Tuesday, 6 June 1944 and 25,000 Canadians

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Alex Blair

Just an up Date...
This summer my wife and I stopped in to see father Mike and he had just finished celebrating his 105th Birthday..He is alive and well but slowed down considerabley ,..
We got there before lunch and he was snoozing in his chair..fully dressed in his civilian padre gear..
I held his hand and talked to him for a while and he acknowleged me and dozed off again..
I was touching a living part of Canadian military history...
I didn't want to let go but we were on our way to Chicago..I took some pictures but they are personal family only pictures and I won't post them on the internet.
I also have a copy of his war diary..and was amazed to find that he was supposed to be on the Dieppe raid with the Essex Scottish ,but was called away ,with all the rest of the padres from the various regiments to a meeting by the head padre that night the regiments left for Dieppe ..The raid was so secret that they were not even notified of the troop leaving and they left with out him..
As a result he was the only officer from the Essex Regiment that was not killed ,wounded or captured the next day and so survived the raid..
It bothered him the rest of his life and probably still bothers him today..
His diary covers '39-'46....Facinating..

Well Captain Mike Dalton is still alive and 108 years old...Amazing ..
Here is a piece from the Windsor Star..
We are certainly proud of Uncle Mike and many blessings to him and all the other veterans,old and new that fight and fought for our freedom..
Lest we forget...

An 'easy' promise that was hard to keep
Marty Gervais, Windsor Star
Published: Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Eight years ago, I promised an old priest that if he reached the age of 100, I'd write about his birthday every year till he died.

It was an easy promise to make since the odds were clearly stacked in my favour.

I was wrong.

This guy keeps living and I am reminded everywhere I go that I broke that promise in 2008. I didn't write about him. I let it slip.

I'm talking about the spirited Rev. Mike Dalton. He will be 108 in May. I'm writing about him now because, who knows, I may not live that long. Not that I have any reason to think that, of course.

The guy is slowing down. From recent correspondence from friends, he has a hard time eating or talking. But at Christmas he sent out holiday wishes to the troops overseas.

I miss this old soldier's bizarre letters. I don't know of anyone in this country who could have faith in the post office like this old priest, who would scribble my name on the front of an envelope and include only the name of the city. Somehow it made it to me. No street address. Simply: Marty Gervais, Windsor, Ont. On occasion, these letters would arrive with my picture reproduced from this column.

And what did he send me? Clippings cut out of newspapers or magazines. Bits of his memoir, jokes, inspirational quotes, and always with a "God bless you!"

Why would he care? Why would he send these to me? I soon learned I wasn't the sole recipient of these letters. He dispatched these to people all over the world. He'd spend his days with a pair of scissors and a stack of envelopes and sit there in a nursing home near Tillsonburg and put in a good day's work letting the world know he cared.

I'd sit at my desk and wonder about this legendary Second World War padre, who was there on D-Day riding at the fringes of battles.

I guess that's the problem of age. After a while people forget what you accomplished. Friends and family die and people forget or aren't aware. I bet you there's not a kid in elementary school, high school, or for that matter at any university in Southwestern Ontario, who knows this priest was a hero.

To visitors who might stumble into Rev. Dalton's nursing home room by mistake, he's just an old man with a twinkle in his eye. They might wonder about the Second World War uniform. They might think he's hanging on to some precious memory and might be pining for a beer with his buddies at the legion.

But what they don't know here is a man who sat in his jeep in wartorn France and listened patiently to the laboured, disturbed confessions of terrified soldiers in the heat of battle. Here is a man who walked down a dangerous road with these men on the way to a battle to help ease the woes, lift the spirits and assure them of God's grace. Here was a man who trudged through mud-soaked fields at dusk to bring communion to his fellow soldiers.

In the war files at this newspaper, there are photos of Rev. Dalton saying mass on the hood of his jeep. He told me once he could be so lost in the service itself that when he turned around to face the hundreds of gathered soldiers, there'd be no one there.

"Suddenly I was all alone," he said. "The soldiers had all jumped for cover and shrapnel was flying everywhere."

And for Rev. Dalton's troubles, he received the Military Cross for bravery.

Somehow that's not enough, is it? People forget. I, for one, forgot his birthday.

martygervais@gmail.com


© The Windsor Star 2009

MLU Link on Fr Mike..

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...806#post107806

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Alex Blair

Well Captain Mike Dalton is still alive and 108 years old...Amazing ..
Here is a piece from the Windsor Star..
We are certainly proud of Uncle Mike and many blessings to him and all the other veterans,old and new that fight and fought for our freedom..
Lest we forget...




MLU Link on Fr Mike..

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...806#post107806

We lost another true hero...Padre Mike Dalton has passed on...
RIP soldier,..

Passes Away
Posted by Adam Liefl

Decorated for his bravery during the Second World War, Ontario's oldest Roman Catholic priest has died at age of 106 in a Courtland seniors home.
The Diocese of London says Reverend Michael Dalton may have been the oldest Catholic priest in Canada.
Born on May 5th, 1902 near Goderich, Dalton was one of 10 children, and he was ordained as a priest in 1932.
Dalton retired in 1970 and lived at a retirement home in Courtland until his death.

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Alex Blair

We lost another true hero...Padre Mike Dalton has passed on...
RIP soldier,..

Passes Away
Posted by Adam Liefl

Decorated for his bravery during the Second World War, Ontario's oldest Roman Catholic priest has died at age of 106 in a Courtland seniors home.
The Diocese of London says Reverend Michael Dalton may have been the oldest Catholic priest in Canada.
Born on May 5th, 1902 near Goderich, Dalton was one of 10 children, and he was ordained as a priest in 1932.
Dalton retired in 1970 and lived at a retirement home in Courtland until his death.

Just another write up on Padre Mikes passing..
We are proud to be part of the Dalton Clan and saw Father Mike last year on a visit to his retirement home on our way through to Windsor..
A true hero and the most highly decorated 2 nd World War Canadian padre.

Ontario’s oldest Catholic priest dies
Father Michael Dalton, 106, was Courtland resident
Posted By John Miner SUN MEDIA
Posted 19 hours ago


Decorated for his bravery during the Second World War, Ontario's oldest Roman Catholic priest died Monday at 106.

Rev. Michael J. Dalton may have been the oldest Catholic priest in Canada, the Diocese of London said.

In a 2004 interview with The London Free Press, Dalton was asked the secret to his longevity. "God only knows," he replied with a twinkle in his eyes.

Born May 5, 1902 near Goderich, Dalton was one of 10 children. He was ordained as a priest on May 21, 1932.

In 1939 he became a chaplain with the Essex Scottish Regiment and served with them in England, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. ??

The Essex Scottish was part of the ill-fated Dieppe raid, suffering extreme casualties. Of the 558 soldiers from the regiment who hit the beach only 44 returned.

While Dalton wasn't part of the landing, he had the job of writing to soldiers' families, notifying them of their deaths.

The Diocese of London archives has a photo of Father Dalton offering Mass on the hood of a jeep two days before the D-Day invasion.

Three times during his overseas service Dalton was hit by shrapnel, twice while travelling in a jeep.

Dalton received the Military Cross for his bravery and service and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire by King George VI in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in 1943. He was the first Catholic priest to receive the recognition.

His parish assignments in Ontario have included Holy Name of Mary, Windsor, St. Alphonsus, Windsor, Most Precious Blood, Windsor, St. John the Evangelist, Woodslee and St. John de Brebeuf and Companions, Kingsville.

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In 1967, Dalton was named Veteran of the Year and Citizen of the Year by the City of Windsor. In 2001, the City of London created Father Dalton Drive in honour of his war service.

Dalton retired in 1970, but continued to serve as chaplain to the Sacred Heart Sisters in Courtland. He lived at a retirement home in Courtland until his death.

[Col Tigwell]

We are lucky for the service of such men and ladies.

There are people in this world who stand above us all, dedicated sincere people, to whom service and duty sit right at the top of their priorities.

We are so fortunate to have them in our midst, and there fortunately there always seems to be someone who stands up to take there place, when their end on this earth comes.

I can see God up there looking down on the good Padre, and thinking his job is nearly done, but I will not take him today, there maybe is someone, a child, a widow, or someone alone, who needs his counsel just one more time.

And then the ends comes, and he calls down to the motor pool, get that jeep out and serviced, the Padre is coming and we have much work for him to do.

Thank goodness for such people and their service.

May God bless you all

Col

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Col Tigwell

We are lucky for the service of such men and ladies.

There are people in this world who stand above us all, dedicated sincere people, to whom service and duty sit right at the top of their priorities.

We are so fortunate to have them in our midst, and there fortunately there always seems to be someone who stands up to take there place, when their end on this earth comes.

I can see God up there looking down on the good Padre, and thinking his job is nearly done, but I will not take him today, there maybe is someone, a child, a widow, or someone alone, who needs his counsel just one more time.

And then the ends comes, and he calls down to the motor pool, get that jeep out and serviced, the Padre is coming and we have much work for him to do.

Thank goodness for such people and their service.

May God bless you all

Col

Here is another bit on Captain Mike Dalton..

Priest a wartime legend


By Marty Gervais, Windsor StarApril 7, 2009






Rev. Mike Dalton celebrates mass with Canadian troops in Europe during the Second World War. Dalton, who died Monday at 106, used his army Jeep as an altar.

Rev. Mike Dalton celebrates mass with Canadian troops in Europe during the Second World War. Dalton, who died Monday at 106, used his army Jeep as an altar.
Photograph by: File photo, The Windsor Star

He was a soldier to the end. His threadbare army tunic hung on the wall, and his room was filled with religious icons, rosaries and holy pictures.

And when you spoke to him, his words were about the men he knew on the battlefields of France when he rigged up a makeshift altar on the hood of his jeep and said mass for them.

The photos from the Second World War show these anxious men kneeling, their heads bowed, silent in the muddy fields just hours before they were sent into battle.

And when age finally wore him down -- long after the war and years of serving parishes all over the London diocese including Windsor, Woodslee and Kingsville -- this old priest told me it wouldn't stop him from saying mass in his bed at the nursing home.

It would never stop him from being a priest. And there was no way he would ever lose his faith in his religion or people.

I'm speaking about an old friend, Rev. Mike Dalton, who passed away Monday afternoon at Sacred Heart Nursing Home in Courtland, Ont. He was 106, a month shy of his 107th birthday.

This son of a Goderich farmer is the most decorated padre who ever served in the Canadian Army. He marched at the front lines with his fellow soldiers, often carrying their weapons when they tired of battle.

Besides the Military Cross for bravery, Father Dalton was the first Catholic priest to receive the Member of the British Empire. The day King George VI pinned the decoration on his tunic at Buckingham Palace, he dug deep into his pockets and handed the monarch a Catholic religious medal.

When I met Father Dalton in the mid-1990s, this legendary padre with the Essex Scottish, who landed at Normandy in 1944, complained of sitting in a wheelchair. His legs had given out on him. He prayed for God to give him back his strength, so he could stand up again and say mass.

TWINKLE IN HIS EYES

Deep down, he knew better. He told me so.

The day I met him, Father Dalton wore the Roman collar, and had a twinkle in those slate-grey eyes and a wit and a humour that bubbled out in the stories he spun for me. He loved to talk. He loved people. He loved life. He loved God. He loved being a soldier. He loved being a priest.

If there was anything he didn't like, it was losing those fathers and sons to war. He had sensed their inner fears. It didn't matter if the orders were to stay clear of the front lines -- he listened instead to his own heart, and drove his jeep to the brink of battle. And he would sit there in the open jeep -- its windshield festooned with flowers -- and hear the laboured, disturbed confessions of terrified soldiers.

Or sometimes he would join a soldier on a road to a battle and try to ease their woes and lift their spirits.

Somehow Father Dalton believed he was invincible. He said he feared nothing. He figured he had a purpose, a reason to be. He felt lucky. He felt destined and blessed for some higher purpose. How else, he asked, do you explain how twice his truck was hit with shrapnel, and men died all around him?

"I didn't have a scratch. I couldn't even get a cold," he said.

And sometimes he was so lost in the reverie of saying mass on the hood of his jeep that he would suddenly turn to give a blessing, "and there was no one there ... I was all alone. The soldiers had jumped for cover, and shrapnel was flying everywhere. I hadn't heard a thing."

Rev. Matthew George, a longtime friend of Father Dalton, in hearing of his death, said the biggest regret of this priest's life was discovering too late the botched Dieppe invasion. "He had been at a chaplain's meeting and when he found out, he wanted to be put ashore, but they wouldn't let him.

"He cared about those men -- and never forgot them," said George.

It reminded me of what Dalton told me years ago when I asked why he joined the army. He said that when he served at St. Alphonsus in downtown Windsor, he realized those same kids who had made their First Communion in that church were now running off to war.

"I had to go with them," he said.

Now with his passing, I'm speculating the old padre is catching up to them, once again.

martygervais@gmail.com
© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star




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Wednesday, April 08, 2009



Rev. Mike Dalton celebrates mass with Canadian troops in Europe during the Second World War. Dalton, who died Monday at 106, used his army Jeep as an altar.

Rev. Mike Dalton celebrates mass with Canadian troops in Europe during the Second World War. Dalton, who died Monday at 106, used his army Jeep as an altar.
Photograph by: File photo, The Windsor Star