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Richard Revisited/P.E.T.
Please reread my original post on Richard, et al, that started this
thread. You'll all see that I did not wish to dwell on Richard's lack of
service, per se. On the contrary I was pointing out that ALL the NHL
teams were able to continue playing and escape conscription, were they
all accident prone too?. My remarks weren't meant as an
Anglo-Francophone issue. (One could also wonder about all the Major
League baseball players down south and The Draft).
Regardless of prior injuries, I still find it ironic that he (and
others) were not fit enough to serve and yet could play 50 games of
brutal hockey per year.
And Powerful Pierre WAS in the Canadian Army!! He was a member of the
COTC unit at (I believe) McGill. Not so sure that he had any choice in
the matter or that he made a willing OCdt. Not sure that he was there
more than one year.
Ian Edwards (plus ca change ...)
[email protected] wrote:
>
> From: Ian Edwards <[email protected]>
>
> With reference to the Rocket, according to an editorial in yesterday's Globe and
> Mail
> by Tom Axworthy, Richard did volunteer for overseas duty, but was turned down on
> account of poor ankles and wrists (I assue due to hockey injuries). While an
> NHL player
> may be "healthy", they've certainly been through a lot,and given the high
> medical standards,
> I can see the army not wanting individuals prone to injuries, so the NHL's
> escape may have been more innocent.
> As for the Rocket, he apparently spent the war building tanks during the day,
> and from what I understand in the editorial,
> he earned the respect of all Canadians for volunteering, even though he was not
> accepted.
>
> With respect to the other threads on the concription crisis, I've heard that the
> volunteer rate for Quebec (and French-Canadians)
> was nearly, if not exactly, the same as for English-Canadians, although I have
> not seen any statistics. If anyone knows the facts,
> I think it would help the debate. My understanding of the issue is that
> French-Canadians were opposed to being forced to go into
> what was considered a European affair, while in fact they volunteered at the
> same rate as other Canadians. The ties to France discussed here
> were largely built up in the last 50 years, mostly by separatists and
> nationalists. In the years leading up to the two wars there was not a lot of
> strong feeling for France - indeed, if you go back, there was a recognition of
> the total abandonment of the colony by France after the "Conquest" (curiously,
> this is where the phrase "Je me souviens" comes from). French-Canadians
> didn't have many ties in those days to France, so fighting for France, or
> Britain, to them seemed much more a foreign war. For English-Canadians, on the
> other hand (and to counter the point about no news from Britain) the ties to
> Britian were very strong. I remember last year the Globe ran the front page
> from a past issue, and if you look at the pages from the first 35 years, there's
> almost as much, and sometimes more, news about the British parliament than the
> Canadian.
>
> The second conscription crisis (WWII) was fanned in large part by the fact that
> this was the second time the same thing happened in 30 years, along with a
> pseudo-fascist government in Quebec City, and a growing sense of nationalism in
> the political elite. Opposition to conscription was done almost on principle;
> I recall reading that Trudeau (who was an officer in the Fusiliers de
> Mont-Royal) had volunteered, but then withdrew because
> conscription was imposed. On the other hand, my Dad told me Trudeau spent the
> war driving around on a motorcycle wearing a German helmet...
> I suppose I could ask him - he works in my building :-).
>
> From: Ian Edwards <[email protected]>
> Subject: Unknown Soldier-Armbands
>
> I watched CBCs half hour special on Sunday Report on the entombing of
> the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa. Very moving ceremony, very well done.
>
> One question arose in my mind. Why were the Officers of the CF and RCMP
> wearing black armbands (brassards)? I am reasonably sure that, until
> recently at least, the wearing of the black armband by commissioned
> officers was restricted to mourning the death of a member of the Royal
> Family (possibly a serving GG as well). Would seem that CFAOs or
> whatever must have changed. I don't have a problem with the changing of
> the regulations, just wonder what qualifies nowadays?
>
> Rather ironic (to me only perhaps) that the country mourns the death of
> Maurice (Rocket) Richard at the same time. It was never clear to me how
> he managed to escape conscription during WW2. Although truly a great
> hockey player many of his records were made/started during WW2. Not to
> imply francaphone bias I wonder how the NHL as a whole managed to exist
> during wartime when the two Cdn teams (Habs and Leafs) were located in
> Canada and the old four US teams were then comprised solely of Canadian
> players. I can't imagine anyone as "healthy" as an NHL player.
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