War In The Pacific

 The Canadian military effort put its emphasis in the war in Europe and the Battle of the Atlantic. Yet there were Canadians committed to battle in the Pacific. One of them, Hampton Gray, was seconded to the British Navy as a pilot, and won the Victoria Cross flying a Corsair, attacking a Japanese destroyer and sinking it, at the cost of his own life. He is one of a series of people from Canadian military history honoured in a series of statues and busts near the War Memorial called The Valiants. It's been quite awhile since I've photographed any of them.

Athull Brown piloted bombers in southeast Asia, going after Japanese supply and transportation lines.

Leonard Birchall was called the Savior of Ceylon. He spotted a Japanese fleet heading for Ceylon (today Sri Lanka), and was able to radio the information to base before getting shot down.

A curious artifact, but fitting for the region. This was used to treat snake bites.

The environment in southeast Asia was as much a challenge as anything else.

A Canadian military transport went down in dense jungle during the war and was lost for decades. It was eventually found, and its crew buried with honours. Items from the wreck are found here.

Panels here include Canadian ships being sent into the Pacific theatre, as well as the surrender of Japan.

It was the detonation of two atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki that brought the Japanese to surrender. A roof tile, briefly exposed to the atomic blast at Hiroshima, is in this display case.

I tend to finish the World War Two era with events earlier than that of VJ Day. The war in Europe came to an end in May 1945, and for many Canadian soldiers, their last task was the liberation of the Netherlands.

The country had suffered enormously under occupation by Nazi Germany. Allied forces had liberated parts of the country by the end of 1944, but most of it remained under occupation. That last winter was the hardest of the war for the Dutch people.

Canadian soldiers drove forward into the country as part of the momentum of the Allies against the Germans. They liberated the Dutch, who welcomed them as heroes.

This is the pen used by Canadian General Charles Foulkes, who oversaw the surrender of German forces in the Netherlands on the 5th of May, 1945.

On To Victory

 The work of battlefield medics, doctors, and nurses during the Second World War is profiled here.

The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion jumped in behind enemy lines late in the war and reached further into Germany than any other Canadian unit, meeting Soviet soldiers at Weimar.

During the war, Canadian servicemen captured in battle in Europe ended up as prisoners of war. Some of them would take part in the events later called the Great Escape.

The Pacific theatre was not as extensive as the Atlantic and European theatre for Canadian forces, but they were out there, until the end of the war, when on the same day Americans dropped an atomic bomb over Nagasaki, pilot Lieutenant Hampton Gray engaged and sank a Japanese ship, losing his life in the effort and winning the Victoria Cross.

This wall is filled with images of the end of the war in the Pacific. A tile from Hiroshima, marked by the atomic bomb, is displayed at left.

For many Canadians in Europe, the war ended with the liberation of the Netherlands, which resulted in an enduring and deep friendship between the two countries.

This is an artifact well worth exhibiting.

The Gallery And The Nurses

In the Normandy section of the War Museum, there's a door that opens out onto a balcony, where one can view Lebreton Gallery below. I'll take you down there in coming days.

Back among the Second World War exhibits is this Sherman tank that took part in the Normandy campaign.

Among the veterans on hand at the museum for Remembrance Day were two members of a nursing order who served during the Second World War, with displays of photos and items on hand at their table and on a table beside them, as well as a uniform of the time.

Both of these women are in their nineties, still vital and active, having had come here each Remembrance Day. They were with the nursing order through Europe during and after the war, and both are a pleasure to speak with, as I've chatted with them in previous years.

  

Take a good look at the date on this panel. Lieutenant Gray is one of the select few who have a bust among the monuments downtown collectively known as the Valiants; for a look at that, look here.

This is a sample tombstone from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission that closes out the Second World War section.

Warriors

The Valiants encircle the staircase leading down from Plaza Bridge. The top of the War Memorial can be glimpsed in the background; the site has been undergoing some work in recent months, but will soon be reopened to the public. Here I wanted a wider shot.

This rather large statue commemorates General  Sir Arthur Currie, who planned the attack on Vimy Ridge and led Canadian forces through much of the First World War.

Pilot Officer Andrew Mynarski was an air gunner on a Lancaster bomber during the Second World War. The plane had been hit in action, and was on fire; he was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for his attempts to save a trapped comrade (who survived the crash).

And this last member of The Valiants is Lieutenant Hampton Gray, a pilot who served all over during the Second World War, from Africa and Norway to the Pacific theatre. He won the Victoria Cross posthumously for his successful attack on and sinking of a Japanese destroyer on August 9th, 1945, in Japanese waters. He was thus one of the final Canadian casualties of the war, and has the unique distinction of being the only foreign military serviceman to have a memorial on Japanese soil, near the site of that engagement at Onagawa Bay.