HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1952-10-15, Page 9ED
ESD..Y, OCT. 15th, 1952.
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-THE LUCKNOW SENTINEL, LUCKNOW, •ONTARI4k
' PAG•E' NINE'
leiI..acIi.tyre's L.,ettei
Paris, Sepitember 1952;
Dear Campbell:
• It- is year since my departure!
from Luc now and the time for;
the .promised letter has now .ar-
rived.. In . the pat few ,months'
my tr.,avels have covered a''good
part of continental • Europe and.
of the. British Isles bust perhaps
your readers would,be interested
in this sunn ier's trip. For • the
,long ; summer .;vacatibh T made,
,plans to spend. two months 'study-.• ing in Paris and to attend a.. stud-.
encs' conference in northern Ger-
• many. This �arran�geinent provid-
ed an , excellent opportt}nity for
Mrsiting Dieppe while eriroute to
Pari arid: „for :visiting :some .of
the'. ;firsts ":•7war• battlefields while-
enroute' to and from Germany,
The following account is mostly
concerned' with' these areas but
it ` is not .meant • to be complete
because.even the Zig-zag .route 1•
took.. by motorcycle did not lake
mi
rrie to di.' places as Passchen-
dael and Ypres. Another .point is
that although my, French . is
quickly improving ', it wias. some-
times .difficult to. acquire correct
inforrr`ration • from rapidly -speak-
ing Frenchmen .Frenchmen and if: sorne of
your readers have more accurate
information .I. hope they ',will par-
don me for my unintentional . er
tors..
.After four hours .on the Eng
-
dish Channel .. an Englishman.,
pointed Ito the;coast-line ,and. said
`,`There ,is 'Dieppe town wn of
22,000 is situated in a large break
in the 'chalk cliffs' which are al-
most as •prorriinent ...aa .,they are
at Dover,::On. the Cliffs on. both
sides evidence of. German gun
emplacen4 ents appeared like huge
cliff -swallow '. nests.: These'' guns
had: fired on: 'the. Allied force of
15Can-
adians,
half of 'whom were .an-
adians, , which. had attacked on:
'August 19th, 1942 While attempt-
.ing_a recenn�arssance ori .a 15 -mile
front ..this' force remained for
about;' ten' .hours. on the 'French
coast, but irk,: so. doing lost over
half :of •its` �men,...some : of whom
• ,were 'killed, some, of Whoni Were
taken prisoner.
' A few minutes' . after . disem
barking: at Dieppe I walked on
• the beach with a`'Frenchman. who
had been there when the raid
took place. It was he Who : ex7
planned how the Commandos who
had landed .first had only suc-
ceeded, in destroying .one of . the
two huge pill=boxes guarding the
' town. The element .of surprise
had been. lost; *hen' a German.:
sea patrol ham spotted the convoy
in the Channel and the fact that
the .Germans ' knew the original
code and when it was iso be
changed. leadeveryone. to believe
• that a security leak had occurred
'in England. Besides'•. after 'D; Day
the Allies "'captured movie films
' of thee. whole .operation. and this
• seemed • to, ; pro'ee that the raid
was expeoted. The' attack itself
when in actual progress must
Bove been seriously hampered by
the' `geography of the beach and
by the lay -out' of the Own. n.: Near,
'the water is 'a steepeight or ten
foot slope composed of rocks the
size'of'baseballs which caused all
but a few of the tanks' tread to
spin, vainly' at the water's edge,
—The top `of-th-e hsps se:i°ated-
from bhe .town.by• a hundred yd.
strip of flat' ground. which pro
vided the Germans with an ideal
gunnery range; The scene of the
.fiercest fighting • on the first
street . is' now called` "La .Place.
Du Canada and farther along ,is
a Hotel' Du Ca.nadia. and a Can-
adian memorial :garden, . ' • . •• •
A friendly .gendarme on 'hear-
,
ng .i was Canadr,an 7 invited me
to his home for supper and there,
aided by his daughter who had
nursed the.Can,adian wounded in
the,hospital after the attack, her.
provided,a most !fascinating first
.hared :account of the raid At five.
.o'clock in :the morning they, heard.
the,boom .01:guns and the ,whine
of shells, and fearing :that the
own was, going to be destroyed,
as Boulogne arid Calais had .been,
they~ roti tothe shelters Later tr
.man "shad • rushed. in to say 'that
• the Canadians ..had landed and
Oat the Canadian . flag was ,fly -
Ing on th'e. town hal'1. Everyone
began to think that*for them• ,the
occu:pation';had ended. (butt at four'
,o'clock ,the same man returned • to
say that the troops. had all been
withdrawn, • Then on; emerging
i from the shelters they saw •the
smashed guns /and the dead and
wounded that were lying every-
where on the beach .andin the
streets. The dead are now bur.-
ied near DiepPe and the ;nurse
and myself 'went southward • far
four miles in order to see the
eemetery-rvhaeli is designated
Canadian but ,which includes
many British gravies. The French
•are..justifyably .proud of their
triable •to . the Allied dead and
the veterans and others would be
grateful: for the . attention this
beautiful 'plot of. ground receives'
fro�rn the War .Graves Commis:,
-sion and from the Frei h in the
country ,about Dieppe. It is . sit-
uded on one of the. • beautiful
French hillsides and just inside
the 7nar'ble gate posts .is a huge
marble 'block onwhich is inscrib-
ed "Their. nain;e liyeth fox ever..=
more In one corner is a stone
shelter in which can be fauna a
list of the dead . and •a book for,
visitors' signatures: The con't,in-
uity of thesuperbly tended lawns
is •ibroken' only, by .the ten.'double
rowsof white. marble 'headstones'
and by the roses: growing beside
these. On Most inscriptions. one.
Can read the soldier's name,:his
regiment land .number hit on•
others one only sees: "Ari'• Un-
known:: Soldier
n-
knawn :.,Soldier . of aCanadian
(Regiment" kand on still others
only the words "An, Unknow'rr.
Soldier; Known Unto God". ..
•
• While in. • the., ce netery my
'friend spoke of ,how.: the `French
come every year• to the memorial,
service and 'the • following .sen
tences miay hlep to .explain their
faithfulness. The nurse. pointed. to
the harvest ' workers in :the . field
and described• haw the Germans.:
had stood' in ;siirilar ;places with
eoeked-guns-wh=ile•-the-French de-
Pied them in order to carry .the
dead on their shoulders fraxn''the.
'beaches Ifotfr ;miles .away:. The
'Germans'. were furious, but`the
French, are fiercely •proud: that
they succeeded in laying out the
cemetery;. and . in keeping the;
identificationlists. in spite of .all.
German' interference. '
On. the•:r..eturn to Dieppe we
went ., down' the 'same • long ' hill
down which the 'Canadian 'tanks
hadadvanced in colurirn in 1944.`
At first. the -French ran inside
because, believingthe tanks to
be Gerrnan, they feared lest they
would t �,be killed by one of the
shells that the Germans had been
firing ,with cruel abandon ,at' any
thing in sight. .The Canadians,.
knowing that the enemy ..had
Withdrawn, advanced without
much 'Caution and 'my friend r.e_
called• •.how they had stood up,
in the open gun turrets and ook-
ed in .all' directions only to see
no one, It wasmy host, the . gen-.
darrne, who first recognized the
Canadian insignia and •then ran
into '.the streets shduting "The
Allies: • are here'. The ,nurse
laughed and• described how : they.
had distributed, the hidden wine.
I'• am. sure the 'words "We were
.so . glad to see therm and "They
were made most welcome" _ will
revive: old 'memories ',for the,
-Lit-CO-0;Y veterans.- I. heard soirre-
good stories .on the _ less 'serious
side, but .I would not' attempt to
de. justice 'to them •here,
• At tliis time my visitto .Dieppe
had come >to an end and 'early
next Morning I praceede.d to-
wards Paris. This. hundred. mile
journey" passes through some of
France's richest farmland : and;
ane sees a great .variety of i eth
ods ranging.from hand sickles, to
binders .pulled Eby •horse,§ . in tan-
dem, to large combines. Soon I
was on the outskirts. of Paris 'and
after gassing,, round'. the, "Arc IDe
Triomphe", 1` droi^edown the
Champs -Elysees; to..La Place. De,
La Concord and thence through.
,the heart0of the city tb,,Univer-
sity of the Sorbonne in the south, -
ern section. The city' which is.
the 'World's, most densely' pope-
•fated. per acre of ground is bea-
tiful beyond description but if 1
a.n1 to follow my original plan
to describe' the :battlr-.fields I must
make only the briefest of com-
rne;.ts on it, Paris has a very
powerfdl comrnUrrist element and
one soon notices the' "Ridway go
Home" signs • and the very pre
•valent communist papers,. It' is.
estimated that forty percent of
the French populace are cam-
munists and this Prompted a Ger-
man general to create a furor by
stating that the French army
now is even 'worse than it was
in 1940, . This cogn... ist :group.
helps explain' the bitter anti-Am-
erican feelings; but nonetheless
some Amerigan tourists in Europe
have left an • unsavory reputation.
behind mbeoause-of their-corduct,":.
'(Continued Next Week)
BROTHER • OF LOCAL
LADY PASSED AWAY
• On Thursday, • October 2, 1952,..
.Thomas Welsh::: passed away in
Kincardine General Hospital of,
ter a lengthy illness, which he
bore . with wonderful . patience.
He .was born . on December 2,
1882, in Huron Township, a son
of the late Matheson and Ghris-
tine 'Welsh and•.spent 'his :entire
life .on. the 4th: Concession where
WOLF ;UBS
Twenty-four 'Cubs turned out
he enjoyed farming andwas in-
terested in .the' affairs of the
community.,
He is survived by, hi wife, the
former Laura • .Humphrey, three
daughters and two •, sons,, 'Rita,'
Mrs. S. Irwin, Huron' township;:
14ar,I orae, Mrs. T. Wildfong,' Pres-
ton; Bernice; Mrs. G. Mayers, Of
Dayf , Ohio; Murray ofTpgnto:
and 'Tommy at home'; Four sisters
also survive:. 'Elizabeth of 'Luck=
now, Mrs: T. Elliott of Oshawa,
Mrs. G. Beatty of Varna, Mrs, R.
Rutherford of Ottawa. A ' sister
Agi • es,. •Mrs. W. Hackett,` and a
brother 1Vfurrar predeceased hirn.
• The funeral 'was held'from his
late residence don Saturday, ' Oct-
ober . 4th with, interment : in Rip-
ley cemetery.' The Rev. J. C. Hut-
ton eonductd the serviceand the
pallbearers were Delbert Wilson;'
Jim Scott, Roy. Geddes, Jack
Scott, .Leslie Wardell and Bert
Irwin. `
r last.we'ek's ';meeting •which
as; highlighted bythe Invest-
it a of • .Cubs: Murray Hunter,
Gary MacDonald, .Kenneth Mac-
Donald,. Tq'n:. Rathwell, Rae
Thomson and Tom W:asney: Apela
told the story of Mowgli, and
Baloo and Bag'heera conducted
games.. Preparations were madefor Apple. Day:.'
• Ail CCubs are reminded . to eon-
tinue work on their Leaf .Col -
kin to- be----handed--in--short y; "•-"'" --
ROOT 'BEER
: 4
eimfantr
machine gunners
The Canadian Infantry Soldier is .a vital
part of our expanding defence forces. In Korea
he has:. built a wonderful reputation for his
courage and• ability. Wherever he goes, the
'Canadian' Soldier has away of winning friends
of impressing both friend and foe with his. outstanding
training' and soldierly, qualities.
The Infantry Machine Gunners are an integral •
part of the Canadian infantry regiments With their
,heavy and accurate firepower, the Infantry Machine
Gunners' have time and again in Korea proved how
extremely important they are in attack and. defence.
Play your part in Canada's most important business today, defence..
_Yon are eligible if . yourares...17 to 40 yearsoLage,._(.tradesinen _ _- -.._.
• to 45), 'physically fit and' ready to serve anywhere. ' ::
•Apply to. the 'nearest Recrui g Depot:
N�13 Personnel Depot,
Wallis House, Rideau & Charlotte Sts., Ottawa, Ont. .
No. 5 Personnel :Depot, Artillery Park, Bagot Street, Kingston, Ont.
Canadian Army Recruiting• Station, 90 'Richmond St. 1J�/., Toronto, Ont.
No. 7 Personnel Depot,
.Wolseley Barracks,.Qxford &.Rliiabeth,Sts,,tondon, Ont.
Army Recruiting Centre, 230 Main Street West, NorthBay, Ont.
• .' Army Recruiting Centre;
•Jcinies St. Armoury, 200 James St. N., Hamilton, Ont,
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