Posts with the Queen Elizabeth tag

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

A few degrees of separation

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John Dougall wrote his mom about WWII from a merchant ship. His letters coincidentally made their way to me.

I wasn’t expecting to be surprised. This particular public-speaking event seemed straight forward. I’d arrived early and worked with the tech guy to get my presentation ready. I’d met with the bookseller to pre-inscribe some books. Then, I sat watching people file in. Then, a face registered, and her name tag – Jane Hutchison. She spotted me and came right over.

“Hi, Ted,” she said with a smile. “I’m John Dougall’s niece.”

“What are you doing here?” And I gave her a hug.

She said she was a longtime member of Canadian Club of Halton and heard that I’d been invited to speak about those who’d served at sea in the Battle of the Atlantic (the subject of my latest book). She said she didn’t want to miss this event, since the subject was near to her heart. (more…)

Barris Beat

Power via experience, not gender

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In 1983, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau faced Indigenous leaders on the issue of equality.

It was 1983. The Canadian Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which had become law the year before, faced an important test. A constitutional conference had assembled then prime minister Pierre Trudeau and Indigenous leaders to debate the incorporation of Indigenous rights. Trudeau seemed frustrated that one Indigenous spokeswoman was not satisfied.

“I wish you and your sisters would take it out of your head that somehow we’re deliberately trying to frustrate the concept of equality,” Trudeau said.

“At least in the law, everybody is assured here that we are not. In a sense, you’re equal when you think you’re equal. And if you think you’re unequal, the law won’t change much.”

The camera swish-panned to a young woman, whose mother was Inuk, and her father was non-Indigenous. (more…)

Barris Beat

A war hero who knew the limits of invincibility

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Pilot Officer Albert Wallace wearing his air gunner’s brevet.

A boy who’d become a man by joining the Royal Canadian Air Force and graduating as an air gunner (second highest marks in his class), marched to the harbourfront in Halifax on a fall day in 1942. Albert Wallace boarded the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth – transformed by the war into a troopship – and prepared for the transatlantic crossing to Britain to join the Allied air war effort over Europe. He figured the Queen E couldn’t be hit by U-boat torpedoes. She was a lucky ship.

“I know luck,” he wrote in his diary that day, Oct. 27, 1942. “I’ll never forget the close call I had trying to stop my CCM (bike) by jamming my foot against the front tire. I ended up flying ass-over-teakettle over the handlebars onto the streetcar tracks (in Toronto).” (more…)

Barris Beat

Leadership in our darkest hour

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Winston Churchill greets public with signature V-for-Victory signduring Second World War.

It’s come back to me often the past few weeks. It’s the last scene from the movie Darkest Hour. Winston Churchill, just a few weeks into his wartime administration in May 1940, watches across the English Channel as Belgium falls to the Nazis. Then, France falls. Desperately, he entreats thousands of private boat owners in England to retrieve retreating British Army troops – 300,000 of them – from the beaches of Dunkirk. And he contemplates Hitler’s invasion of Britain, delivering in the House of Commons one of many momentous wartime speeches:

“We shall fight on the beaches…” he proclaims. “We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be.” (more…)

Barris Beat

The turns of war

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Roger Parliament swears oath of allegiance at RCAF recruiting office, in front of his father, Garnott Parliament

When he turned 18, in 1941, Roger Parliament travelled to a recruiting office in downtown Toronto to join up for wartime service. He’d prepared all his enlistment papers and anticipated vision and hearing tests.

Then, LAC Parliament officially signed up.

But perhaps the most critical part of his decision to enlist in the armed services occurred when he came before the second-in-command at the recruiting office on Bay Street.

“I’ve decided to join the Air Force,” he told the pilot officer he faced.

Across the table from him was Pilot Officer Garnott Parliament, Roger’s father. (more…)

Barris Beat

Dam Buster – a hero grounded in humility

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Fred Sutherland’s RCAF portrait.

They called him “Doc.” But Fred Sutherland told me that he didn’t know anything about medicine. Somebody who came to see Fred off at the train station, when he left to join the Air Force in 1941, decided because Fred’s dad was a family doctor in that part of Alberta, that the son ought to be nicknamed “Doc.”

“He called me ‘Doc,’” Fred told me, with some embarrassment in 2017. “So, it stuck. All through the war they called me that.” (more…)

Barris Beat

Royal relevance

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With a line on the grass between them, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (Queen Mum) beyond meet airmen of the Dam Busters squadron at RAF Scampton in May 1943.

Everybody was new at this. Royalty meeting members of the public at such close range hadn’t really happened much before. The organizers of the meeting, however, went so far as to paint a white line on the grass – like marking side lines on a football field – to keep the planned inspection orderly. Two Royal family members walked on one side of the painted line, and members of the military being inspected stood on the other, including a Royal Air Force pilot named Dave Shannon.

“It’s Flight Lieutenant Shannon’s 21st birthday,” his commanding officer told the King and Queen as they paused before him.

“You seem to be a very well preserved 21,” King George VI told Shannon. “You must have a party tonight.”

The King could probably have spoken for the entire British Commonwealth that day, three-quarters of a century ago. (more…)

Barris Beat

A little taste of Canada in London

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Canada House on Trafalgar Square - June 2016.
Canada House on Trafalgar Square – June 2016.

It was one of the quickest checkpoint passages I think I’ve ever experienced. Not that the security officer wasn’t thorough. Not at all. First he asked us about the nature of our visit. We said we wanted to visit the Canada Gallery just beyond the checkpoint. Next, he asked to scan my backpack. No problem there. Then, I offered my passport.

“Canadians?” the security guard said.

I nodded and in we went. My wife and I had just gone through the security check at Canada House, in London, England. (more…)

Barris Beat

Styles of father and son

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TRUDEAUQ&A_SARAHETHANJACQUJUSTIN4_OCT92015_EThat morning, about three and a half weeks ago, this political candidate was on the firing line. Two CTV journalists had fashioned their feature interview with him based on some hard-hitting questions. Then, the TV journalists invited questions from those in the audience. Several of my journalism students, invited to the studio, got their chance to ask questions. And the politician answered them thoughtfully. Then, with the broadcast over, the politician headed for his tour bus to dash to his next event. As we were leaving the studio, my students passed by the candidate’s tour bus.

“Hold it there,” I said to my students, suggesting they pose in front of the logo on the bus. I raised my cell phone to snap the picture, when…

“Wait a second,” the young politician shouted from just outside camera range. “Let me join you,” and he jumped into the shot next to the student journalists and thanked them for being part of a political selfie. (more…)