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Barris Beat

In the face of cultural destruction

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Allied troops march past what remained of Ieper’s Cloth Hall after German bombardment during the Great War.

I’d got lost in the main square at Ypres, Belgium. I’d asked for directions from the man at a reception desk inside the town’s massive Cloth Hall. As I thanked him for getting me reoriented, I asked him about the story of Ypres’ recovery and restoration after the Great War in 1918.

“You know that the war levelled the city, yes?” I nodded, and he continued. “It was the forethought of the mayor and aldermen and others that saved our city after World War I.”

“I’d heard that,” I said.

“They gathered all the diagrams of buildings in Ieper (as Belgians call Ypres) and hid them in France,” he said.

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Barris Beat

Pilgrimages of loss and remembrance

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Robin John prepares notes to remember her uncle’s service in the Great War. Photo Tom John.

We are virtually alone down this back road in northern France. A breeze rustling new spring leaves and chirping birds overhead provide the only sounds here. Nevertheless, because the lawn and flowerbeds look so immaculate, we know gardeners have tended here recently. At a headstone engraved with a maple leaf, our group gathers to listen to fellow traveller Robin John.

“John Alexander Edward Hughes enlisted in the Canadian Forces on May 22, 1917, five days after his 18th birthday,” she said of her uncle.

Which meant that Hughes was just legally eligible to enlist. (more…)

Barris Beat

Do battlefield anniversaries still resonate?

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D-Day vet Simeon Mayou leads into a conversation of his wartime experiences.

It’s the way he cajoles strangers into friendly conversation. And at age 99, it seems to have worked pretty well for Simeon Mayou. He points out some of the commemorative pins and service medals he wears on his Royal Navy blazer. Then, he pulls his beret off the table and asks for help.

“Just hold the edge of the beret,” he says, “and help me put it on.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Wayne and Shuster legacy under fire

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Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster helping the war effort on CBC and in-person behind the lines in Normandy 1944.

It’s June 1944. Two men in Canadian Army battledress are hunkered down waiting for orders. One’s a soldier with sergeant’s stripes. The other’s a private in a greatcoat.

“Time to move out,” says the sergeant.

“I won’t do it,” retorts the private.

“You will, too. When an order is given, it must be obeyed!” And the sergeant points a gun at the enlisted man. “Do it or else.”

At precisely the same moment, there’s the sound of an artillery shell exploding nearby, and the two soldiers dive for cover. Sgt Johnny Wayne then turns to Pte Frank Shuster and says, “And we’re still in Canada! Imagine what it’ll be like when we get overseas!” (more…)

Barris Beat

None for hire

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The place looked almost as if it were closed. When I entered the reception area of a local auto-repair shop, I didn’t spot any service personnel right away. But when I called out, a receptionist quickly responded and I had my car problem attended to right away. Then, by coincidence, the shop owner mentioned out loud:

“It’d sure help if I found some new hires,” he said.

“Short of tradespeople?” I asked. And when he nodded, I added, “You know you could probably put an ad in this week’s edition of the Cosmos.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Tempest in a passport

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Abandoned target range where 116th Battalion recruits honed their marksmanship for war in 1915.

Last April, about the middle of the month, I took a detour from my regular travels. I turned down a dirt road south of town, got out of my car and wandered into the bush. There, just a few feet into the woods lies a bunker containing the rusted frames of century-old shooting targets.

It was here young men, three generations ago, prepared to become part of Canadian wartime history. And as I imagined those young recruits of the 116th (Ontario County) Battalion, practising on their Ross rifles, I think of the photograph – at our township museum and depicted in our downtown mural – of troops leaving for the Great War in 1916.

Volunteers depart Uxbridge for overseas in 1916.

“God bless our splendid men,” the sign over Brock and Toronto streets reads in the photo and the mural. “Send them safe home again.”

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Barris Beat

Committed to the sea

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Catherine Wilson, John Potter’s daughter, reads her father’s wartime biography aboard HMCS Sackville, as Rev. Andrew Cooke presides over the funeral at sea.

She clutched the folded papers in her hands for quite some time. When the officer on board HMCS Sackville called upon her, she knew it was her turn to speak. Then, though unaccustomed to public speaking, Catherine Wilson stepped forward in front of the warship’s company and other civilians assembled there, unfolded the speech, and began:

RCN telegraphist John Potter during WWII. Potter family photo.

“My father, John Wallace Potter – better known as Potts – was born on March 10, 1922, in Toronto,” she said. “It took him three attempts to enlist before the Royal Canadian Navy finally accepted him in May 1941.” (more…)

Barris Beat

So what, if it’s only the first round!

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Joe Bowen never holds back his emotions during Leafs play-by-play.

For me, Saturday night was one of those “Where were you?” moments. I’d spent the day travelling to and from Brantford and made it home just in time to plunk myself down in front of the TV for part of game six of the Leafs-Lightning first-round Stanley Cup playoff.

I caught the end of regulation time with the score tied 1-1. Finally (because I sometimes watch games on CBC and listen to them on radio simultaneously), I heard Joe Bowen’s call as John Tavares’s shot trickled past Tampa netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy at 4:35 of overtime:

“They scored! They scored! Holy Mackinaw, they scored!” he shouted. “The Leafs are going to the second round!” (more…)

Barris Beat

A town hall to remember The Storm

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A derecho has wind gusts of a tornado, but not an organized funnel like a tornado.

It came out of a conversation my daughter and I had a couple of months ago. Whitney explained that one of her children’s teachers had commented about a little-known after-effect of last year’s tornado. She said teachers at the public school from time to time have to calm down their young students when rain pelts the building’s roof or winds moan outside their classroom windows.

“Some of the kids react badly when stormy weather hits town,” she said. “And they wonder if we’re about to get hit by another tornado.”

I admit that many such winds and rainstorms over the eleven months since the derecho whipped through Uxbridge on May 21 last year, have given me pause. (more…)

Barris Beat

Broadcasting 101, Mr. Poilievre

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We had worked for a number of months researching a documentary to air on CBC television in Edmonton. Back in the early 1980s, several of us freelance broadcasters had crafted a story about what would happen in Alberta when the oil ran dry. One can imagine the volatility of such a subject given Alberta’s economic dependence on fossil fuel production, not to mention hostility in the oil patch over the National Energy Program at the time.

“Before the documentary goes to air,” a CBC producer told those of us writing the documentary, “the content has to be lawyered.”

“Lawyered? Isn’t the CBC arm’s-length from politics?” asked one of my colleagues.

“That’s exactly why it has to be vetted,” the producer said. “It’s got to be fair to both sides of the debate.” (more…)