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Topic: D Day Dodger Reunion. (Read 145 times)
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Mike Blais
SSM (NATO Bar), CPSM, UN-Cyp, CD
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A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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George Burrows, D Day Dodger, may find this of interest.
Forgotten heroes of WWII; D-Day Dodgers get set for final reunion
They call it the Forgotten War.
But in Orillia, Branch 34 of the Royal Canadian Legion has been keeping the memory of the Second World War's unheralded Italian Campaign burning brightly for 30 years.
While the Allies were launching the celebrated D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy in June of 1944, British, American and Canadian forces had been fighting the Nazis in Italy for almost a year.
These heroic troops who put their lives on the line from Sicily to Rome were dismissively called the D-Day Dodgers by Lady Astor, the first female member of the British parliament.
"Supposedly, they were lying around in Italy, enjoying the wine and women," said Scott.
Nothing could have been further from the truth, he said.
"My understanding is there were more casualties in Italy than in Northwestern Europe."
By taking it to the Germans in Italy, the so-called D-Day Dodgers prevented the Nazis from moving their forces from the Mediterranean to bolster defences in along the English Channel, says Jack Scott, an 83-year-old former president of the Orillia Legion.
"They kept 22 divisions off the Atlantic wall."
Despite the critical role of the bloody Italian Campaign in the ultimate defeat of the monstrous German war machine, the accomplishments and sacrifices there were overshadowed by the D-Day invasion, said Scott.
"Everything is D-Day, D-Day,
D-Day," he said.
In 1978, when Scott was president of the Orillia Legion, a group, including several veterans who had served in Italy, planned an annual event to honour those who fought in the Forgotten War.
They named it the D-Day Dodgers Reunion and sent out invitations across Canada and the U.S.
"We had veterans coming from one end of Canada to the other," said Scott.
Veterans also came from as far away as Great Britain and California. In its heyday, the D-Day Dodgers Reunion attracted more than 1,000 veterans and family members to Orillia.
The old soldiers met buddies they thought were long gone and exchanged stories from years gone by.
Always held on the Mother's Day weekend, the three-day reunion included a variety show on Friday night, a roll call of regiments, laying of wreaths at the cenotaph and parade back to the legion on Saturday afternoon, a Monte Carlo night that evening and farewell breakfast Sunday.
Cliff Vardy, a retired serviceman and member of the colour party, has attended the reunions for 21 years.
Still a child during the Second World War, Vardy, now 73, enjoyed meeting the older veterans every year at the reunion.
"You only see them once a year, but it's great to embrace them shake their hands and thank them for keeping our freedom," he said.
But as evident every year at Remembrance Day ceremonies, time is thinning the ranks the Second World War veterans.
In Orillia, there are still four veterans of the Italian campaign - Russel Hudson, Elmer Galbraith, Gus Falls and Charles Worral.
But with fewer than 40 people planning to attend this year, and only half of those well enough to march in the parade, Scott and other committee members have decided this will be the last year for the event.
"This is the final reunion," says legion member Peter Galigan, who is emcee for the event.
"It has to end somewhere."
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
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I have to agree , but trying to take anything away from D Day... if one reads the history of WW II... and ther is a lot of it... more now than at the time, it is easy to see the significance of the battles for Sicily and Italy, which also served to greatly divide the Nazi forces.. and the fighting in Italy , was among the toughest and deadliest of the entire war.. the name D Day Dodgers , as THEY know was made up by them selves, and unknowingly allowed the loss of the real importance of their own campaign.. being modest sometimes has its pitfalls.. now that historians and soldiers of the day have gotten the real history out there, all can see for themselves, just how those battles were highly significant to the out come of the Allied war victory...ranrad... have a great time guys... you earned it..
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RCAF,CAF, converted RCR?,1RCR 74-77 CD: SSM (Nato);CPSM,;UN-Cyp.; UN- Golan
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Mike Blais
SSM (NATO Bar), CPSM, UN-Cyp, CD
Ultimate 2000+ Member
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Gender:
Posts: 3087
A ROYAL CANADIAN "NEVER PASSES A FAULT"
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A bittersweet day for D-Day Dodgers; Final Orillia reunion recalls 'forgotten war'
Posted By Nathan Taylor
Posted -27 sec ago
The word "bittersweet" was being tossed around Saturday during the 30th and last D-Day Dodgers reunion in Orillia. "It's bitter because we've noticed, as the years go on, time catches up with us. It's sweet because you are here," Colin Wackett, acting president of the Royal Canadian Legion, branch 34, told paraders when they arrived at the legion.
The event began with a ceremony at the cenotaph, followed by a parade to the legion.
About 93,000 Canadian military personnel served - and 6,000 died - in "the forgotten war," as the Italian campaign would become known. Art Angus was one of the young men who made it home.
The 91-year-old Orillia man, who served with the 7th Canadian Anti-Tank Regiment in the Second World War, understood why this year's reunion was the last.
"We've had our day," he said. "There's so much going on in the world today, and there's other troops. There's not too many of us left."
Wackett said there were about 40 D-Day Dodgers in town on the weekend. In the event's early years, a thousand would show up, he said.
It was during a roll call for regiments at the legion "that we saw the numbers had dwindled," Wackett said.
"It's run its course."
The veterans who spoke at the legion said they "wished legions in other parts of the country had done the same thing" as Orillia.
"They were very grateful we'd done it for so many years," Wackett said.
The Mother's Day weekend will always be known at the Orillia legion as D-Day Dodgers weekend, he added, and their stories will continue to be told.
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Angus shared some of his experiences from being overseas from 1940 to 1945. Many are tales of sadness and low morale, like that of the "one or two Dear John letters" that would come with the mail from soldiers' spouses.
He also recalled a time when a soldier's wife died, and the father of two was killed by German troops before he was notified.
"I felt very fortunate coming back," Angus said.
Not all of his memories of war are sour, he said, explaining a powerful show of humanity that briefly saw German and Canadian forces take a time out to ensure the safety of an Italian woman and her young child.
Near Villa Grande, an area between Ortona and Monte Casino, Canadian and German troops were in the throes of battle when the young woman appeared like a "big, black ghost coming out of the smoke," Angus recalled.
With her child, the woman was on her way to her parents' place because "she knew her town was going to be shelled as we headed north," he said.
The Germans "held their fire back when they saw what was going on." "It made me feel good," Angus said. "I couldn't believe my eyes. How she came out alive, I don't know."
Another show of respect happened when Canadian soldiers shared their morphine, which they carried to alleviate the pain of war wounds, with their enemies, who had run out.
"Two days later, they came out with a white flag and an officer returning our morphine," he said.
Wally Smith was one of the veterans who showed up on the weekend for the final reunion. The Peterborough man, who last attended in 1988, also understood why it was the last event.
"It's fine to say, 'Let's go to the bitter end,' but that's not practical," he said, but added "there's no one more determined than a veteran."
Smith, now a legion service officer, was 17 when he joined his local Prince of Wales Rangers in early 1942. His first deployment was to British Columbia after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December '41.
In '43, he joined the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Sicily, Italy, where he eventually had the unfavourable job of stretcher bearer.
Smith was invited to attend the reunion by Suzanne Turk, a district nursing officer with Veterans Affairs Canada whose job includes completing nursing assessments for veterans of the Second World War and the Afghanistan mission.
"It's the best job," she said.
In their speeches, local dignitaries assured the remaining veterans the end of the annual reunion certainly didn't signify the end of their legacies.
"If this is the last D-Day Dodgers reunion in Orillia, you will never be forgotten by the citizens of Orillia," Mayor Ron Stevens said.
Simcoe North MP Bruce Stanton told the crowd "history will show that they dodged nothing," adding "the memory of their courage will live on."
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1RCR 1977-79 Depot (Italy PL), B Coy, Mortars, Pioneers, D Coy (CFB London)
3RCR 1979-82 M Coy, Pipes & Drums, Sigs, Mortars. (CFB Baden-Soellingen)
1RCR 1982-88 Mortars. Dukes, Cyprus-Welfare NCO 84-85, Injured, WO&Sgts Mess, (CFB London)
1988-92 Med-remuster to HELL/ 35 DU, CFB Baden
1992 Medical release. God Bless you all!
Pro Patria
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ranrad
Ron [Andy] Andrews
Ultimate 2000+ Member
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Gender:
Posts: 2019
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Thanks for this Mike.. and its real nice to see the last of the old boys having a great time together...and their reminiscences are something...people can be very human , even in the heat of deadly combat....may i send my best wishes to al D Day Dodgers, and my thanks for their service and sacrifice.. and survival of their real stories...ranrad
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RCAF,CAF, converted RCR?,1RCR 74-77 CD: SSM (Nato);CPSM,;UN-Cyp.; UN- Golan
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