Winnipeg--walking the ground for "Soldier of the Horse"

Robert Mackay in jail; photo by Bill Mackay

An early scene in “Soldier of the Horse” involves the protagonist, Tom Macrae, getting thrown into the local gaol. In reality, my father (alter ego of Macrae) never told me he actually saw the inside of a cell, and it probably didn’t happen. Even so, I got a big kick out of finding a salvaged jail cell in a Winnipeg museum.

Did Tom Mackay ever scratch his name onto the wall of the steel-clad cell? Not that I could see!

Canada's Submarines--the Unknown Service

HMCS CC1

In all likelihood the typical Canadian, if there is such a person, does not know that Canada has a long history in what is often referred to as the "silent service".
Canada has had six main classes of submarines, starting in 1914 with the acquisition of CC1 and CC2. They were replaced by CH14 and CH 15 in 1921. The CH's were in commission only a couple of years between the wars.
Next up were two German U-boats that surrendered in May 1945 on the conclusion of the bloody Battle of the Atlantic. U-889 and U-190 were commissioned in the RCN for a short time.
HMCS Grilse was a former USN Balao class boat; she was leased for a five year period starting in 1961. She was followed by HMCS Rainbow, purchased from the United States in 1968.
Overlapping Rainbow's service on the west coast were Canada's three Oberon-class boats in the Atlantic. Ojibwa was the first, commissioned in September 1965. The O-boats were in service until near the turn of the century.
Canada's four Victoria-class boats are currently serving with two on each coast. The first, HMCS Victoria, was commissioned in the RCN in December 2000; they should be in service for at least another twenty years.
Subsequent posts will deal with each of Canada's classes of boats in more detail.

HMCS Ojibwa--Soon to be on solid ground

Photo courtesy P. Hinz, one half of www.thecookingladies.com

This may be the day  the former HMCS Ojibwa is on solid ground for the first time since she was launched in 1964. Ojibwa has been high and dry in drydocks or lifts for refits, maintenance etc. over the years, but never actually ashore, to the best of my knowledge. "Project Ojibwa" and my confidential informants report she may come out of the water today.
Once ashore, cold warrior Ojibwa will make a stately trip of a few hundred yards to her permanent home at the Port Burwell Submarine Museum.
The weather today is reported as cold and windy--not that that would be a problem for a boat that spent virtually her entire working life in the North Atlantic.

HMCS Ojibwa's Last Landfall Only Hours Away

HMCS Ojibwa, the first of Canada’s Oberon-class submarines, is nearing her final resting place.

An ultra-modern diesel-electric submarine in her day, she was launched in February 1964. Originally the hull was destined to be HMS Onyx, but was transferred to the RCN, completed in HM Dockyard Chatham, England, and commissioned Her Majesty's Canadian Submarine Ojibwa on September 23^rd, 1965. Following workups, she spent her career with Maritime Command Atlantic out of Halifax, but for a brief sojourn in Esquimalt.

Ojibwa was paid off in May, 1998, after nearly thirty-three years of service.

In the next few days the boat will claim her last berth in Port Burwell, Ontario. She was scheduled to arrive on November 14^th via a special barge and tug, to be lifted into place as part of the Museum of Naval History. For more details, see

https://www.facebook.com/MuseumNH. According to the latest reports, Ojibwa should be making her last landfall at dawn, Tuesday, November 20^th. The site shows her updated position.

I never served in Ojibwa, but I feel a connection to her, the last of the O’s to respond to the motion of the seas passing under her keel.

Remembrance Day (Part III)

This blog is a followup to my previous two postings on Remembrance Day. My wife has been following the ongoing outrage about the Canadian government's "New Veterans Charter", a shameful piece of work. What follows is a guest blog, as posted in www.giving-is-receiving.com.

Like thousands of other Canadians, my husband and I went to the Remembrance Day ceremonies on Sunday and paid our respects to our veterans. But I was struck by the hypocrisy of our government which has a shameful record of treating our veterans. The annual outpouring of gratitude on November 11th is not enough. We as Canadians need to stand up with one voice and tell our elected members that they serve us. And that we will not tolerate their mistreatment, neglect and denial of rights for the men and women who risked their lives in service to their country.
Here are some details.
Equitas Society, a non-profit organization which represents Canadian wounded veterans, helped support the launch of a class action law suit against the Canadian Government on October 30th. The reason? In 2006, the government introduced the New Veterans Charter and thereby changed the rules governing delivery of disability pensions to veterans of Afghanistan. The new system moves away from the previous lifetime, indexed disability pensions to lump sum payments under an insurance type system that calculates the value of a missing leg, an eye, based upon a Table of Disabilities. The maximum award is $250,000, which with indexing is now $293,308, regardless of the amount of injury.
The new system does not factor in future wage loss, loss of capacity or cost of future care. Instead of compensating for wage losses as a workers’ compensation system would do, the New Veterans Charter, for moderately disabled personnel, provides only a two to four-year retraining program. According to the statement of claim, a severely injured worker would receive up to $2 million in lifetime compensation under a workers’ compensation program, substantially greater than what veterans of Afghanistan will receive. Sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are particularly subject to low awards and the stress of repeated assessments by skeptical staff.
The new compensation works out to between 30 and 65 per cent less (and up to 90% less for Reserve Force members) than the disability pensions provided to veterans of other theatres of war, according to the statement  of claim. The government unfairly expects veterans to invest these paltry payouts and live off the interest for the rest of their lives. It allows them $500 to obtain professional financial advice on how to best manage these inadequate sums for the rest of their lives. These are people who have been severely injured, many of whom who can no longer work, who have lost limbs, are suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Whose lives and the lives of their families have changed forever. How does the interest from $41,411, which was the sum awarded to one of the severely injured vets participating in the lawsuit, convert to a lifetime of support? Does $260,843 begin to compensate Mark Campbell who lost both legs at the knees and suffered profound hearing loss in one ear, loss of a testicle and libido, diminished mental capacity, major depressive disorder, PTSD leading to alcoholism, and a future of chronic pain among other problems? These are young people with a lifetime of suffering ahead, many of them with families who also need support.
Only those who served in Afghanistan or as part of the Cold War are subject to these new rules. Is it fair that these vets receive a fraction of what vets of other conflicts have received? A fraction of what they would receive under workers’ compensation plans or disability plans of public employees. How many of our soldiers have to fight their own government for what is their due. Or perhaps have given up because the struggle is too great. All because the government wants to save a dollar? This is a shameful budgeting exercise by the government on the backs of those who have risked all and lost much in service of their country. Compare the treatment of our Afghanistan veterans with how our members of Parliament prepare for their own futures.
After six years of service in Parliament, our currently serving MPs are entitled to collect pensions when they reach age 55. For every $1.00 that MPs contribute to their pensions, the Canadian taxpayers contribute $23.30. MP pensions have a guaranteed return of 10.4% which, if not achieved through the market, is funded by taxpayers thereby removing all risks of turbulent markets. Qualified MPs who are currently serving and who reach the age of 55 by 2015, will be eligible to collect an average pension of $54,693 per year in 2015. In addition, if they are not re-elected and are not qualified or old enough to collect their pension, they are entitled to receive a minimum $78,800 in onetime severance payments. An MP elected in the last election at age 19, the age of many of our wounded soldiers, will be eligible to collect an annual pension of $40,000 a year or $1.3 million by age 80 if he retires as MP at age 27 (Source: Canadian Taxpayer Federation Report on MP Pensions, Derek Fildebrandt National Research Director January 2012). There are certain changes pending in the Senate which, starting in 2016, will change the eligibility age from 55 to 65 and increase the required amount MPs must contribute to their own plans (Source: CD Howe Institute: Federal Employee Pension Reforms: First Steps – on a Much Longer Journey by William B.P. Robson and Alexandre Laurin  November 1, 2012) but the discrepancy between the treatment of vets and MPs is still shocking.
And finally for a little more perspective:
Steven Blaney is the MP who serves as Veterans Affairs Minister, the person entrusted with looking after veterans. His pension entitlement will be $56,035 starting in 2015 (lifetime pension $1,804,014) with an additional severance payment of $78,866 if he is not re-elected as an MP in 2015. (Source: Canadian Taxpayer Federation Report on MP Pensions, Derek Fildebrandt National Research Director January 2012).
You can read the Statement of Claim filed by Equitas Society on the Canadian Veterans Advocacy website. You can get more information from Equitas Society on its website or its Facebook page. Watch this YouTube video and read this story about Kevin Barry, one of the claimants in the Equitas lawsuit. An analysis of the failings of the New Veterans Charter written by Dr. Keith Martin, then MP for Esquimalt - Juan de Fuca, in 2006 may be found here. And if you believe we need to do better by our men and women who have come home disabled after serving our country, call or email your MP to let them know this is not right. Here is the list of MPs with contact information.
And please come back to visit because the next blog post will provide more examples of how the Canadian government fails our vets.

Remembrance Day 2012 (Part II)

The weather for today’s Remembrance Day ceremony in Cloverdale worked out very well, but it was a close-run operation. It was cold enough that we felt for the vets in wheelchairs, wearing blazers, medals, trousers and berets. We should bring blankets for them; one who was close to us had to leave part way through.

Photo: the crowded Cenotaph Square, Cloverdale

Following the ceremony, I spoke to a very enthusiastic audience in the Surrey Museum about horses in the Great War, and the Canadian Cavalry Brigade.

Many thanks to Boaz Joseph, photographer and reporter for the Surrey Leader, whose advance story contributed much to the day. 
Here is the site; a very good article: http://www.surreyleader.com/community/178216371.html

Remembrance Day 2012 (Part I)

Like many Canadians, I have regularly attended Remembrance Day ceremonies. A few years ago I would march with fellow naval veterans in Vancouver, and before that attended with my mother at the Cloverdale ceremony. More recently I have gotten into the habit of going to the local ceremony in White Rock.

This year will mark a change. I have been asked to speak at the Surrey Museum at 12 pm, following the ceremony in Cloverdale. My topic will be “Soldier of the Horse”, focusing on horses in World War I and local connections to the Canadian cavalry in that terrible conflict.

When at a ceremony of remembrance I think about the sacrifices made by young Canadian men and women when serving their country, but also about those who continue to put their lives on the line for all of us.

HMCS Ojibwa's last cruise

HMCS Ojibwa, the first of Canada’s Oberon-class submarines, is nearing her final resting place after hitching a ride from Halifax to Lake Erie on board a barge.

courtesy readyayeready.com

An ultra-modern diesel-electric submarine in her day, she was launched in February 1954. Originally the hull was destined to be HMS Onyx, but was transferred to the RCN, completed in HM Dockyard Chatham, England, and commissioned on September 23^rd, 1965. Following workups, she spent her career with Maritime Command Atlantic out of Halifax, but for  a brief sojourn in Esquimalt.

Ojibwa was paid off in May, 1998, after nearly thirty-three years of service.

In the next few days the boat will claim her last berth in Port Burwell, Ontario. She is scheduled to arrive on November 14^th via  a specially-adapted barge and tug, and will be lifted into place as part of the Elgin Military Museum. For further details, see their website at www.elginmilitarymuseum.ca.