With Rememberance Day Upon Us

[Loonietoon]

Here is a video from youtube that is an Excellent thing to watch.

  A Pittance of time by Terry Kelly ... hope you all like it as l find it Very Fitting.

[Old Ironmaker]

Excellent, thanks Sir. I don't think there is a family that hasn't lost a relative in times of war in the last century. Mom lost 2 Uncles in Europe and Dad's 1st cousins RAF bomber was shot down somewhere over Europe, Germany I think. He was a Stelco guy. Any Hamilton guys would know Roma Bakery. Adam DiFilippo was the brother and founder of Roma Pizza. My Grand Father took shrapnel to the head in battle in WW1 as a British gunner and survived. He was never the same due to severe brain injury and he lost his family when he returned to Canada. He spent most of his life in the Vets Hospital in London On. I remember a bit visiting in the late 50's. I had to be 4 or 5. I do remember that place was a horrible nightmare of a place. Nowhere a child should ever be. 

Guys share your stories. Our fallen Hero's should never be forgotten and their stories always told. One minute of silence once a year does not do them justice. We do a better job of remembrance today than when I was a kid. Maybe it was too close to what was a recent World War.

Edited November 9, 2018 by Old Ironmaker

[crappieperchhunter]

Seems someone posts this song on here every year and I'm always happy to see it. It is well done and really hits home for me. My mother's Uncle on her moms side was Leonard Birchall. I never met the man but I have heard countless stories about him from my mom. I have seen pictures of him in uniform with so many medals pinned on him you wonder how he stood upright. Take the time if you wish to google his name and read about his military career and accomplishments. I find myself doing it every year at this time and wish I could have met the man.  

Going to war is something I have never had to give any thought to. Remembrance day is a yearly reminder how lucky those of us are to have never experienced any of those horrors  and how thankful we should all be "To the boys and the girls who went over".

 

[SirCranksalot]

and the really sad part is that 100 years after the "war to end all wars" we humans are still going at it with even more deadly weapons allover the world!  

[DanD]

4 hours ago, crappieperchhunter said:

Leonard Birchall.

I just spent the last couple of hours, reading about this man's accomplishments. He is someone all Canadians should be proud of!!!

Dan.  

Edited November 9, 2018 by DanD

[crappieperchhunter]

Thx for that Dan. My folks do not have a computer but if I get the chance I'll show this thread to my mom. It would make her very happy to hear others speak of her uncle that way.

 

[pics]

We have a cenotaph and memorial at Stelco to honour the employees who fought.. I don't know how many served in WW1 but we had 2097 in the second world war with 84 dead. At that time in history women didn't work in factories but they filled in for the men who were off fighting and when they returned the women were let go. The company produced steel for millions of shells in the first world war and enough steel for thousands of ships and tanks in the second. 

[muskybw]

thank you sir,  WE WILL REMEMBER, WE WILL NEVER FORGET THEM, WE WILL REMEMBER !!!!!!

[Old Ironmaker]

Pics not all the women left the plant after WW2. I worked in Payroll during the mid 70's and there were still some women in the Sheet Mill. Norma Berti was one and she was treasurer of Local 1005 at the time. 

That would be my cousin Adam DiFilippo on the Cenotaph's list. Thanks for the photos. I had the honour of attending the Remembrance day ceremonies a few times on Wilcox St. in front of the main office. I was surprised to see a few Viet Nam Vets and 1005 members participating that fought for the US were still working in the plant in the 90's.  

[pics]

83 employees died in the first world war and 3 in Korea.. My uncle served in the Navy in the 70s and 80s as a cook. I can only imagine being in the kitchen with the ship pitching and rolling.... He is now living his final days in a hospital bed at home with a breathing tube. Asbestos, smoking and cooking in a confined space took its toll.. It's a reminder of how many die away from the battlefield.. 

[Loonietoon]

WE SHALL ALWAYS REMEMBER AND NEVER FORGET

[Loonietoon]

Spoke with my dad yesterday and he was telling me of my uncles in Submarines in the English Channel and 1 uncle that was on the Merchant Ships running supplies back and forth dodging German Shipps and Submarines till they got hit and was left in the English Channel to Perish. He bearly Survived and died a few months later of pneumonia he said. My other Uncles on the Bottom they Rest.

[SirCranksalot]

Apparetly the merchant marine was just as dangerous as the regular forces.

 

[Musky Plug]

My grandfather volunteered at 21 or 22 and was a tail gunner in the Lancaster bomber, alouette squadron. He did survive the war, but he passed away when I was about 13 and didn't fully understand the gravity of what he did. My dad has told me a bits and pieces of a few stories that my grandpa shared with him about being on bombing runs and in air to air combat with German fighters and being shot at and shooting them down. We still have his RCAF jacket, his war medals and flight log book among other things. I am very proud of him for doing what he did. 

[lew]

5 hours ago, SirCranksalot said:

Apparetly the merchant marine was just as dangerous as the regular forces.

 

Very dangerous infact as the vast majority of merchant ships were totally unarmed with almost no defense against enemy subs, ships and planes at all. Alot of them were loaded with gasoline and ammunition and when they got hit with a torpedo they were often blown to bits before they knew what hit them.

My Dad spent 5 years in the Navy and for the most part his job was escorting the merchant ship convoys across the ocean to Great Britain and North Africa and doing their best to keep the Germans away from them. Sonar was very basic back in those days and it was often difficult for them to locate submarines until it was too late. Dad saw many ships & crews blown up close by and he often talked about what a horrible feeling it was seeing so many men killed and not being able to do alot to help them. One night Dad saw 3 ships go up within a few minutes of each other very close to his ship.

As soon as a ship was hit they'd try to figure where the subs were and start dropping depth charges (underwater bombs) and firing hedgehogs (a type of rocket) but they'd never really know if they got the subs or not and they'd usually just sink to the bottom when the hulls were fractured. They figured they got a few of them as they'd see oil slicks and debris come up but that was also a ploy of the Germans, to release oil and shoot debris out torpedo tubes to make it look like they'd been hit.

It was a terrible time for everyone during the war, Navy, Army, Air Force and Merchant Marine but they did what they were asked to do and they won the fight and allowed those of us that followed to live the lives we do today and we owe them more than we can ever imagine.

And lets never forget Canada's military was totally volunteer and nobody was forced to go to war as in some other countries.

My Dad's brother served 5 years in the Army, my Mom's brother was a bomber pilot and was killed along with his crew when their plane went down, an uncle served in the British Army and spent 3 years in a Japanese prison camp in Burma and the stories he told of the constant torture would make you nearly puke.

My Dads father was in the British Army in WWI and fought as a sniper in the trenches of France and in his own words said he killed "far too many men but it was what had to be done". He survived even after being hit with shrapnel and was awarded the Military Medal for heroism.

I was lucky and most of those men survived to live long and wonderful lives and even my Grandfather didn't die until I was 35 years old.

I tell these same stories every year at this time as I am VERY VERY proud of what the men in my family did when they were needed.

That's my Dad on your right covered in coal dust as he just finished stoking the engine room boilers and had just come up for some fresh air.

Dad's ship....HMCS Kitchener

Edited November 10, 2018 by lew

[OhioFisherman]

6 hours ago, SirCranksalot said:

Apparetly the merchant marine was just as dangerous as the regular forces.

 

One of my uncles was a merchant seaman during WW2 and was on a ship that was torpedoed, he survived, but most of the crew didn't. The allied shipping losses early in that war were basically nothing short of horrific.

Picture crossing the Atlantic at a blazing 8 -12 knots? With subs hunting for you and little or no protection? An example,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_PQ_17

[SirCranksalot]

I thought they had some protection in the convoys. Minimal, I guess.

 

[lew]

22 minutes ago, OhioFisherman said:

 

Picture crossing the Atlantic at a blazing 8 -12 knots?

My Dad said the convoys travelled as fast as the slowest ship.

[HTHM]

This not meant as a political post, but rather something that just offended me to my core:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...etery-remembrance-world-war-one-a8627571.html

[Old Ironmaker]

Thanks for that Big Lew. Not only Canada didn't have a draft I've read that many as young as 15 lied about their age to sign up. 

I never realized the sacrifices and dangers that faced the Merchant Marines during WW2. My good friend Kevin Henderson's (RIP Hendo) Dad was with them during the war. He served on the ship that is parked in Hamilton Harbour (help, sometimers disease). Kevin had some amazing stories his Father passed on to him at the end of his life. They were sitting Ducks. 

I remember playing in the neighbour just a dozen or so years removed from the end of WW2. There were many Fathers of the kids around that we were told were suffering from Shell Shock. Their bodies were there but their minds were gone. They didn't get their names on any wall as casualties of war but they basically left their lives on the battlefield. Tragic to say the least. We are so lucky. 

Something I was just thinking about. Many of our middle and Sr. management when I started at Stelco in 73' were former officers during WW2. They ran the place with military precision and regimentation.  We could use a bit of that in todays workforce. 

Edited November 10, 2018 by Old Ironmaker

[OhioFisherman]

26 minutes ago, SirCranksalot said:

I thought they had some protection in the convoys. Minimal, I guess.

 

Sir, especially early in WW2, Great Britain entered in  Sept. of 39, the USA was neutral and none of the Allied countries were geared up for war production.They didn't start to get a handle on things until late 42 early 43 as far as shipping losses in the Atlantic.

[lew]

21 minutes ago, Old Ironmaker said:

He served on the ship that is parked in Hamilton Harbour

Your probably referring to HMCS  Haida...a Tribal Class destroyer

[Old Ironmaker]

35 minutes ago, HTHM said:

This not meant as a political post, but rather something that just offended me to my core:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...etery-remembrance-world-war-one-a8627571.html

What would you expect Albert? There obviously wasn't an alternative travel option in place as they had during previous administrations as the article explained. 

[Old Ironmaker]

4 minutes ago, lew said:

Your probably referring to HMCS  Haida...a Tribal Class destroyer

Thanks Lew. Yes, he definitely served on the Haida that may have been part of the Merchant Marine escort at some point. Many of the photos displayed on the Haida were taken by Mr. Henderson and donated by the family. 

I've been meaning to visit, I understand it is something to see. 

Edited November 11, 2018 by Old Ironmaker

[SirCranksalot]

53 minutes ago, HTHM said:

This not meant as a political post, but rather something that just offended me to my core:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...etery-remembrance-world-war-one-a8627571.html

It's taking a whole lot of willpower to avoid commenting on this post-Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.