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On this day in 2008 Captain Douglas Gayton, MMM, CD was appointed a Member of the Order of Military Merit.
On this day in 1987 the 4th Air Defence Regiment, RCA was formed.
On this day in 1973 Joseph C Gauthier enrolled as a Private (Recruit). On this day in 1856 the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment, RCA was formed. On this day in 1856 the 50th Field Battery, RCA was formed in Montreal, QC. On this day in 2007 Captain Noel RR Dykes, CD received his second Bar to his Canadian Forces Decoration.
 Newsletter on line. This newsletter, and previous editions, are available on the RUSI Vancouver website at: http://www.rusivancouver.ca/newsletter.html Wednesday Lunches The 15 Field Officers Mess holds weekly lunches, serving a 5 course, ‘homemade’ meal for only $15- you won’t find a better meal - or a better deal, anywhere. If you are in the area on a Wednesday, drop in and join us for lunch. Last Lunch for 2015. The Armoury will shut down completely for the winter break so our last lunch for this year is on Dec 9 and the first lunch of 2016 will be on Jan 6. The last lunch is traditionally a ‘Ladies’ lunch so we encourage attendees to bring spouses or significant others (but not both – that always gets messy). We are now starting to collect for Mrs Lum’s annual ‘Christmas Purse’. See me in the Mess to contribute. NOABC Speaker. Change of venue. Please see notice at the end of newsletter. St Barbara’s Day Special Guest Night The deadline for RSVPs for this event is fast approaching. If you plan to attend, please let us know ASAP. See invitation at end of this newsletter. Commanding Officers Christmas Tea – December 13 The annual CO’s Christmas Tea will be held on Sunday December 13, 2015. This is probably the most enjoyed event of the year. The cost, $20pp, includes sherry, Mrs Lum’s delicious hors d'oeuvres, as well as coffee and tea served by Regimental Ladies. The Regimental Band is sending one of its combos to entertain us as we mingle. The bar will be open for those of you who want more than sherry. Dress is suit and tie (or Regimental blazer and tie) for gentlemen and the equivalent for ladies. See invitation at the end of the newsletter. New Year’s Levée – 1 Jan 2016 15 Fd Artillery Regiment is holding their annual Levée. The Messes will open for visitors at 1100hrs. A light lunch will be served starting around noon. World War 2 - 1940 John Thompson Strategic analyst quotes from his book “Spirit Over Steel” Nov 25th: The plywood plane, the wooden wonder… the De Havilland Mosquito takes to the air for the first time. Like the Soviet Pe-2 or the Ju-88, the Mosquito will be a fast versatile aircraft equal to numerous roles. Nov 26th: The Germans announce the establishment of the Warsaw Ghetto as a “health measure” – having extensively accused Jews of being disease reservoirs in their propaganda. The British mount carrier raids on Tripoli and Rhodes – the main Italian base in the Aegean. Nov 27th: Admiral Somerville with a carrier, two battleships, seven cruisers and 14 destroyers, is attacked by Admiral Campioni with two battleships, seven heavy cruisers, and 16 destroyers, off Sardinia. The Italians decide to run-off at high speed shortly after fire is exchanged – to be fair to the Italian Navy’s reputation, Campioni (who died a heroic figure later in the war) was under strict orders not to engage unless he significantly outnumbered the enemy. The Iron Guard initiates several days of rioting in Romania. Nov 30th: Greek troops enter Albania near Pogradec. Japan gives official recognition to the puppet Nanking government of Wang Ching-Wei. December 1940: Two Italian Offensives Reversed The greatest of all the fires was directly in front of us. Flames seemed to whip hundreds of feet into the air. Pinkish-white smoke ballooned upward in a great cloud, and out of this cloud there gradually took shape - so faintly at first that we weren't sure we saw correctly - the gigantic dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. St. Paul's was surrounded by fire, but it came through. It stood there in its enormous proportions - growing slowly clearer and clearer, the way objects take shape at dawn. It was like a picture of some miraculous figure that appears before peace-hungry soldiers on a battlefield. -Story filed by Ernie Pyle, extracted from Ernie Pyle in England. General: Bad weather in the North Atlantic allows only one convoy to be attacked by U-Boats. Further south the submarines claim 37 of 82 lost Allied ships, and totally shipping losses amount to 357,300 tons. The Germans continue to bomb British cities, killing some 3,800 people this month. Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan – Mandate Letter Nov 13, 2015 05:38 pm | David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen Defence Watch will run the main portions of the ministerial mandate letters relating to defence and veterans in a three separate postings. Here is the letter sent to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan. The letter was sent by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: As Minister of National Defence, your overarching goal will be to ensure that the Canadian Armed Forces are equipped and prepared, if called upon, to protect Canadian sovereignty, defend North America, provide disaster relief, conduct search and rescue, support United Nations peace operations, and contribute to the security of our allies and to allied and coalition operations abroad. It will be important that you ensure a close link between defence policy, foreign policy, and national security. I also ask you to work closely with your colleague, the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, to ensure a seamless transition for Canadian Forces members to the programs and services of Veterans Affairs. In particular, I will expect you to work with your colleagues and through established legislative, regulatory, and Cabinet processes to deliver on your top priorities:
§ working with the Minister of Public Services and Procurement to launch an open and transparent competition to replace the CF-18 fighter aircraft, focusing on options that match Canada’s defence needs; and § working with the Minister of Public Services and Procurement to invest in strengthening the Navy, while meeting the commitments that were made as part of the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy.
§ working with the Minister of Foreign Affairs to help the United Nations respond more quickly to emerging and escalating conflicts and providing well-trained personnel to international initiatives that can be quickly deployed, such as mission commanders, staff officers, and headquarters units; and § leading an international effort to improve and expand the training of military and civilian personnel deployed on peace operations, while insisting that any peacekeepers involved in misconduct be held accountable by their own country and the United Nations.
 Pentagon Will Develop Thinking Machines to Defeat Future Enemies By Sandra I. Erwin Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work (left) speaks with New York Times editor Tom Shanker at the Reagan National Defense Forum SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — Ultra-smart computers and robots that crunch data at the speed of light will be key ingredients of the Pentagon’s strategy to deter and defeat future military adversaries. “We already started to make investments,” said Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work. The specifics of how the Pentagon might use these advanced technologies and how they will be acquired will not be known for years, Work said, but the Pentagon today is convinced that using computers to aid decision making is a “big idea.” Autonomous computers that can collaborate with human brains will be central to what the Defense Department calls its “offset strategy” to ensure technological dominance for the coming decades, Work said Nov. 7 during a talk at the Reagan National Defense Forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. He threw around catchphrases like “human machine collaboration” and “combat teaming” to describe this vision of the future. Work for years has called on the Pentagon to make ambitious and bold investments to create technological “surprises” as the United States did during the Cold War, when defense planners figured out how to “offset” the Warsaw Pact’s much larger conventional forces with nuclear weapons. That advantage did not last, though, as the Soviet Union quickly moved to build its own nukes. The next wave of innovation came in the 1970s when Secretary of Defense Harold Brown and Undersecretary William Perry pushed a new offset strategy built around the use of digital microelectronics and information technology to counter conventional forces. The result was a wave of innovation in smart weapons, sensors and command-and-control networks. Work credits the second offset for propelling the United States into unchallenged superpower status. The third offset will be about machines that can learn and operate “literally at the speed of light,” he said. The tech industry already has created supercomputers that can beat human chess champions, and the Pentagon plans to ride that innovation wave into the next level of autonomy and artificial intelligence technology. The idea is that only “learning machines” can keep up with quickly morphing threats like cyber or electronic attacks, and react far more quickly than human brains ever could. Computers also would help military commanders figure out how to respond to incursions against U.S. assets in outer space or massive hypersonic missile strikes. “You need machines to help you solve problems right away,” Work said. “The way we’ll use machines is to help humans make better decisions faster.” This is a significant departure from the way defense and deterrence strategies were developed in the past, he explained. “This assumes that an adversary changes strategy all the time.” An illustration of how the Pentagon increasingly values advanced data analysis — as a capability that must go hand in hand with conventional mega weapons — is the F-35 joint strike fighter. “The F-35 a flying sensor-computer that sucks in an enormous amount of data, correlates it, analyzes it and displays it for the pilot on his helmet,” Work said. Legacy fighter jets like the F-16 might be as good or better than the F-35 at traditional aerial dog-fighting, but “we are absolutely confident that the F-35 will be a war winner, because it helps make better decisions.” Another tenet of the third offset strategy is to insert robots more aggressively into combat operations, Work said. “If 10 years from now, if the first person through a breach isn’t a frigging robot, then shame on us,” he declared. “Secretary [Ashton] Carter is absolutely certain we can do this.” Work cautioned that the third offset is not purely a technology game, but also will require unconventional concepts for how forces operate and organize. Having a “vibrant” mix of military, civilian and contractor innovators also will be essential, he added. Carter has been insistent that the Pentagon recruit start-ups and commercial tech firms in Silicon Valley that are on the cutting edge of big data and robotics applications. “It’s going to take some time” to bring this to fruition, Work said. “There will be a period of experimentation.” Human-machine collaboration will not only be used to fight major wars but also low-intensity conflicts. Today’s counterterrorism campaign, for instance, is a network of computers, drones and special operations teams that work with massive amounts of data. In the future, Work said, “You don’t go after an automated solution. You go after big data analytics.” In the face of Islamic State militants who flood the Internet with millions of social-media posts, for instance, advanced machines would be able to crunch the data, and suggest “how we might be able to go after them.” Defense officials are laying the groundwork of the third offset strategy, with the expectation that future administrations will continue the effort, which could take decades. “We want to have the intellectual underpinning to set us on this path,” said Work. During the remainder of the current administration, the plan is to conduct demonstrations and experiments. “The transition from administration to administration over a long period of time is based on a commitment that this works, that it gives us an advantage.” For the foreseeable future, “We’ll do more demonstrations than procurements. We won’t be able to buy capabilities as fast as we’d like. We want to make sure we keep pace with potential competitors’ capabilities.” ALL AT SEA or... Road (?) Testing the Bren Gun Carrier by Gerry Stevens [Wargamer Vol.3 No.2 October 1975] First, some formalities: Carrier, full-track, Bren. Manufacturer: Ford Motor Company of Canada Number built: Nearly 34,000 For those unfamiliar with the shape and purpose of the ‘Bren Gun Carrier’ (as it was familiarly known) this diabolical device was a light, full-tracked reconnaissance vehicle, capable of carrying 3 Bren LMGs, ready for action. The engine sat in the middle of the back end. All around it were light steel sides, cunningly riveted together. At a distance, one might imagine a small, open-topped, turretless tank. Closer, one is reminded of a vicious bathtub. On first approaching the Bren Carrier, one is struck by the stark simplicity of its lines... straight, flat sides which will never go out of style because they never were in style in the first place; plus the spindly appearance of the bogie wheels, which look as though they were adapted from clothes line pulleys. On climbing into the Bren Carrier, one is struck by the sharpness of its line, usually across the shins. This pain soon passes though, when one’s concentration passes to getting the feet down into the space under that silly looking steering wheel (Steering wheel? On a full-tracked vehicle?) and into the space provided for feet. Eventually, however, the tester is seated behind the wheel, ready for the next adventure. Visibility from the driving position, co-driver position and every other position in the Bren Carrier is excellent. A full 360 degrees in all directions, plus up, and often down, but more about this later. The paint job is Canadian Army Brown, the best-selling colour of the years 1940-1945. In the case of the Carrier, it appears everywhere, with such notable exceptions as the instruments (black and white), radio mast mounting (black) and tail lights (red). Even the seats, set out in a tough, even child-proof canvas, have been painted brown. High-lighting this colour scheme are what might be called “accent flashes”, those little areas where the paint has been scraped away by busily working hands and feet. Starting the engine is simplicity itself. Flick the off-on switch, (no key, of course) pull out the choke knob (brown) and pull up on the floor-mounted, direct-action starting lever. Immediately, Henry Ford’s popular V8-60 springs to life in its little un-insulated steel box that is located directly behind the driver. While this might seem noisy, compared with the Sherman M-4 the Bren Carrier is quietness itself; at least quiet enough for the passenger’s howls to be heard. The foot controls are conventional. After engaging first gear in a long and grinding conversation, the clutch was let out, possibly a bit quickly and we were away, I thought. However, letting out the clutch on the carrier brought strange and instant reaction. The nose of the vehicle rose high into the air, the tail squatted down, and we lurched forward. The nose dropped, the tail rose, and we lurched forward more. The nose arose, the tail dropped and we lurched forward more even more. The nose dropped, the tail rose (thank God, a little less) and we move forward more quickly. Eventually, the Carrier settled down to an even and sedate pace on the paved area, at least long enough for my passenger to be heard muttering “Jesus Christ!” This might have been a prayer. However, progress is not by first gear alone. So the shift was made, in true automobile fashion. The clutch was pushed in, the nose dropped, the tail rose. The shift lever was moved to second. The nose arose, the tail dropped. Hoping to catch the little Mother on the down-stroke, I let the clutch out hurriedly. In mid-down-stroke, the nose rose, then pitched forward again. My passenger screamed, and grabbed the two little handles place at the front of the co-driver compartment for just such occasions. Shifting into third was contemplated, then rejected as foolhardy, particularly since neither brakes not steering had been experienced. I decided to test the brakes. You guessed. Down came the nose, up went the tail. My passenger yelled and gripped the handles. Startled, my foot came off the brakes. Up came the nose, down went the tail. Eventually the carrier slowed down, having shown me that it would not be readily tamed. Steering was next. First, of course, you should understand how the Universal Carrier, Bren, is steered. When the steering wheel is turned a little bit, the entire front bogie assembly moves in the proper direction, thereby bending the road tracks, and the Carrier turns. Turn the steering wheel even more, and the track on the inside slows down, and the outside track races ahead to push the vehicle around the corner. It sounds very simple, but in actual fact, the whole ugly mess accompanied by pitching back and forth. And since the affair is not very smooth, there’s a lot of swaying sideways as well. Eventually, having gotten the starting, stopping and turning worked out, it was time to visit the true test track, a nameless assault course at a nameless Canadian Army base. It was a short visit. The first ditch, taken at some 10 miles per hour, stood the little carrier up on its nose. The first bump sent its nose skyward like a mad brown rocket. The next ditch skinned my passenger’s nose. The next skinned my nose. To avoid a trench the steering wheel was spun(?) to the right, and the carrier spun in a circle and still went into the ditch, where it stalled. The silence that followed was broken by my erstwhile passenger being violently sick. The test was over. And the tester’s opinion? The Universal Carrier is a handy, fast, easy-to-drive vehicle which is excellent for carrying heavy radios, ammunition and other loads. But is should never be approached by soldiers.  Who is it? Last Week: Had a few replies on this one. Most had the same reaction as me – That’s Lt Col Gordy Platt looking at the camera. The rest look familiar but can’t remember any names. One person thought that the person on the right of the picture might be Col Alan McGavin. Col Platt commanded the Regt from 67-69 so this picture would have been taken at a St Barbs dinner in that period.  This Week: Our quiz this week is part of our famous series “What is that concrete thing?”, which in the past has popularly featured bollards, sidewalks and seawalls, all of a military provenance. So successful was that series (especially the one featuring the actual step in London that Guy Simonds slipped on in 1944), that we have decided to go one step further and feature an actual structure this time. This imposing thing is actually known to your author, so your answers might be treated with ridicule if you don’t do your research thoroughly and precisely. Wild guesses will not be accepted, but humorous ones might be. Look carefully at the photo, and a great hint will soon be obvious. Your intelligent research can be sent to either the editor, or the author, John Redmond (johnd._redmond@telus.net). Thank you for your kind attention to military history. From the ‘Punitentary’ What do prisoners use to call each other? Cell phones. Murphy’s other Laws Any inanimate object, regardless of its position, configuration or purpose, may be expected to perform at any time in a totally unexpected manner for reasons that are either entirely obscure or else completely mysterious. Quotable Quotes Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. -John Kenneth Galbraith   NOABC Monthly Luncheon Wednesday November 25th 2015
MPORTANT NOTICE - TEMPORARY CHANGE OF VENUE The Officers Mess at Bessborough Armories is undergoing asbestos removal with work beginning mid-November. As the Mess is not available the final NOABC lunch of the year will take place at:
Vancouver, BC.
Relaxed Dress: Business Casual (ties optional!) Regular menu prices apply. (Regular lunches will resume at Bessborough as soon as the work is complete) Guest speaker: Sgt. Michael Reece (retd) West Yorkshire Police (UK) Topic: “The GyroCopter Experience” Michael is a trailblazer in terms of these aircraft. He is one of two pilots in Western Canada and the only instructor for the GyroCopter. He has years of experience in flying and has taught armed forces personnel in their use. He will provide an overview on the aircraft, its history including military development which includes naval as well as air forces. He will describe how the aircraft will make an impact on recreation and business applications here and elsewhere in the future. Michael will show a short video, will bring along models and offer a PowerPoint presentation. Note: This is the final NOABC lunch presentation for 2015. The next is scheduled for late January 2016. David Reece, Social Director Naval Officers Assoc. of BC On this day in 1974 Gunner Colin Norris was posted to 1 Airborne Battery, RCA.
On this day in 1951 the train transporting the 2nd Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery to Fort Lewis, WA collided with an eastbound passenger train just east of Canoe River, BC. The passengers on the eastbound train escaped injury, but 17 Gunners on the first two cars of the troop train were killed and 42 injured when the cars fell down an embankment and were demolished.
 Newsletter on line. This newsletter, and previous editions, are available on the RUSI Vancouver website at: http://www.rusivancouver.ca/newsletter.html Wednesday Lunches The 15 Field Officers Mess holds weekly lunches, serving a 5 course, ‘homemade’ meal for only $15- you won’t find a better meal - or a better deal, anywhere. If you are in the area on a Wednesday, drop in and join us for lunch. St Barbara’s Day Special Guest Night The deadline for RSVPs for this event is fast approaching. If you plan to attend, please let us know ASAP. See invitation at end of this newsletter. Commanding Officers Christmas Tea – December 13 The annual CO’s Christmas Tea will be held on Sunday December 13, 2015. This is probably the most enjoyed event of the year. The cost, $20pp, includes sherry, Mrs Lum’s delicious hors d'oeuvres, as well as coffee and tea served by Regimental Ladies. The Regimental Band is sending one of its combos to entertain us as we mingle. The bar will be open for those of you who want more than sherry. Dress is suit and tie (or Regimental blazer and tie) for gentlemen and the equivalent for ladies. See invitation at the end of the newsletter. New Year’s Levée – 1 Jan 2016 15 Fd Artillery Regiment is holding their annual Levée. The Messes will open for visitors at 1100hrs. A light lunch will be served starting around noon. World War 2 - 1940 John Thompson Strategic analyst quotes from his book “Spirit Over Steel” Nov 18th: A Sunderland Flying Boat detects a U-Boat with its new airborne radar – a first in ASW history. Nov 19th: Greek counterattacks drive the Italians back over the Kalamas River. Nov 20th: Hungary agrees to an alliance with Germany and Italy. Nov 21st: The Greek counter-offensive takes another 2000 prisoners and much heavy equipment, the Italians start withdrawing back into Albania. The Dies Report on Nazi and Communist espionage and subversion is published in the US, it does overestimate the situation. Nov 23rd: Lord Lothian arrives in New York as the new British ambassador to the US; his first priority is raising some capital for Britain is going broke. Romania becomes an Axis Ally. Nov 24th: Slovakia – already a puppet state – becomes a party to the Axis Tripartite Pact.  Remembrance Day Events across Vancouver Article by Sandra Thomas Vancouver Courier Honorary Colonels Ted Hawthorne, Bill Diamond and Michael Shields and Honorary Lieutenant Colonel Allan De Genova will wear their working uniforms for the entirety of Veteran’s Week as part of a Canada-wide initiative. Photo Dan Toulgoet. Due to several acts of aggression towards military personnel in Canada last year, some members had been warned to limit wearing their uniforms to official duties. That’s something Honorary Lieutenant Colonel Allan De Genova of 15thField Regiment wants to change. “I’m of the feeling we don’t need to hide, but we should stand with honour,” said De Genova. “I’m proud to represent all of the men and women who give of themselves every day. It’s our duty to be able to recognize that.” To that end, De Genova wants all honorary officers across Canada to wear their camouflage work uniform for the entirety of Veteran’s Week, Nov. 5 to 11. De Genova, a realtor by trade, plans to wear his uniform to all military events, on personal errands and to meetings. “People will not only see the poppy, but also the uniform,” said De Genova. “And when someone stops me to ask about it or thank me, I’ll tell them, I’m an honorary, but I’m very happy to convey that message to the men and women who serve every day.” ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Honoraries, along with Hon Col Bill Rodgers (not in this picture), Hon Col of 15th Field, laid wreaths for their respective Units on Remembrance Day. At the Cenotaph in Victory Square in Vancouver two trumpeters from VFRS sounded Last Post and Rouse in tandem. This is Battalion Chief Dan McClelland on top of the Flack Building opposite the Cenotaph. Above, four Harvard aircraft perform a fly past. The other trumpeter, Assistant Chief Joe Foster (also a member of 15Fd Band), was located at ground level near the podium. Down at Portside Park, the 15 Field Artillery Regt fired a 21 Gun Salute in honour of our fallen comrades. A good contingent of Cadets from 15 Fd Cadet Corps and 111 Squadron RC Air Cadets paraded, along with members of the Regt, the Saluting troop and many Gunner retirees and family members.  Canada’s Forgotten Cold Warriors Paul Manson Contributed to the Globe and Mail Nov. 11, 2015 The federal election campaign, coupled with recent compelling reporting in The Globe and Mail about Canada’s military veterans, has stimulated welcome – and much needed – discussion about our veterans and the ways in which they are treated. But references in two recent and otherwise thoughtful articles follow a disturbing pattern. One article, which included tallies from Veterans Affairs Canada, referred to “685,300 Canadian veterans: 75,900 from the Second World War, 9,100 from the Korean War and 600,300 from subsequent peacekeeping missions and conflicts, including at least 40,000 younger Afghanistan war vets.” Another opinion article took up the same theme, referring to Canadian casualties in the First and Second World Wars, Korea, Afghanistan and “numerous United Nations peacekeeping assignments.” Canadian soldiers take part in a NATO exercise in West Germany in 1989. (Sgt. Margaret Reid/Canadian Forces/The Canadian Press) Stunningly absent from both accounts is even the slightest mention of what was by far Canada’s most important military activity since 1945: Our contribution to NATO and NORAD in the Cold War, from 1950 to 1990. It was a massive commitment. Several hundred thousand Canadian military members served in the vital cause of deterring Soviet aggression, thereby joining Canada’s allies in preventing the outbreak of a third world war and the nuclear holocaust that would have ensued. And our Canadian soldiers, sailors and air officers were good. At one point, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, an American, told me, “You Canadians set the standard in NATO.” We were well trained, well equipped and superbly motivated. In spite of unique organizational challenges, we earned great respect from our allies. Our small but powerful mechanized brigade in West Germany was an elite force, given the toughest assignments. Our air force, both in NORAD and in Europe, won numerous competitions, especially with the Canadian-built and powered F-86 Sabre, considered the world’s best fighter in the 1950s. At sea, our navy showed that it was a quality force. On several occasions, a Canadian was chosen to command NATO’s Standing Naval Force Atlantic. Canada and Canadians paid a heavy price for all this. To put it concisely, our Cold War operations resulted in more fatalities due to military service than in the Korean War, the Balkan conflicts, the Gulf Wars, Afghanistan and peacekeeping – combined. For aircrew deaths alone, the number was 926. Why has this been forgotten, to the extent that Cold War veterans apparently don’t seem to deserve even a passing mention these days? Some possible reasons come to mind. Much of this happened a relatively long time ago, much of it far from home – in the north, at sea, in Europe. And news media coverage was much less intensive in the days before real-time TV reporting and embedded journalists. For example, whenever a Canadian airman was killed in Europe (as more than 100 were), he was invariably buried in a small military cemetery in Choloy-Ménillot, France; no ramp ceremony, no funerary procession along the Highway of Heroes, no headlines. Then there is the mythology that has arisen to the effect that peacekeeping has been the principal occupation of Canada’s military since the Second World War. Our Blue Beret peacekeepers did wonderful work back when there were real opportunities for keeping conflicting armies apart, but the reason they were so effective is that they had the skills and credibility that come from having been trained for modern heavy warfare. Another explanation for the public silence regarding Canada’s NATO and NORAD veterans is that there has emerged a troubling tendency on the part of some in this country to look upon those who did not fight in a shooting war as second-class veterans. My entire career was encompassed by the Cold War years, including 10 years with my family in France and Germany. The Cold War, however, was not a shooting war. I have told Canadians on many occasions that my greatest pride in having served is that, from the end of the Korean War until I retired 37 years later, not a single shot was fired in combat by the Canadian military. Our job was deterrence, and deterrence worked. We trained for war so that we wouldn’t have to fight a war. It’s a shame that the story has been largely forgotten. On this Remembrance Day, my earnest hope is that Canadians, when they pause to commemorate the many sacrifices that our veterans have made through the years, will give a moment to those whose service as Cold Warriors, although unheralded, really made a difference. Lest we forget.  "One Veteran, One Standard" Veterans Minister Kent Hehr’s Mandate Letter David Pugliese, Ottawa Citizen Nov 13, 2015 Defence Watch is running the main portions of the ministerial mandate letters relating to defence and veterans in three separate postings. Here are the relevant portions for Kent Hehr, Veterans Affairs Minister. The letter was sent by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Veterans and their families have earned our respect and gratitude. Veterans should not have to fight their own government for the support and compensation they have earned. As Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, your overarching goal will be to ensure that our government lives up to our sacred obligation to veterans and their families. I expect you to ensure that veterans receive the respect, support, care, and economic opportunities they deserve. You will ensure that we honour the service of our veterans and provide new career opportunities, make it easier for veterans to access services – including mental health services – and do more to support the families of Canada’s veterans. I ask you to work closely with your colleague the Minister of National Defence to ensure a seamless transition for Canadian Forces members to the programs and services of your department. In particular, I will expect you to work with your colleagues and through established legislative, regulatory, and Cabinet processes, including our first Budget, to deliver on your top priorities:
 Lt Col John MacIsaac (1920-2015) Horrors of D-Day made vet appreciate Canada's 'golden age' Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen November 6, 2015 On the morning of the day he died, Lt.-Col. John MacIsaac donned his blue blazer, affixed a row of a dozen medals to his chest above his brass Royal Canadian Artillery badge, and headed out with other veterans to Rideau Hall for the launch of the 2015 Poppy Campaign. MacIsaac got his poppy, sweet-talked his way into getting a short tour of Rideau Hall, then headed home to the Perley and Rideau Veterans’ Health Centre. That night at dinner, he collapsed of a massive heart attack. The Juno Beach veteran died on Oct. 22, exactly one week after his 95th birthday. “May we all be so lucky,” said his son, Shaun MacIsaac. “It’s nice to have smiled and enjoyed your last day.” Lt Col John MacIsaac, centre, photographed with Gov. Gen. David Johnston and Royal Canadian Legion Dominion President Tom Eagles on Oct 22 at the launch of the 2015 poppy campaign at Rideau Hall. MacIsaac, a D-Day veteran who turned 95 the week before, died later that day. Sgt Ronald Duchesne / Rideau Hall But there was another day the elder MacIsaac might have preferred to forget. At dawn on June 6, 1944, then-Lt. John MacIsaac was steaming full speed toward the French coast aboard a landing craft tank. The Nova Scotia native was a gunnery placement officer on a Priest — a tracked, armoured vehicle nicknamed for its high, pulpit-like machine-gun mount. For the next hour after the first Canadian troops landed on Juno Beach, MacIsaac and his unit bobbed offshore in their landing craft, lobbing 105-mm shells over the heads of the Canadians and onto the German defences. MacIsaac’s craft finally made its run ashore at 9:25 a.m., about 90 minutes after the first assault. Normally, he would have been in charge of placing the guns in their firing position, but on D-Day he was pushed into duty as a forward observation officer, on the front line with the troops, calling back targets to the guns. It likely saved his life, said Shaun MacIsaac. His Priest was hit, killing the entire crew. “If he’d been with it, he would have been one of them. He sort of cheated death at the landing by taking the more-dangerous job of going ahead of it.”  Lt. John MacIsaac, left, and Bdr Charles Zerowel, 14th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, England, June 4, 1944 Library And Archives Canada / The Ottawa Citizen John MacIsaac recalled the landing in a 2004 interview with the Citizen commemorating the 60th anniversary of D-Day. “I saw people being wounded, taken off the beach,” he told the Citizen. “I saw a lot of dead soldiers lying around. I saw landing craft immobilized … like sitting ducks.” Too busy to be frightened, MacIsaac and his battery of Priests eventually rolled off the beach and into the bitter fighting around the town of Bernières-sur-Mer. “You intentionally didn’t think too much about what was going on around you,” he told the Citizen. The war, of course, wasn’t over after D-Day. MacIsaac’s unit fought through Normandy and the ferocious Falaise Pocket, then across France, Belgium and the Netherlands and right into Germany itself. He told Shaun of how the troops shared their meagre supplies with Dutch families who had been starved during the Nazi occupation. In November 2014, the French government made him a Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur for his wartime service to liberate France. “The war had an impact of making him quieter than he should have been,” Shaun said. “He was just so happy to be alive, to have made it through it.”  Lt John MacIsaac, foreground, watches as his landing craft tank heads toward France for the D-Day invasion at Juno Beach. Library and Archives Canada / The Ottawa Citizen John Francis Donald MacIsaac was born Oct. 15, 1920, in Inverness, N.S. He was just three when his father was killed in a coal-mining accident. His mother moved John and his younger brother, Hugh, to Halifax, where MacIsaac would eventually study at St. Mary’s University. He enlisted in the army as soon as the war broke out. “Until about age 70 he didn’t want to talk about it. He considered war a horror,” Shaun MacIsaac said. “He had respect for his opponents. He realized that a lot of young, brave Germans were dying along with a lot of young, brave Canadians, British and Americans. But he also had a sense of the need to defeat the enemy, which was truly evil, and that the cause was noble.” MacIsaac returned to Halifax when the war ended, studying law at Dalhousie University. He later rejoined the army, serving with the Judge Advocate General branch, including service in Korea in 1952-53. MacIsaac retired from the army in 1969 and took a position as legal adviser to the Atomic Energy Control Board, the federal watchdog of nuclear safety, where he assisted in drafting the laws and regulations governing Canada’s nuclear industry. He married his wife, Mary, in 1950 and the couple had five children — Jane, Anne, Shaun, Hugh and Michael — and 13 grandchildren. MacIsaac returned to Normandy in June 1984 for the 40th anniversary of D-Day and again in 2004 for the 60th, this time with the entire family in tow. MacIsaac continued to serve after his retirement, volunteering with his parish, Our Lady of Mount Carmel on St. Laurent Boulevard, and at the Shepherds of Good Hope, where he sorted and packed groceries. “He had to be contributing,” Shaun said. “He’d rather be being useful than sitting around.” Always athletic — he had considered a pro baseball career as a young man — MacIsaac took daily walks and was an enthusiastic swimmer at MacKay Pond, usually the first person in the spring and the last one out in the fall. Having survived combat, he couldn’t understand negativity in people, Shaun said. “He just seemed so pleased with life and this wonderful Canada we built post-World war Two. They’d seen the horrors over there and then to come back to this truly golden age.”  Who is it? Last Week: We believe the photo was taken in the early 2000’s at Portside Park, at a Remembrance Day Salute. The old Gunner is Capt Willian (Bill) RK Matterson EM, CD, a former member of the Regt and a long-time Associate Member of the Officers Mess. The police Sgt is Peter Ferguson. Bill passed away a couple of years after this picture was taken.  This Week: Well, it is back to the mess once again. We have an immense collection of mess event photos, many of rather questionable quality, to go along with the events portrayed. In fact, the museum is thinking of making money by threatening to publish some of the more incriminating shots in this newsletter. So, if you have a shady past, and were thinking of donating to our museum, please come forward and make yourself known before we do it for you! Nonetheless, this photo is quite innocent of any regrettable hijinks. It dates from long ago, but not far away, being the officer’s mess in our beloved Bessborough Armoury. It is part of a series of slides dated “1967”, the memorable year of Bobby Gimby and our Centennial. At that time, there were still many serving soldiers who had Second World War medals, and plenty of veterans of the Great War, too, as was the gentleman in the black tie gazing into his drink. Our question this week is simple: who are these gentlemen? Please send your responses to either the editor, or the author, John Redmond (johnd._redmond@telus.net). From the ‘Punitentary’ How do crazy people go through the forest? They take the psycho path. Murphy’s other Laws Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it will only make it worse. Quotable Quotes Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more. - Edward H. Harriman   On this day in 1913 the 49th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA was formed.
On this day in 1970 Leon Jensen was taken on strength as a Private (Recruit).
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What's New?All the latest happenings with the Vancouver Gunners Archives
August 2021
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