The Korean War

 Picking up where I left off yesterday, here are copies of some of the documents Igor Gouzenko took from the Soviet embassy as he defected.

For the rest of his life, whenever he made public appearances, he was masked.

And so began decades of hostilities that didn't break out into a full war, between what would become the Warsaw Pact and NATO.

When it did turn hot, it was regional in nature, such as what history remembers as the Korean War.

Canadians were part of that war, alongside British, American, and other UN forces, fighting North Korean and Chinese troops on the Korean peninsula. 

This vivid work is Day Break- Gulf of Korea, by Ted Zuber, depicting a Canadian destroyer firing on an enemy train on the coastal railway.

Zuber went to war as a soldier until being wounded in the line of duty. He later turned his sketches into a series of paintings, some of which are found here at the War Museum. Decades later he would go to war again, as a commissioned war artist during Desert Storm.

This is his painting First Kill- The Hook, depicting a sniper's nest.

While here we have Reverse Slope.

These are winter uniforms. A Canadian uniform is at left, while the quilted uniform at right is that of a Chinese soldier.

A three dimensional display of the terrain at Kap'yong, one of the fiercest battles of the war, is found here. Beyond it is a painting by Zuber, depicting that battle.

Armistice broke out in 1953, resulting in partition of the peninsula. North Korea remains a closed society, lorded over by a family of kleptocrats and despots.

The Iron Curtain

It was time to switch out my header for something of a winter sensibility. This one was taken on the Rideau Canal skateway last winter, near to where the skating route begins downtown. 

This map shows the movements of the majority of the Canadian military in the last stages of World War Two in Europe, sweeping through the Netherlands to free the country, as well as venturing into the fallen Germany.

One of the positive aspects of that war is the enduring friendship between Canada and the Netherlands. The Dutch have never forgotten what Canadian soldiers did for them.

When Canadian veterans have returned to visit the Netherlands, the Dutch citizens have come out to cheer them. Now there are so few veterans of that war left, and less by the year.

Canada had sheltered Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands during the war, as well as her daughters- one of whom was born here in Ottawa. Following the war, many Dutch families immigrated to begin new lives in Canada, mine included. 

Among the legacies of that friendship is the Tulip Festival.

Six years of war on an unimaginable scale in Europe were done. 

The next section of the Museum concerns itself with the Cold War and beyond. After the war, Canada stepped up its military presence in the northern reaches of the country.

But a new conflict was coming- the Cold War. Quotes from those early years of the standoff are found here.

The Cold War began right here in Ottawa- the Gouzenko Affair. Igor Gouzenko was a clerk in the Soviet embassy here who gathered evidence that the Soviets were spying on their Western allies, particularly about the atomic program. He brought that evidence to the Canadian authorities, and so decades of perpetual tension and proxy wars soon began.

He and his family were given a new life in Canada, as well as protection. Gouzenko took to writing, both his own story and fiction.

The Cold War

A reminder to members of City Daily Photo- the theme for the first of October is Glass. 

The Cold War broke out following the Second World War, and one of its causes was right here in Ottawa. Igor Gouzenko was a Soviet clerk at the embassy, who found evidence that the Soviets were spying on their western allies. He took that evidence to the Canadian government, and history was changed forever.

Gouzenko and his family had lived in this unassuming apartment block in the city core. It's still there- I used to live up the street from the place. The Gouzenkos were put in protective custody, and he took to writing. Whenever he appeared in public, he wore a mask. Today, in a park across the street from where the family once lived, historical plaques tell the story of the Gouzenko Affair.

Bomb shelters were part of the culture of the Cold War.

The exhibit features one you can walk into.

One of the fighter planes of the early Cold War- the De Havilland Vampire, a mainstay of the Canadian and British air forces.

Nearby, a training fighter jet of the early Cold War- the Canadair T-33 Silver Star.

The Cold War meant military commitments in Europe, where Canadians were stationed in each branch of the service. Airmen would bring their families for extended stays in foreign lands.

The Cold War

 Each time Canadian veterans of the Second World War have returned to the Netherlands, they have been welcomed with love by the Dutch as heroes. Now there are so few of them left.

The end of the war in Europe was euphoric for those who served and those at home.

Demobilization and the return home took a year or more for some, and required programs by the government to get those who served to adjust back to civilian life.

There were new challenges for the country, including protecting the vastness of the Canadian north.

And new tensions were brewing- the Cold War, a half century of simmering hostilities and proxy wars.

One of the causes of the Cold War was here in Ottawa, where Soviet clerk Igor Gouzenko uncovered evidence at the embassy that the Soviets were spying on their western allies. He and his family went into protective custody and began a new life in Canada when he defected, and whenever he would appear in public, he was always masked.

He turned to writing, and his books are displayed here.

The Cold War would break out into a hot war on the Korean Peninsula. Canadians would be part of the Korean War.