A Personal Remembrance

Fred Courtman

My father, Fred Courtman, was a veteran.  He joined the British Royal Air Force as a young man before the Second World War.  He was trained in electronics and avionics.   He spent much of 1938 and 1939 patching up RAF planes broken by over eager student pilots, or later shot at by Germans.  He witnessed the Battle of Britain from the tarmac of airfields around London.

Shortly after that he was sent overseas to Canada to become a part of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, or BCATP.  Now he spent his days patching up the brightly painted yellow training aircraft of the training schools around Calgary.  He spent much of his time posted at what is now the Calgary International Airport (YYC).  He told me stories of he and his RAF colleagues marching around the drill hall which is now home to the Hangar Flight Museum (formerly, the Aerospace Museum) .  He met and married my mother while he was stationed here.

He was shipped back shortly after the war ended.  My Mom followed as soon as civilians were permitted to sail.  My Mom told us that she was in the very last convoy to leave Halifax. That makes my Mom a "reverse" War Bride!  She went to Britain, at the same time thousands of British girls were coming here after marrying Canadian soldiers, over there!

Life in Britain was hard after the war.  Factories that would have hired my Dad with his electronics and avionic skills had been bombed into oblivion.  Shortly after my birth my parents decided to return to Canada.  We three sailed back to Canada as part of a shipload of immigrants and refugees.  My Mom loved to say that she was one of the few immigrants to arrive in Canada carrying a Canadian passport!

The rest they say is history.  My parents settled in Calgary after they came to Canada, and Dad worked at the Calgary Brewery on Blackfoot Trail for many years until he retired.  Although he didn't talk about it often, my Dad was always very proud of his eight years in the Royal Air Force.  He wore a poppy every year, and he loved his adopted country.

My Dad passed away sixteen years ago.

I will be attending  the Remembrance Day ceremonies at Acme on Friday morning.  I will be placing a wreath on behalf of the Village of Beiseker, but I will also be thinking about my Dad!

This Remembrance Day

First, my humble apologies to the students of Beiseker Community School.  I missed their Remembrance Day Poster judging, this morning.  I was asked to help judge the Remembrance Day posters while at Stage East this past weekend - but I didn't have my agenda with me to note it.  I didn't remember it until after the time had passed.  Again, my apologies.

Remembrance Day is important to me. It's a time when we can appreciate what the sacrifices of the many thousands of Canadian soldiers actually accomplished, here at home.  A couple of minutes of silence seems so little compared to what those soldiers gave us.  It is also a chance for us to thank the veterans for their similar gift to us.  Freedom is never free!

I will be attending the Remembrance Day Ceremonies at the Acme Community Centre tomorrow starting at 10:30 a.m.  I am urging you to join me.  The ceremony is organized by the Royal Canadian Legion branch there and it is very moving.

This year after the ceremony, upon my return to Beiseker, I am going to stop at our memorial in front of the Beiseker Community Centre and place my poppy there.  Why don't you do the same?

Historical June

Today, June 4, marks the beginning of three of the most important anniversary dates in the history of the twentieth century.

June 4, is the 25th anniversary of the battle for democracy in China, focused on Tienanmen Square in that nation's capital.  Students from across China gathered in the square to ask the government for more rights and freedoms, and democratic elections.  The protest/demonstration went on for days.  Finally the police and army moved in with tanks and guns to remove, arrest or shoot the demonstrators.  I believe hundreds if not thousands were killed, although no official accurate body count was ever announced!

According to official Chinese records the incident never even happened.  All Chinese history books do not mention the atrocities of Tienanmen Square twenty five years ago.  Many of us interested in world democracy watched the happenings in that square.  We saw the film of the "Tank Man" actually stopping an army tank by standing in front of it!  We saw the film showing truckloads of dead and wounded students being hauled away after the carnage.  We know it happened and we will remember!

June 5 & 6 marks the anniversaries of two Second World War battles which turned the tide of war in favour of the Allies. 

The Battle of Midway took place on June 5th, 1942.  It put an end to the aircraft carrier domination by Japan in the Pacific.  The Americans ambushed the Japanese fleet as it prepared to invade the tiny island of Midway in the Pacific. 

The Americans sunk all four of the Japanese carriers and started turning the war around in their favour.

D-Day took place on June 6, 1944.  Allied armies stormed the beaches of Normandy in France.  It was the largest invasion force ever assembled.  It was the beginning of the end for Hitler and his Nazi domination of Europe. 

Canadians landed on a beach named Juno while Canadian aircraft provided air cover overhead.  Thousands of Canadians were killed or wounded on those first few days.