and his committee will be successful. As Axworthy said recently: "The great generation of Andrew Mynarski and all the other veterans won the war, crafted the peace, and built the prosperous societies that we enjoy today. It was a sharing and sacrificing generation. No one represents those values better than Andrew Mynarski." By the way, the ex-Manitoba Premier who stormed the beaches at Normandy was none other than officer Duff Roblin, who returned home safely and was elected in one of the Manitoba provincial seats then reserved for war veterans. Roblin later became premier of the province, very much a progressive Tory with many accomplishments to his credit. He is perhaps best known for the Winnipeg Floodway or "Duff's Ditch."
