From: Fred H. Schlesinger (fred@schlesingers.net)
Date: Mon Jan 23 2006 - 20:17:10 PST
That is a good point, Jack. But don't give up on Canada. They elected a conservative government
-----Original Message-----
today, so maybe our culture isn't that different.
From: J. L. [mailto:milveh@dslextreme.com]
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 10:55 PM
To: Military Vehicles Mailing List
Subject: Re: [MV] non-Canadians serving in Canada's Armed Forces
First, thank you Mr. Bolton for your service to this country and I mean that
in the most sincere way possible. And yes, you're right, you are still
getting some of our worst, as you've pointed out. Running to Canada to
avoid the law or desert the military still happens and since 9/11 our two
cultures seem to be at odds over how America should defend herself and
pursue our enemies abroad. That is unfortunate.
However, it wasn't always this way and you didn't always get the worst of
us! There was a time when Canada and England was at war with Nazi Germany
and the Battle of Britain still hung in the balance. In 1939-40, just as it
once was earlier in WWI, thousands of young American men answered your
nation's call for help; many of them never returned.
Here's a story of one of them you might find interesting. His name was
Claud Weaver, born at Oklahoma City, Okla., on August 18, 1922:
"He came to Canada to enlist in the RCAF at Windsor, ONT., on February 13,
1941. He earned his wings in October 1941, went overseas at once, and after
a brief period with a fighter squadron in Britain was posted to Malta. There
he flew with No. 185 Squadron from July to September, 1942.
In August, Sgt Weaver was decorated with the DFM, for destroying five enemy
fighters and participating in a bomber kill within a period of one week. He
ran his Malta score up to ten before being shot down over Sicily and taken
prisoner on September 9, 1942. A year later he escaped from the Prisoner of
War (POW) camp and walked 300 miles to freedom. Appointed to a commission,
he immediately returned to operations with No. 403 (RCAF) Squadron in
Western Europe, late October 1943. He won two more victories before he was
shot down and killed in air combat while on a "ranger" mission in the Amiens
area on January 28, 1944. March 1944, the award of the DFC was published and
P/O Weaver also was mentioned in dispatches in June 1944.'
'...From the beginning of hostilities it was recognized that one of Canada's
major roles in the war would be as a training ground where instruction could
be carried on away from the actual battle area. Government representatives
from United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada met in Ottawa and
signed an agreement in December 1939 to set up the BCATP, converting Canada
into what President Roosevelt later termed "the aerodrome of democracy."
Canada lacked the production power to meet the demands of increasing its
military 5 fold, so it was the United States, the first and only nation on
this continent to come to the aid of the common wealth and produced many of
the weapons, planes and tanks that Canada took to war.
Jack
-----Original Message-----
During the Vietnam War between 5,000 to 7,000 Canadian's crossed the
From: Military Vehicles Mailing List [mailto:mil-veh@mil-veh.org]On
Behalf Of bolton8@juno.com
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2006 6:58 PM
To: Military Vehicles Mailing List
Subject: [MV] non-Americans serving in our Armed Forces
border into the United States to join the US Army. We came in legally,
obtaining a Green Card.
We all went through the standard background investigation, most
receiving the SECRET clearance. The Army could not levy a foreign
national into a war zone, we had to volunteer for overseas duty.
After serving my one year, I volunteered for a second tour, then a
third. I had a Maple Leaf drawn on my helmet cover and carried a small
Canadian Ensign with me. Still have the photo of it flying over the gun
pit during Tet '68.
Most Canadian's returned home and have a yearly reunion called 'Firebase
Canada'.
The Canadian Legion will not accept them as members. The Legion
considers them "mercenaries, because they fought under a foreign flag".
Six names on the Vietnam Wall are Canadian.
As for the draft dodger's that went North, it was best summed up in the
Toronto Globe & Mail: "The United States got the best of our young men,
while we got the worst of their's."
LANCE
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