Index:

Early Beginnings
Those Who Served
War and Immigration
Aboriginal Contributions
The Sarnia Home Front
Women’s Contributions
The Contributions of the Canadian Red Cross and Other Organizations
Animals in War

Early Beginnings

 

  • In the years prior to Canada’s Confederation (1867), the defense of the colony of Upper Canada was primarily the responsibility of local voluntary militia, formed to repel any potential threat, either actual (Fenian Raids) or potential (from the United States). One of the earliest records of any military organization in Lambton is from the mid-1800s. Colonel Faithorne had left behind a roll in his Lake Shore residence. It was a service roll of the militia of Sarnia Township of 1855. In that year, Canada had passed a Militia Act in an effort to create military units made up of volunteer, part-time soldiers. It was in response to the threat of the Fenian Brotherhood. In 1855, a Sarnia Township unit, the 27th St. Clair Borderers, was loosely formed and, like most militia units outside the larger cities, they were unarmed and undrilled, seldom if ever assembling for training. The officers were recruited mainly from retired British Army soldiers. Civilians given commissions qualified for rank by undergoing examinations at the Imperial Army station in London, Ontario, where a large garrison was maintained up to the time of Confederation. The 27th St. Clair Borderer members mustered at some convenient centrande once a year, signed the service roll and received a King’s shilling each to celebrate the event and the end of the year’s campaign.

 

  • The Fenian Brotherhood, largely composed of Irish-American veterans, sought to achieve Ireland’s independence from Britain by capturing Canada as a hostage. Between 1866 and 1871, the Fenians raided parts of Canadian territory from New Brunswick to Manitoba. At the start of the threat, potential invading points included Fort Gratiot or Port Huron. In 1866 and 1867, troops from all over eastern Canada, numbering up to 4,000, were quartered in Sarnia at various times. With troops such as the York Rifles, Caledonia Rifles, Brantford Rifles and others from Ottawa, Owen Sound and other Ontario communities, Sarnia took on the appearance of a military camp. Troops were brought to Point Edward by train and marched to their quarters in the Alexander House or Hall’s Hotel. No Fenian attack ever occurred in this area though a close watch was kept along the St. Clair River. The majority of Fenian raids in Canada ended in failure, and the movement collapsed after 1871.

 

  • It was in September of 1866 that the first Lambton Regiment in Sarnia was organized, the 27th Lambton Battalion of Infantry, commanded by Lt.-Col. Davis, a former county judge. It was composed of companies from Sarnia, Petrolia, Forest, Widder, Warwick, Watford and Wallaceburg. A company of Garrison Artillery was also formed at Sarnia (around 1885, it would be absorbed into the 27th Battalion). The company was well equipped with everything but artillery. Occasionally they were taken for a trip on the old gunboat Prince Alfred for gunnery practice. The ship was armed with two Armstrong cannons (manufactured in Newcastle, England) and four brass howitzer cannons. In the early 1870’s, the Prince Alfred participated in drill training of volunteers for “landsmen to work the heavy guns.”

 

  • Sarnia’s Veterans Park was originally known as Wellington Square in 1888 and three years later the park was renamed Victoria Park. One of the features in the park back then was an old cannon, a British “68-pounder”, nicknamed “Big Tom”. The cannon in the park was built in England during the Crimean War (1853-1856). Whether the cannon was actually used against the Russians in that war is unknown. The cannon came over from England to Canada to help refit a colonial gunboat and ended up on a boat constructed in Sarnia in 1859. “Built as the tug Michigan”, the gunboat went into duty patrolling the Great Lakes. The ship went aground in Lake Huron somewhere near Point Edward in 1874, and one of its cannons was stored in the Military Reserve base in Point Edward until 1879. In that year, the cannon was purchased and taken to Sarnia where it was placed in front of the old Carnegie library in the west end of Victoria Park. In the 1940s, the federal government suggested that the “Big Tom” cannon should be smelted down for the war effort. Local residents fought back, saying the cannon didn’t belong to Ottawa because it had been in Port Edward prior to Confederation. Sometime between 1959 and 1961, when a new Sarnia public library was being built, the cannon “Big Tom” was moved again, this time to the north end of Canatara Park in Sarnia where it rests today.N, q

 

  • The Lambton battalion was first armed with muzzle-loading Enfields (aka. Brown Bess). They were later replaced by the breech-loading Snyder-Enfields. Following the Boer War, the Lee-Enfield, a magazine rifle, was adopted. In the early days, the regiment wore uniforms of heavy wool which featured buttons and badges of white metal. The greatcoat was of grey frieze and had a cape while the tunic was scarlet with blue woolen serge. The trousers had red stripes down the side, and in the early 1880s, blue cloth helmets with white metal spikes were issued.

 

  • In March of 1872, the Lambton Regiment would be redesignated as the 27th Lambton Battalion of Infantry St. Clair Borderers. In May of 1900, it became the 27th Lambton Regiment, St. Clair Borderers. During the Boer War (1899-1902), Sarnia and Lambton County had men volunteer to serve in this war, but was never really called upon to send men away in large numbers. With the outbreak of World War I, that all changed.

 

Those Who Served

 

  • The Canadian military has historically comprised mostly volunteers. In the two World Wars, these individuals came from larger centers like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver; however, the majority came from small towns that still represented a larger part of Canada’s population. They came from mining towns, fishing villages, forestry towns, farming communities and semi-industrialized towns like Sarnia. It is estimated that more than 1100 Sarnia men and women answered the call in First World War, and approximately 3000 Sarnia men and women served in the Second World War.N

 

  • For young men in their late teens or early twenties, enlistment for overseas service was likely the first momentous decision of their lives. The men and women who went overseas were prepared to, at minimum, accept long, indefinite absences from their homes and families, and to interrupt the course of their own lives for a cause which they, in differing degrees and for varying reasons, saw as right.

 

  • Canada’s military and those who served from Sarnia comprised people of every class, with a wide variety of educational backgrounds, professions and ages. Sarnia’s youngest fallen soldier was 15; its oldest fallen soldier, 54. The young and old joined the military; they were farmers, teachers, railway employees, Imperial oil workers, students, lawyers, store clerks, doctors, firemen, bankers, cooks, journalists, sailors, mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, salesmen, butchers, pipefitters, truck drivers, machinists, bakers, grocers, miners, machine operators, barbers, painters, architects, bricklayers and labourers to name a few. The majority of the Canadian soldiers had one thing in common: they were ordinary citizens, not professionally trained soldiers, like the members of some other countries’ military.

 

  • Several religious affiliations and ethnic origins were also represented in Canada’s military: among others, English, French, First Nations, Jewish, Italian, Portugese, Dutch, Polish, Danish, Irish, Scottish, Ukranian and Greek. Many soldiers had direct or close ties to Europe, being only first or second generation Canadians. All came together, in their united fight to defeat tyranny.

 

  • For the men and women who went to war, they fought beside their friends and sometimes their family members, people with whom they had joined, trained, and lived for a length of time within their regiments. They developed a bond and loyalty to one another, an understanding that nobody was going to let the other guy down in battle.

 

  • During wartime, in Sarnia and across the country, multiple members of a family would often join the military. Families contributed two members, three members, four members, and in one case, eight boys in one Canadian family joined the Canadian Forces. Mr. Manning and four of his sons from Point Edward, for example, served in the Great War; therefore, it was not uncommon for families to lose more than one son and it was no different locally. The Sarnia Cenotaph includes eleven sets of brothers who lost their lives in war. Inscribed also are the names of two fathers and sons who lost their lives in war.

 

  • The names covered in the content of this project are a record of the men from Sarnia-Lambton who made the supreme sacrifice in war, a permanent record long overdue. Every name represents a young man, a son, a grandson, a brother, a father, an uncle, a neighbor, a best friend – each one sacrificed his life for us. Reading the stories and looking at the photographs of the faces of these soldiers, one cannot but be inspired and humbled by their youth and innocence, their self-sacrifice, their sparkling eyes and bright smiles looking back at the camera. So many were very young; they had their whole lives ahead of them. Future careers, wives, children and grandchildren were never to come to fruition.

 

War and Immigration

 

  • War had a major impact on immigration and played a significant role in the shaping of our country and our city. Prior to World War I, especially between 1906-1913, a huge wave of immigrants, mostly from continental Europe, came to Canada. Many of these pre-World War I immigrants, such as Ukranain and Polish immigrants, settled in western Canada and developed a thriving agricultural sector. During World War I, under the auspices of national security, the government imposed greater restrictions on immigration and limited the number of immigrants allowed into Canada; in fact, the War Measures Act of 1914 gave the Canadian government the power to arrest, to deport or even to intern “enemy aliens” already living Canada. The tighter immigration policies continued after the war; the entry of nationalities who had fought against Canada and Britain in the War was prohibited. It was not until 1923 that Canada began to open its doors again to immigrants. In 1928, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Pier 21 officially opened, becoming the site where over 1.5 million new immigrants would enter the country to begin their Canadian dream.

 

  • During World War II, immigration into the country was again limited; however, after World War II, this all changed. In post-World War II, the Canadian economy experienced unprecedented growth, thus creating a huge demand for exporting raw materials, food and manufactured goods to war-ravaged Europe. The days of rationing, forced savings and limited consumption were over, so consumer spending on appliances, homes, automobiles, leisure and travel exploded. Canada was faced with a shortage of workers, especially in core sectors such as agriculture, mining, forestry, rail, construction and industry. So post-war Canada gradually opened its immigration doors, though selectively in 1947, allowing entry from northern and western Europe initially-for example, Britain, France, Ireland, Norway and Finland—followed by countries such as Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal from eastern and southern Europe. One of the main groups to be accepted were the Dutch who, having lost so much farmland during the later stages of the war, were faced with overcrowding and food shortages. Canada opened its doors to another group known as “Displaced Persons”. These were people who after the war found themselves in foreign countries with no way or desire to return to their homeland, or people with nowhere to return.  This group included, for example, Ukranian, Jewish, German, Slavanians and citizens of the Baltic States.3D One of the first “displaced persons” immigrant groups to be accepted to Canada were 4000 former Polish soldiers who had fought with the English and Canadian troops on the western front.

 

  • Certainly one of the ethnic groups greatly affecting Sarnia was the Polish community; in fact, in post-WW II, Sarnia had one of the largest Polish communities in Canada. Polish soldiers had been part of many battles during the war, including the Warsaw Uprising, the Normandy Campaign and the Battle of Monte Cassino. Immigrating to Canada after the war, local Polish community members worked to build the city and to raise their families here. Members of the Polish community erected the “Polish Combatants Memorial” in 1999 in Our Lady of Mercy cemetery. Inscribed on it are the words; In memory of the Polish men and women who died fighting for the freedom of Poland – World War I, Polish-Bolshevik War, World War II – Lest We Forget.

 

Aboriginal Contributions

 

  • Aboriginal Canadians have demonstrated great service and sacrifice to Canada’s military during times of conflict. In World War I, more than 4,000 members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force were First Nations volunteers, representing nearly one-third of all Aboriginal-Canadian men eligible to serve. This was an astonishing number given the limited civil rights First Nations were accorded. Two of the more famous First Nations soldiers to serve in WWI were Tom Longboat, an Onondaga from Six Nations Grand River, and Francis Pegahmagabow, an Ojibwa from the Parry Island Band. Tom Longboat was a legendary long-distance runner who won the 1907 Boston Marathon and competed for Canada at the 1908 Olympics. He became a dispatch carrier with the 107th Pioneer Battalion during the war, delivering messages between units on the front lines. He was wounded twice during the war – once so badly he was officially declared dead – but survived and returned to Canada. Francis Pegahmagabow was one of the original members of the 1st Canadian Infantry Battalion. He was an outstanding sniper and a superior scout, becoming the most highly decorated Canadian Native soldier to serve in the Great War. He was awarded the Military Medal plus two bars for bravery in Belgium and France. He fought at the battles of Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele and was lauded for his “disregard for danger and faithfulness to duty.” Records for kills weren’t kept, but some estimates said he had as many as 378, plus another 300 captures. He would serve for the entire war and return to Canada. During this time, status First Nations did not have full rights of Canadian citizenship. Rather, they were wards of the state. As wards, they did not have the right to vote; they couldn’t own land; and residential schools were taking away their culture. Their reasons for joining were not unlike others: the call to adventure; the attraction of regular pay; the desire to follow friends and family; and an opportunity to show patriotism and to elevate their status within their communities.D, 3R

 

  • During World War II, more than 3,000 First Nations from every region in Canada, including 72 women enlisted in the armed forces. Not only did these soldiers face racial prejudice and cultural challenges, but also a military hierarchy that worked almost exclusively in English, a language that many of the recruits did not speak. Despite these obstacles, First Nations soldiers left a remarkable record of wartime accomplishment, serving in all branches of the service and in every rank and fighting in every major battle and campaign. Several were commissioned as officers, and many served as battle-hardened platoon leaders and combat instructors. At least 70 were decorated for their bravery performing daring and heroic acts on the battlefield in the two World Wars. Many acquired near-legendary status as “code-talkers”, reconnaissance scouts and snipers, drawing on pre-war hunting skills and wilderness experience. One of the most famous First Nations soldiers to serve in WWII was Tommy Prince, a descendant of Peguis, from the Brokenhead Band of Ojibwa in Scanterbury, Manitoba. He began with the Royal Canadian Engineers, became a sergeant with the Canadian Parachute Battalion and later became a member of the 1st Canadian Special Service Force. It trained with an American unit, forming a specialized assault team, the 1st Special Service Force, known to the German soldiers as the Devil’s Brigade. Tommy Prince’s exploits during the war earned him the Military Medal for courage and inspiration and the Silver Star with ribbon for gallantry in action. He was decorated with both awards by King George VI, one of only three Canadians to win both medals in World War II. He would become Canada’s most decorated Aboriginal war veteran, having been awarded eleven medals in the Second World War and the Korean War. One Aboriginal Veterans group estimates that 12,000 Natives, including Inuit and Metis, participated in the First and Second World Wars and the KoreanWar. It is estimated that approximately 300 lost their lives in World War I and 200 lost their lives in World War II.D, 2N, 3G, 3Q Men from Sarnia Aamjiwnaang First Nations, nearby Kettle Point and Stony Point, and Walpole Island served in both World Wars, Korea and as Canadian Peacekeepers. Some would make the supreme sacrifice.

 

  • In mid-June of 1945, one month after VE Day, an Honour Roll was unveiled with appropriate ceremonies on Walpole Island. The names of sixty-eight men and women of Walpole Island who served in World War II appeared on the honour roll. The roll was formally unveiled following a special service in St. John’s Anglican Church, conducted by Rev. A. Marshall, formerly of Wyoming, with assistance from former Chief Harrison B. Williams. Rev. Marshall, who previously served as a missionary among Cree First Nations in the northwest and James Bay area, said the large number of First Nations, whose names appeared on the honour roll, indicated the loyalty and love they had for their country. Following the church ceremony, a parade, headed by a colour party from the Canadian Legion and First Nations ex-soldiers, led the congregation to the Walpole cenotaph. After brief addresses by ex-Mayor Alan P. Brander of Wallaceburg and Chief Charles R. Jacobs of the First Nations council, two First Nations soldiers who had fought in World War II unveiled the honour roll. Included in the list of sixty-eight names on the Honour Roll were four who made the supreme scacrifice: Pte. Edwin Wright, Pte. Willard Shipman, Pte. Roslyn Sands and Pte. Charles Altiman.

 

  • In Sarnia, the Aamjiwnaang First Nations cenotaph comprises three vertical stone columns resting on a stone base. The central column is inscribed, “To our glorious veterans who have served our nation and its allies for peace and freedom – Lest We Forget.” Along the base of the cenotaph is inscribed: “Pontiac’s War; War of 1812; Korea; Vietnam; and Peacekeeping”. One side column is inscribed, “World War I – In memory of the young men from this nation who served King and country throughout the world 1914-1919 – Fred Doxstater”. The other side column is inscribed, “World War II – In memory of the young men and women who loyally served throughout the world 1939-1945 – Harley Williams”. Both Fred Doxstater and Harley Williams are included in this project.

 

  • St. Clair United Church is located on the Sarnia Aamjiwnaang First Nations Reserve. Three honour rolls located within the church pay tribute to local First Nations who served during the two World Wars. One honours those who served in World War I and the other two (one of which was completed before the end of the war) honour those who served in World War II. All three Honour Rolls are in this project.

 

  • In early February of 1944, an honour roll in the St. Clair United Church on the Sarnia First Nations Reserve was unveiled. It paid tribute to the Sarnia First Nations men and women who were serving in World War II. Since the roll was completed before the end of the war, the dates for the beginning and end of the war read “1939 to 194_”. It was unveiled under two flags for First Nations people serving in the Canadian and United States militaries. Edwin Maness, the oldest veteran of World War I on the Reserve, unveiled and read the roll. Twenty-five names are inscribed on the honour roll.

 

 

The Sarnia Home Front

 

  • In both World War I and World War II, many of the loved ones back home in Sarnia – parents and wives, received only a short telegram at their homes from Ottawa (Ministry of National Defence – Director of Records) informing them that their son or husband was “listed as missing in action”, and that more information would follow later. Often it wasn’t until many weeks or even months later that they received another simple telegram that contained very little information other than, “We regret to inform you that your son has been officially declared killed in action”. Usually, very few or no other details were included. Families were left to wonder where and how their sons died.

 

  • A local example is the Adair family. Originally from London, Ontario, Mr. and Mrs. Frank and Dorothy Adair would move to Windsor before residing in the early part of 1945 at 302 Confederation Street, Sarnia. Frank Adair was a C.N.R. employee here in the city. In early January of 1945, Frank and Dorothy would receive official notification from national defence headquarters at Ottawa informing them that their son had been killed in action. The telegram informed them that Private Kenneth Adair, aged 21, had been killed in action in Italy during December of 1944. This was Mr. and Mrs. Frank Adair’s third son killed in World War II. They had previously lost Corporal Robert James Adair–killed in action in Italy in May of 1944–and Sergeant Charles Franklin Adair of the R.C.A.F.–killed by enemy gunfire in September of 1944 as he parachuted from a bombing plane over enemy territory in France. Their fourth son, Private Fred W. Adair who was serving in Italy, was returned to Canada (Windsor) on compassionate leave. Father Frank Adair expressed to the local Sarnia Observer reporter, that he hoped that his son Fred would not have to return to the fighting front. Sarnia city council sent a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Adair on Confederation Street, expressing their sympathy in the death overseas of three of their four sons, and also expressing good wishes for their only remaining son.N

 

  • For many of the men who fell, their time overseas was short. In many cases, they were killed within a year of arriving overseas.

 

  • Back in Sarnia, many parents, wives and families eventually realized their loved one was likely killed in a violent, untimely manner in a faraway land. Their sons’ bodies were often buried in graves on the other side of the world, or their names were inscribed on some makeshift memorial. Many families never had the chance to visit the final resting places of their sons. They were not given the opportunity to say good-bye to their loved ones or to give them a proper funeral.

 

  • Sarnia’s fallen sons and fathers are buried thousands of miles from their homes in countries throughout the world, such as, South Africa, France, Belgium, England, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, China, Sicily, Algeria, Sir Lanka, India, Egypt, Iceland, Azores, and Korea. Others have no known graves, their bodies having never been recovered. Their names, however, are inscribed on war memorials throughout the world: Vimy and Arras in France; Menin Gate in Belgium; Sai Wan in Hong Kong; Runnymede in the United Kingdom; Malta in Floriana; Alamein in Egypt; Singapore in Malaya; Busan Commonwealth in South Korea; and the Halifax and Ottawa Memorials in Canada. Approximately 90 of Sarnia’s 306 fallen soldiers covered in this project have no known grave. For these soldiers and their families, the fortunes of war denied them a known and honoured grave.

 

  • For many veterans who returned to Sarnia, their lives were never the same. They suffered either physical wounds and/or mental trauma. A number of them died not long after returning home. Though not listed as official “fallen” soldiers, their deaths were without a doubt the result of the effects of war, and their families felt the same loss.

 

  • Upon returning home from war, many veterans simply wished to forget their experiences. Others saw no point in reliving the horrors that they had witnessed. Others learned that the civilian population had no understanding of, or little interest in, the hardships they had endured. Suppressing memories of the traumatic realities they experienced, and suffering in silence, was their way of coping. Thus, the fallen soldiers, as well as many of the veterans, literally took their stories to the grave.

 

Women’s Contributions

 

  • On the home front during both World Wars, Sarnia families like all Canadian families had to make sacrifices in doing what was necessary to help win the war. With their sons and husbands overseas, women did their fair share and much more on the home front. Many Sarnia women worked tirelessly in the home, combining that with war-related volunteer work with women’s organizations. The Canadian government carefully managed the flow of information to the press and families, and they imposed strict wage and price controls. During World War I, families were urged to cut back on beef, bacon and wheat flour and to focus instead on fish, potatoes, oatmeal and cornmeal. Families were encouraged to adopt “Meatless Fridays” and newspapers published daily War Menus which set out meal plans and recipes that were heavy on vegetables and whole grains. In both wars, Sarnia residents experienced shortages of many kinds of foods and commodities including meat, sugar, coffee, tea, potatoes, fruit, gasoline, rubber, textiles and even beer. These items were either rationed or available in limited quantity. Families dealt with food shortages in numerous ways, such as growing “Victory Gardens” in their yards, inventing new recipes with fewer ingredients and eating fish instead of beef or pork at least once a week. Like Canadians across the country, Sarnians donated blood and participated in salvage campaigns; made “ditty bags” for the soldiers overseas; knitted socks, sweaters and scarves for the soldiers; and collected everything from scrap metal, used shaving cream cans, toothpaste tubes, and tinfoil to excess fat from cooking, rags and newsprint. In addition to working in the local industries, in agriculture planting and in harvesting crops or in caring for livestock, millions of Canadians, including thousands of Sarnia citizens, contributed to the war effort by volunteering for various organizations. Volunteers invested countless hours and dollars in the Sarnia Red Cross, YMCA, Salvation Army, Canadian Legion, Knights of Columbus, YWCA, Sarnia Kinsmen Club, the I.O.D.E. (Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire), Rotary Club, Kiwanis Club, and several church groups. Local children raised money at their schools by, for instance, making and selling crafts and running lemonade stands to aid the effort. Sarnians contributed and invested in war saving certificates and Victory Bonds. Throughout the two World Wars, Sarnia citizens read almost daily the official casualty reports listed in the Sarnia Canadian Observer and worried about the fate of their friends and loved ones overseas.

 

  • Two examples reflect the unceasing effort by local citizens. In September of 1941, Mrs. Alex Forbes, 76, of 127 Crawford Street, had in two years knitted 189 pairs of men’s socks for the soldiers, and numerous other pairs of socks, sweaters and mittens for refugees. Mrs. Forbes donated all of her knitted articles to the Salvation Army. In December of 1941, Mrs. L.W. Sandercock, 77, of Lakeshore Road, knitting an average of eight hours a day for six days a week, completed her 103rd pair of wool army socks in a little more than a year. Mrs. Sandercock donated all her knitted socks to the Red Cross.

 

  • Canadian women, including women from Sarnia, have played an important role in the country’s military efforts over the years. In the Boer War, twelve Canadian nurses volunteered and served in South Africa, helping the sick and wounded. They were called “Nursing Sisters” because they were originally drawn from the ranks of religious orders. It marked the first time Canadian women served with the military overseas. During World War I, approximately 3 100 Canadian women volunteered their services in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps, with 2 500 serving overseas in military hospitals and casualty clearing stations. Canadian military nurses, whose average age was 24 and whose marital status was mostly single, were trained nurses before the war. These nursing sisters were often situated close to the front lines of Europe and within range of enemy attack. Nicknamed the “bluebirds” because of their blue dresses and white veils, they were exposed to the same horrors as soldiers–hospital ship attacks, air raids, shell fire, primitive working conditions, gas attacks, exposure to disease, rats and fleas and climatic extremes. They were greatly respected because of their compassion and courage. Approximately 45 of these brave women died during the Great War. Canadian women were not permitted to serve in other military roles during the First World War. D, 2I and 2N

 

The following are portions of three letters, each one written by a wounded Sarnia boy during World War I:

 

– I got mine at the Somme. Am now back in a field hospital just back of the line. This place is wonderfully complete. One could not have better care in the most perfectly equipped hospital in Canada. The nurses are simply magnificent, always bright, and cheery and tender and watchful. I simply lie here and watch them move from cot to cot and ask myself how can they do it, day by day, week in week out, deprived as they must be of money, conveniences and comforts they were accustomed to back home. Don’t worry, I’ll be all right.

 

–  Yes, I got a pretty dirty hit, it sure was a close one, but you see I am all O.K. now….It was worth while just to get back to Blighty and to be in this beautiful ward in this splendid Canadian hospital….Our day nurse is just coming in. She is a Toronto girl, a real girl, you bet. What would we fellows do if these Red Cross Sisters had not crossed the pond to take care of us. They have saved tens of thousands of lives and have made Blighty a place to be longed for by tens of thousands of men… I am going to be all right, thanks to the doctors and nurses of this Red Cross hospital.


I am in a hospital in London lying between clean white sheets and feeling for the first time in months clean all over. Up and down the ward with swift precision, the nurses move softly. Two faces loom out in memory. One is the surgeon’s. I think of him as a Christ in khaki. The other face is of a girl. She has an ivory white complexion and spends all her days tending to any soldier with loving service. Her eyes are weary, only her lips hold a touch of colour. They have a childish trick of trembling when anyone’s wound is hurting too much. I wonder what she did before she went to war, for she’s went to war as much as any one of us.

 

  • During World War II, Canadian women continued to serve the crucial role of “Angels of Mercy” as they did in World War I, saving lives by assisting with medical operations and caring for convalescing soldiers. Approximately 4 500 women served as nursing sisters in all three branches of Canada’s military, with more than two-thirds of them serving overseas. These nursing sisters wore a military uniform with a traditional white veil. They were commissioned officers and were respectfully addressed as “Sister” or “Ma’am.” In fact, Canada’s military nurses were the first in any Allied country to have officer status.D

 

  • During World War II, Canadian women would also serve in other military roles, with some 50,000 eventually enlisted in the air force, army and navy. Young women from Sarnia served in all three of the following;

 

– Royal Canadian Air Force – Women’s Division (RCAF-WD): Was created July 2, 1941 and grew to approximately 17,000 members by war’s end. Initially trained for clerical, administrative and support roles, but as the war continued, women would also work in other positions like parachute riggers, laboratory assistants, intelligence officers, wireless operators and in the electrical and mechanical trades. Many members were sent to Great Britain to serve with Canadian squadrons and headquarters there.

 

– Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC): Was established August 13, 1941 and grew to approximately 21,000 members by war’s end. Initially, members’ duties were traditional and they worked as cooks, cleaners, tailors and medical assistants. These duties would expand to include driving trucks and ambulances, and working as mechanics and radar operators. While most CWACs served in Canada, three companies of female soldiers were posted overseas in 1943.

 

– Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Services (WRCNS): Also known as “Wrens” after the nickname of their British Royal Navy counterparts. Was established July 31, 1942 and grew to approximately 7,000 by war’s end. Initially performed clerical and administrative tasks, would expand on these roles to do things like being on-shore radar operators and coding technicians.D, 2I, and 2N

 

  • Since the onsest of the Cold War followed by the Korean War, and missions of Canadian Peacekeeping such as Afghanistan, Canadian women including women from Sarnia have volunteered to serve in all capacities of the military and been deployed on missions around the world and sacrificed in the cause of peace and freedom.

 

The Contributions of the Canadian Red Cross and Other Organizations

 

  • The Canadian Red Cross Society was one of the leading wartime humanitarin organizations. After being founded in 1896, when Canadian soldiers went overseas to fight in the Boer War in 1899, it began its work to help the sick and wounded in that war. They collected donations of money and goods, providing a wide range of medical supplies and invalid foods. From the outset of World War I, the number of Canadian Red Cross branches and auxiliaries (church groups, clubs, etc.) exploded. Women were especially active in their support; knitting socks, scarves, sweaters, etc.; producing medical supplies by the millions; packing food parcels for Prisoners of War; producing jam and other canned foods for invalid soldiers overseas; donating countless hours of voluntary labour and large sums of money for relief work. They also set up bases in Britain and France to work with sick, wounded and captured soldiers; the tracking of missing soldiers; and corresponding with family members of the soldiers back at home. The vital humanitarian role of the Canadian Red Cross Society in World War II continued, and even expanded to include aid to civilian victims of the war (particularly bombed out British civilians during the Battle of Britain); development of a trained, uniformed Corps of women volunteers that served overseas and escorted war brides across the Atlantic; and for the first time, the development of the blood program, where civilian blood was collected for use in the new life-saving procedure of blood transfusion.2Y

 

  • During World War II for the Sarnia Red Cross Society on Queen Street, the tracing of wounded or missing men, and the tracing of refugees was one of the biggest tasks taken on by the organization. For parents that received the terse cable, “Regret to inform you that your son is reported missing in action,” the Red Cross would be the first place to turn to. If the missing soldier was found to be a prisoner-of-war, the Red Cross became his “angel of mercy”. For local European-born families whose relatives had been unreported since the Nazi armies swept through much of Europe, the Red Cross would again be the organization to turn to. With its world-wide information network, based out of the International Red Cross committee in Geneva, Switzerland, the Sarnia Red Cross could probe for details and gradually construct the fragments into a full story, joyful or sad, for the parents and families.

 

  • The following are several examples of the willingness of Sarnians to support the victory efforts through the Red Cross:

 

– In October 1915, the British Red Cross Society asked Ontario cities to contribute funds to their organization. In a one-day whirlwind blitz conducted by over two hundred collectors throughout the city, over $10,000 was contributed by Sarnia citizens. The Red Cross collectors reported, “The willingness and readiness of the people of Sarnia to contribute was the outstanding feature of the day. Everybody was ready, everybody enthusiastic and everybody wished it was twice or ten times as much.”

 

– In mid-November 1939, the Sarnia Red Cross Society began an initial campaign to raise funds for war work, setting an objective of $18,000. Canvassers volunteered their time spreading throughout the city going house to house in search of subscriptions. By the end of November 1939, Sarnia citizens had contributed over $22,000 to the Red Cross War Fund. The more than one thousand employees at Imperial Oil Limited alone contributed just over $8,000.

 

– In June 1940, the National Red Cross made an urgent appeal for assistance in France for the wounded and for five million refugees. Within three days, the Sarnia branch of the Red Cross was able to collect donations and dispatch a huge supply of dressings, gauze, bandages, compresses, pyjamas, surgical gowns, bed pads, surgical towels, knitted clothes, hospital gowns, socks, scarves, sweaters, helmets and blankets. At the same time, the Sarnia Red Cross was collecting waste materials across the city that would be sold for money for the war effort. Households were contributing papers, magazines, scrap iron, aluminum pans, automobile tires and tubes.

 

– The Sarnia Red Cross Society established a blood donors’ clinic in 1942, beginning with 20 clinics in Sarnia that year. In 1943, that increased to 71 clinics; fifty in Sarnia, seven in Petrolia, five in Wyoming, four in Oil Springs, three in Brigden and two in Sombra. During the two years that the clinic operated, a total of over 7,300 contributions of blood were given. The donated blood was sent overseas for the servicemen.

 

  • In September 1940, a letter was received at Canadian National Red Cross headquarters and then sent on to the Sarnia branch. The letter from Mr. B.E. Astbury, who was chairman of London’s organized relief forces, was directed to the patriotic women workers who had given so much time in making garments and supplies for those in bomb-stricken areas of London, England. The following is a portion of that letter;

 

I cannot think of even interrupted rest without asking the Canadian Red Cross to send to the people of Canada an expression of our heartfelt gratitude for the goods which they sent through their Red Cross to hundreds rendered homeless by barbarous and wicked attacks on civilians. Before the raids began you had already supplied several thousand blankets, which we had distributed to our offices in district centres, a blessing so great that the people of Canada can never realize its importance when we were able to supply those families rendered homeless in the first raids. With conditions steadily growing worse, government shelters, stocked only with bully beef and bread, could not supply blankets, clothing or food to the hundreds besieging relief centres. I turned to the Canadian Red Cross in this country.

 

I want the people of Canada to know that within two hours of our appeal, you had started delivering lorry loads of food, clothing and blankets, and these were unloaded during the most terrific air raids. For two days we worked like dock laborers and the Canadian soldiers who delivered your goods worked alongside us, refusing to take cover or cease work as German planes zoomed overhead. I wish the women of Canada could have seen the incidents which alone would convey to all Canadians the greatness of your gifts and the necessity for them. A father whose home had been destroyed, and who left his wife and children, to seek warm covering for them, stooped and kissed the bundle of four blankets given him. One of the children, at another centre, clad only in night attire, clutched her bundle of warm garments and wiped her tears as she cried; “Look mummy, they’re new.”

 

  • In August of 1944, according to J.O. Laird, organizer of the national salvage campaign with the Department of

National War Services, Sarnia had a record of the highest collection of salvage per capita of any place in Canada. This was a significant compliment to the people of Sarnia who saved their salvage and to the Red Cross-I.O.D.E. Conservation Committee that collected it.

 

  • During World War II, two other organizations that Sarnians supported were the Canadian Russia Fund and the Queen’s Canadian Fund for Air Raid Victims. During a ten-day Russia Fund drive in February of 1945 in Sarnia, more than 1,000 pounds of clothing was received by the local headquarters of the Canadian Aid to Russia Fund located in the basement of the Western Fur Company at 135 North Front Street. Cash donations and thousands of articles, including a variety of children’s, men’s and women’s garments, were collected from local citizens, students and businesses and shipped to Russia. Sarnians also donated to the Queen’s Canadian Fund, which gave aid to British bomb victims. One of the numerous reports of a victim aided by the Queen’s Fund, was that of a 73-year old man who lived with his wife in England. After their home had been struck by a V-bomb, they went away while first aid repairs were made to their house. When they returned to it, they were overwhelmed to receive aid from Canada. In April of 1945, the Sarnia and Lambton County portion of the Queen’s Canadian Fund donated by local citizens was approximately $13,000.

 

Animals in War

 

  • Animals have demonstrated an enduring partnership with humans during times of war, serving with unwavering loyalty and dedication. Horses, dogs and pigeons have served as a means of transportation and protection, as beasts of burden, and as messengers while others served for companionship and morale as pets and mascots. The most famous Canadian mascot was a black bear cub named Winnipeg. “Winnie”, an orphaned bear cub that had been purchased for $20 in White River, Ontario by Canadian soldier Harry Colebourn and named after his hometown, would eventually travel overseas from Canada during World War One. Winnie became the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade’s mascot and their beloved pet in Salisbury Plains, England. When Colebourn was deployed to France in 1914, he decided to place Winnie in the Lonodon Zoo, rather than subject him to the rigours of the front. Winnie became a popular attraction there and delighted thousands of visitors, including that of author A.A. Milne and his son, Christopher Robin. Winnie was so tame and trustworthy that children, including Christopher Robin, would play with her, ride on her back and allow them to feed her by hand. A.A. Milne went on to publish Winnie-the Pooh in 1926.3X

 

  • An example of a mascot that became a hero was the Royal Rifles of Canada Regiment mascot Gander, during World War II. Gander was a massive Newfoundland dog acquired by the Royal Rifles battalion while they were stationed at the Gander airport. In the fall of 1941, the Winnipeg Grenadiers, along with the Royal Rifles Regiment, including “Sergeant” Gander, were sent to Hong Kong to defend it from enemy invasion. Not only was Gander a mascot, but he had a job to perform–he would bark and snap at the legs of the enemy and scare them away. He was also a smart dog; he knew what a grenade was and how it could hurt people.

 

On one December night in 1941, Gander saw a grenade tossed by an attacking Japanese soldier near a group of wounded Canadian soldiers. He ran to it, took it, and rushed away with it. The grenade exploded and Gander was killed. But he had saved the lives of the seven soldiers. In 2000, Gander was posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal, often referred to as the “Animals’ Victoria Cross”, for his conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. On the Hong Kong Veterans Memorial Wall, unveiled in Ottawa in 2009, Gander’s comrades made sure his name was etched in stone alongside the 1,978 Canadians who fought defending against the Japanese forces that invaded Hong Kong.  In November of 2012, the “Animals in War Memorial” was unveiled in Confederation Park, Ottawa. D, E, 2E, 2I, 3Y

 

  • In December of 1939, the 26th Lambton Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery was moved to Guelph for the winter. Their mascot, a goat named “Cordite”, disappeared mysteriously the night before the Sarnia battery moved to Guelph. Feeling a deep loss in the lack of a mascot, some of the Sarnia boys who had been home on leave for a weekend, turned up with a new mascot for the unit, a Shetland pony. The pony was an immediate success with the men. He was about five months old, a little larger than a dog, his long coat giving him a striking appearance, and he had an unusual characteristic. The pony liked to ride in automobiles. One member of the battery said that he curled up on the back seat of a car like a dog, and resented it keenly when he was required to move out.N