National WWII Memorial

[102973]

Since I have lived in Michigan for many years now I have not kept up-to-date on the building of a national WWII memorial in Canada. Can someone bring me to speed on this?
Bill Rodd

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Glad to see you here! You are, of course, welcome anytime, and your comments on any subject related to your service overseas are invited!

Regards a National War Memorial, I haven't heard anything substantive, although our members in Ottawa may be more in tune with what's happening these days. I personally think the government was simply happy with the pomp & ceremony surrounding the dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but that may just be my cynicism speaking.

Tell me sir, are you going to Normandy this year for the 60th anniversary?

Secondly, can you share with us some of the work you did with the 2nd Canadian Survey Regiment? According to George Blackburn's magnificent books covering his service with 4th Field Regt, your survey process was directly responsible for the accuracy and effectiveness of all RCA artillery during the campaign in Northwest Europe. I'd love to hear it from your side!

Thanks again, and good evening.

Geoff

[102973]

Thanks for the speedy reply Geoff. Bad morning...unable to send e-mail so, if and when this gets thru and the old PC is on track again, I will answer all your questions.

Regards,

Bill

[102973]

Hello Geof.

A better day! PC is again working. Our whole area was down yesterday until 5pm. Also, sun is shining and i can mow today.

Re your thoughts on a WWII Canadian memorial, I detect some disappointment. I think it is a very sad situation when a country fails to honour their valiant war dead by failing to erect a proper memorial. If and when the CDN govt. gets around to doing something, we all will be six feet under!!

I don,t plan on attending the 60th D-Day anniversary events in France. I have been back to Normandy and visited most sites, aswell as Belgium and Holland. If you have some data on local programs in London , Toronto, Windsor or Ottawa, I might be interested.

Personal stuff service time. Joined up Sept. of 42. Lived in Windsor, ON. Basic in Chatham and advance training at Petawawa. Trained on 25 pounders and took Asst. Inst. course and Sig course. The latter at Kingston. Back to Petawawa and overseas Nov. of 43. Went as RCA reinforcement personnel and joined the newly formed 2nd Cdn. Survey Regt. as signaller and driver.

Landed in Normandy July 19 and joined the big push at Caen.
Falaise was next and then Belgium and Holland by Sep.of 44.
Feb. saw us head into the Rhineland and by May it was all over and our regt. was disbanded. I lucked out and spent from June to Sep.45 as staff at an R&R center near Leiden on the N.Sea.
Finally came home in Mar.of 46.

Survey regiments did not make headlines. We were a technical outfit supplying data to the guns to promote better accuracy.
I was in Q Bty, Flash Spotting Troop. Wealso had a Sound Ranging troop and a Survey troop. The latter laid out gun emplacement areas. Nice to hear that we were recognized by someone.

I believe Gen McNaughton had a big influence on developing this technology. By the way, our first CO was Col. Fair from Toronto.

Regards,

Bill

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Thanks for that, Bill! I have just finished rereading George Blackburn's THE GUNS OF NORMANDY, and will start again on his GUNS OF VICTORY. In both books he makes references to the fantastic accuracy of the Survey Regiment allowing a unique fire control system for Canadian Artillery.

In THE GUNS OF VICTORY, covering the period September to the end of the war (with himself as the longest surviving FOO in the 1st Canadian Army), he speaks about flash-spotting himself, and makes a note of the technical details of how your sound-ranging troop worked. Fascinating stuff!

You say you fellows received little publicity; true enough, with all the attention on the "fighting" forces. However, without the work you did, the others would have had a much harder job.

It's the same situation with RCASC for instance; no one acknowledges that without their tireless efforts, the "fighting" army could not have accomplished half of what they did!

Any time you have stories you would like to share, we'd love to hear them right here.

Sir, I salute you.

Regards the question of parades, there will be one in Windsor on May 22nd... you can read the details on this thread:

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...&threadid=1375

Unfortunately I won't be there, will actually be parading past King's Stone in Southampton that day (the 60th anniversary of a formal parade at the same location past HM George VI). However, a number of members here WILL be in attendance, and if you can make it, I would encourage you to seek them out. Stewart, you're taking your carrier there, are you not? Chime in please!

Take care, Bill, and feel free to speak on any related subject as you wish.

Geoff

[J.P. Brescacin]

Good Morning Mr. Rodd,

As Geoff mentioned, we are planning a parade to commemorate D-Day here in Windsor on the Victoria Day weekend. The plan is to parade down Ouellette Ave. from the HMCS Hunter to Dieppe Park, then display the vehicles etc on the riverfront for the rest of the afternoon. We will be having a BBQ at the Tilston Armoury on the Friday night and a dinner to honour the vets on the Saturday night.
For the parade we have a Sherman, 7 or 8 carriers, a couple of halftracks, a few CMPs and a handful of jeeps (perhaps more). You are welcome, as any vet is , to either march in the parade or ride in one of the vehicles or just attend the dinner and/or BBQ, whatever you please. If any of this is of interest, please send me a PM or an email and we'll arrange whatever we can for you.

J.P. Brescacin

[102973]

Good Morning Mr. Brescacin.

As much as I would love to participate in the commenoration parade on Victoria Day weekend, this will be impossible due to other commitments. But thanks for the invitation. I'm sure all and sundry will have a great get-together. There's nothing like a bunch of old vets getting together to fight the war over again-along with a pint or two!!

My time overseas was with the 2nd CDN Survey Regt. I don't recall any others from Windsor - but my memory isn't what it used to be. We were a mixed bag from all over Canada.

I have a sister living on Mason Place in Tecumseh. Marion Telling.
So I am very familiar with the area from countless visits. Our original family home was in the old town of Sandwich.

Love to hear how the Victoria Day events go.

Regards,

Bill Rodd