- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
Lt Anderson - Croatia '94, I believe died later in New Zealand in a helicopter crash.
Fallen Comrades (retired members)
- Thread starter bossi
- Start date
- Reaction score
- 896
- Points
- 1,060
Reproduced under the Fair Dealing Provisions of the Copyright Act, RSC 1985.
C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y :
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canadian naval hero Desmond Piers dies
Last Updated Thu, 03 Nov 2005 12:20:15 EST
CBC News
Retired rear admiral Desmond Piers, the Canadian navy commander who led convoys through submarine-infested waters during the Second World War, died Tuesday at the age of 92.
When he was 28, the Halifax-born Piers took the helm of HMCS Restigouche, leading merchant convoys across the submarine-infested Atlantic to Europe for two years.
Retired rear admiral Desmond Piers.
He took command of HMCS Algonquin when he was 30, giving fire support to Canadian and Allied forces during the invasion of Normandy.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. In part, the citation with the medal reads: "He has by his vigorous leadership and aggressive attack been an inspiration to those under his command."
Piers was also inducted into France's Legion d'Honneur in 2004.
He became a rear admiral in 1962 and retired in 1967, after 35 years of service.
Copyright ©2005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y :
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canadian naval hero Desmond Piers dies
Last Updated Thu, 03 Nov 2005 12:20:15 EST
CBC News
Retired rear admiral Desmond Piers, the Canadian navy commander who led convoys through submarine-infested waters during the Second World War, died Tuesday at the age of 92.
When he was 28, the Halifax-born Piers took the helm of HMCS Restigouche, leading merchant convoys across the submarine-infested Atlantic to Europe for two years.
Retired rear admiral Desmond Piers.
He took command of HMCS Algonquin when he was 30, giving fire support to Canadian and Allied forces during the invasion of Normandy.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. In part, the citation with the medal reads: "He has by his vigorous leadership and aggressive attack been an inspiration to those under his command."
Piers was also inducted into France's Legion d'Honneur in 2004.
He became a rear admiral in 1962 and retired in 1967, after 35 years of service.
Copyright ©2005 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
- Reaction score
- 5,527
- Points
- 1,360
And I was asked by a family member to post the following,
Any former or current PLFus can send their condolences to:
simarrj@tc.gc.ca
Any former or current PLFus can send their condolences to:
simarrj@tc.gc.ca
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 360
JIM STONE, SOLDIER AND MILITARY POLICEMAN 1908-2005
Rough, tough army officer who led Canadian troops in Italy and Korea, and was three times awarded the DSO, was proudest of a fund he started for blind children
By TOM HAWTHORN
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Posted at 1:37 AM EST
Special to The Globe and Mail
VICTORIA -- Big Jim Stone was a soldier's soldier. Gruff in manner, disciplined by nature, domineering in person, he was thought arrogant by some, yet his bravery was unquestioned. He once greeted news of an enemy assault by barking, "Let the bastards come!"
Mr. Stone rose from private to command of a regiment during the Second World War, fighting in Sicily and northward on the Italian peninsula to bloody Ortona and beyond. He returned to action in the Korean War, his tactics and the bravery of the men under his command halting a fearsome Chinese advance at Kap'yong.
He was one of only 22 officers in the Canadian army ever to be awarded the Distinguished Service Order three times. He also had a Military Cross to his credit.
He was a physically imposing man -- bald, with ropy muscles in thick arms, and a brush mustache. His features were more than once likened to those of an eagle, a comparison for which he did not care. To incur his displeasure was dangerous. Mr. Stone was as fierce a disciplinarian as he was a warrior.
James Riley Stone, who was born in Gloucestershire, trained as a cadet in England before emigrating to Canada in 1927. He was working in a forestry camp in Alberta's Peace River district when word reached him of war in Europe. He rode his horse out of camp on the first leg of a four-day trek to Grand Prairie, where the eager 6-foot-5 soldier joined the Edmonton Regiment as a 31-year-old private.
By the time the Eddies fought across Sicily and onto the Italian boot, Mr. Stone had risen up the ranks to become a company commander. On the outskirts of Ortona, a picturesque Tuscan seaside town, German snipers plagued the Canadians, who eventually found an undefended trench along which they managed to sneak beneath the guns and into town.
The major was "resourceful, independent-minded, determined, brave to the point of near recklessness," according to the popular military historian Mark Zuehlke.
Mr. Stone would need all those qualities to survive the grim battle for the ancient town. He devised a bold strike at the heart of the German defence with tanks charging into the heart of the town with the support of the infantry. The ruse caught the enemy by surprise, but just as the daring tactic seemed about to succeed, the lead tank stopped for fear of mines. According to Mr. Zuehlke's riveting account in Ortona, the major jumped aboard the tank only to hear the tank commander balk at risking his $20,000 machine.
"I've got 20 to 30 men here with no goddamned armour at all and they're worth a million dollars apiece," Mr. Stone yelled at the tank commander. "You're just a bunch of goddamned armoured sissies."
Just then, a German antitank gun began firing on the row of tanks. Mr. Stone threw a smoke grenade and raced headlong towards the gun. He lobbed a fragmentation grenade before seeking cover against the enemy gun's steel shield, silencing the gunners on the other side. The Canadians eventually captured the ruined town at great cost.
Later, Mr. Stone chafed at being the second in command. When he asked for a transfer, his commander refused, insisting that Mr. Stone "was the Edmonton Regiment."
After his bravery at San Fortunato Ridge, in which he led an antitank platoon into the midst of German defences, the major was awarded a DSO. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and in 1944 at last took command of the Loyal Edmonton, as the regiment had since become known. He saw further action in northwest Europe, earning a bar to the DSO, and was preparing for a tour in Asia when the Japanese surrendered.
After the war, he ran a hotel in Salmon Arm, B.C., where he settled into a domestic life with his bride and the first of several children. He maintained a military connection as commander of the Rocky Mountain Rangers.
He returned to combat duty with the outbreak of the Korean War as commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Soon after arriving by troopship at Pusan in December of 1950, Mr. Stone was told his men were to be sent as reserves near the front line. With the memory still fresh of the 1941 debacle at Hong Kong, when green Canadian troops became inevitable casualties of a Japanese assault, the commanding officer insisted his men had come to Korea to complete their training before facing the enemy. He even visited U.S. Lt.-Gen. Walton Walker to press for a guarantee. Not wanting a political battle with the Canadian government, the commanding general agreed. (He would die in a traffic accident later that month.)
The training time also afforded Mr. Stone a chance to weed out those whom he saw unfit for battle. "Much 'scruff' that was hastily recruited has now been returned to Canada," he wrote. "Troops here are fit, morale high, show lots of guts in close contact."
He would later contend that he had not removed all the misfits after some men died drinking canned heat (methyl alcohol). According to author John Melady, the troops were ordered to march past the corpses as a lesson.
On their way to the front, the Canadians came across a massacre of American soldiers, who had hunkered down for the night in a deserted hamlet only to be killed in their sleep. Many were still in their sleeping bags. Mr. Stone ordered the Canadians be outfitted only with a single blanket each. They might be uncomfortable, he reasoned, but they might not wind up with their throats slit.
Sleep would be an impossibility in the battle in which he and his men will be remembered.
A massive Chinese assault had left troops from the Republic of Korea in a disorganized retreat. Mr. Stone, who had only days earlier returned after suffering from smallpox, was ordered to defend one side of a river valley atop Hill 677. He did a reconnaissance from what would soon be the enemy's assaulting point, determining the likely strategy for the Chinese attack. His recce and his experience fighting the Germans in the hills of Tuscany would prove invaluable on the night of April 24, 1951.
The Chinese attacked in great strength, vastly outnumbering the Canadian defenders, who were somewhat unnerved by their stealth -- the Chinese travelled silently, rubber footwear muffling noise until the moment when a piercing whistle or bugle call signalled the start of an attack. The startling noise heralded the start of a bloody battle, the Pats raining murderous machine-gun fire on the Chinese, who had the disadvantage of climbing a steep hill.
Still, their overwhelming numbers came close to overrunning Canadian positions. The fighting in close quarters was fierce and desperate. A platoon leader bravely called for artillery strikes on his own position, trusting his men's slit trenches would protect them from the aerial assault.
At times, the outcome looked dicey. A captain asked to pull back, but Mr. Stone refused. "I told him to stay there, that nobody could pull out, if we ever lose that hill, we lose it all," he said.
In the morning, Mr. Stone ordered an air drop to an isolated platoon, which had exhausted its supplies, including ammunition. The Americans unloaded their cargo with pinpoint accuracy to the relief of the Canadians below.
The attack was repulsed. The Chinese had died by the dozens, if not hundreds. The losses to Big Jim Stone's Patricias: 10 killed, 23 wounded. "Kap'yong was not a great battle, as battles go," he would write many years later. "Personally I believe that Kap'yong was the limit of the planned offensive of the Chinese at that time."
Mr. Stone was convinced his men would have been annihilated had the Chinese pressed on. Still, the defence of Hill 677 undoubtedly saved many soldiers from the UN forces, who won time to reorganize following their hasty retreat.
In any case, the Pats were awarded a United States Presidential Unit Citation, a rare honour. Mr. Stone received a second bar to his DSO.
After Korea, he qualified as a parachutist as the 2nd Princess Pats joined an airborne brigade group called the Mobile Striking Force. In 1953, he became chief instructor at the Royal Canadian School of Infantry at Camp Borden in Ontario. Promoted to colonel the following year, he was appointed provost-marshal of the Canadian Army. He was seconded to the federal justice department in 1958 and later served as senior deputy commander of penitentiaries.
In 1957, he founded the Military Police Fund for Blind Children, raising money for recreational activities and medical equipment. His own daughter, Moira, known as Plumsy, had lost both eyes to cancer. While attending a school for the blind at Brantford, Ont., the girl had asked her father to treat classmates who could not afford candies at the school's tuck shop. Mr. Stone was heartbroken and angered by the lack of resources and founded the fund the year after the death of his daughter, aged 7.
He was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1994 for his charitable work, not his heroics. He considered the fund for children his greatest accomplishment.
Jim Stone was born on Aug. 2,
1908, in Gloucestershire, England.
He died on Nov. 24 at The Lodge
at Broadmead in the Victoria
suburb of Saanich. He was 97.
He leaves daughters Shelley
Bouska and Victoria Patricia
Shimmons; a son, Michael Stone;
six grandchildren; and, two great-
grandsons. He was predeceased
by his wife, the former Esther
King, whom he married on April 2,
1946. She died in 1990. He was also predeceased by a daughter, Moira, in 1956 and a son, James, in 1958.
© Copyright 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Rough, tough army officer who led Canadian troops in Italy and Korea, and was three times awarded the DSO, was proudest of a fund he started for blind children
By TOM HAWTHORN
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Posted at 1:37 AM EST
Special to The Globe and Mail
VICTORIA -- Big Jim Stone was a soldier's soldier. Gruff in manner, disciplined by nature, domineering in person, he was thought arrogant by some, yet his bravery was unquestioned. He once greeted news of an enemy assault by barking, "Let the bastards come!"
Mr. Stone rose from private to command of a regiment during the Second World War, fighting in Sicily and northward on the Italian peninsula to bloody Ortona and beyond. He returned to action in the Korean War, his tactics and the bravery of the men under his command halting a fearsome Chinese advance at Kap'yong.
He was one of only 22 officers in the Canadian army ever to be awarded the Distinguished Service Order three times. He also had a Military Cross to his credit.
He was a physically imposing man -- bald, with ropy muscles in thick arms, and a brush mustache. His features were more than once likened to those of an eagle, a comparison for which he did not care. To incur his displeasure was dangerous. Mr. Stone was as fierce a disciplinarian as he was a warrior.
James Riley Stone, who was born in Gloucestershire, trained as a cadet in England before emigrating to Canada in 1927. He was working in a forestry camp in Alberta's Peace River district when word reached him of war in Europe. He rode his horse out of camp on the first leg of a four-day trek to Grand Prairie, where the eager 6-foot-5 soldier joined the Edmonton Regiment as a 31-year-old private.
By the time the Eddies fought across Sicily and onto the Italian boot, Mr. Stone had risen up the ranks to become a company commander. On the outskirts of Ortona, a picturesque Tuscan seaside town, German snipers plagued the Canadians, who eventually found an undefended trench along which they managed to sneak beneath the guns and into town.
The major was "resourceful, independent-minded, determined, brave to the point of near recklessness," according to the popular military historian Mark Zuehlke.
Mr. Stone would need all those qualities to survive the grim battle for the ancient town. He devised a bold strike at the heart of the German defence with tanks charging into the heart of the town with the support of the infantry. The ruse caught the enemy by surprise, but just as the daring tactic seemed about to succeed, the lead tank stopped for fear of mines. According to Mr. Zuehlke's riveting account in Ortona, the major jumped aboard the tank only to hear the tank commander balk at risking his $20,000 machine.
"I've got 20 to 30 men here with no goddamned armour at all and they're worth a million dollars apiece," Mr. Stone yelled at the tank commander. "You're just a bunch of goddamned armoured sissies."
Just then, a German antitank gun began firing on the row of tanks. Mr. Stone threw a smoke grenade and raced headlong towards the gun. He lobbed a fragmentation grenade before seeking cover against the enemy gun's steel shield, silencing the gunners on the other side. The Canadians eventually captured the ruined town at great cost.
Later, Mr. Stone chafed at being the second in command. When he asked for a transfer, his commander refused, insisting that Mr. Stone "was the Edmonton Regiment."
After his bravery at San Fortunato Ridge, in which he led an antitank platoon into the midst of German defences, the major was awarded a DSO. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and in 1944 at last took command of the Loyal Edmonton, as the regiment had since become known. He saw further action in northwest Europe, earning a bar to the DSO, and was preparing for a tour in Asia when the Japanese surrendered.
After the war, he ran a hotel in Salmon Arm, B.C., where he settled into a domestic life with his bride and the first of several children. He maintained a military connection as commander of the Rocky Mountain Rangers.
He returned to combat duty with the outbreak of the Korean War as commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Soon after arriving by troopship at Pusan in December of 1950, Mr. Stone was told his men were to be sent as reserves near the front line. With the memory still fresh of the 1941 debacle at Hong Kong, when green Canadian troops became inevitable casualties of a Japanese assault, the commanding officer insisted his men had come to Korea to complete their training before facing the enemy. He even visited U.S. Lt.-Gen. Walton Walker to press for a guarantee. Not wanting a political battle with the Canadian government, the commanding general agreed. (He would die in a traffic accident later that month.)
The training time also afforded Mr. Stone a chance to weed out those whom he saw unfit for battle. "Much 'scruff' that was hastily recruited has now been returned to Canada," he wrote. "Troops here are fit, morale high, show lots of guts in close contact."
He would later contend that he had not removed all the misfits after some men died drinking canned heat (methyl alcohol). According to author John Melady, the troops were ordered to march past the corpses as a lesson.
On their way to the front, the Canadians came across a massacre of American soldiers, who had hunkered down for the night in a deserted hamlet only to be killed in their sleep. Many were still in their sleeping bags. Mr. Stone ordered the Canadians be outfitted only with a single blanket each. They might be uncomfortable, he reasoned, but they might not wind up with their throats slit.
Sleep would be an impossibility in the battle in which he and his men will be remembered.
A massive Chinese assault had left troops from the Republic of Korea in a disorganized retreat. Mr. Stone, who had only days earlier returned after suffering from smallpox, was ordered to defend one side of a river valley atop Hill 677. He did a reconnaissance from what would soon be the enemy's assaulting point, determining the likely strategy for the Chinese attack. His recce and his experience fighting the Germans in the hills of Tuscany would prove invaluable on the night of April 24, 1951.
The Chinese attacked in great strength, vastly outnumbering the Canadian defenders, who were somewhat unnerved by their stealth -- the Chinese travelled silently, rubber footwear muffling noise until the moment when a piercing whistle or bugle call signalled the start of an attack. The startling noise heralded the start of a bloody battle, the Pats raining murderous machine-gun fire on the Chinese, who had the disadvantage of climbing a steep hill.
Still, their overwhelming numbers came close to overrunning Canadian positions. The fighting in close quarters was fierce and desperate. A platoon leader bravely called for artillery strikes on his own position, trusting his men's slit trenches would protect them from the aerial assault.
At times, the outcome looked dicey. A captain asked to pull back, but Mr. Stone refused. "I told him to stay there, that nobody could pull out, if we ever lose that hill, we lose it all," he said.
In the morning, Mr. Stone ordered an air drop to an isolated platoon, which had exhausted its supplies, including ammunition. The Americans unloaded their cargo with pinpoint accuracy to the relief of the Canadians below.
The attack was repulsed. The Chinese had died by the dozens, if not hundreds. The losses to Big Jim Stone's Patricias: 10 killed, 23 wounded. "Kap'yong was not a great battle, as battles go," he would write many years later. "Personally I believe that Kap'yong was the limit of the planned offensive of the Chinese at that time."
Mr. Stone was convinced his men would have been annihilated had the Chinese pressed on. Still, the defence of Hill 677 undoubtedly saved many soldiers from the UN forces, who won time to reorganize following their hasty retreat.
In any case, the Pats were awarded a United States Presidential Unit Citation, a rare honour. Mr. Stone received a second bar to his DSO.
After Korea, he qualified as a parachutist as the 2nd Princess Pats joined an airborne brigade group called the Mobile Striking Force. In 1953, he became chief instructor at the Royal Canadian School of Infantry at Camp Borden in Ontario. Promoted to colonel the following year, he was appointed provost-marshal of the Canadian Army. He was seconded to the federal justice department in 1958 and later served as senior deputy commander of penitentiaries.
In 1957, he founded the Military Police Fund for Blind Children, raising money for recreational activities and medical equipment. His own daughter, Moira, known as Plumsy, had lost both eyes to cancer. While attending a school for the blind at Brantford, Ont., the girl had asked her father to treat classmates who could not afford candies at the school's tuck shop. Mr. Stone was heartbroken and angered by the lack of resources and founded the fund the year after the death of his daughter, aged 7.
He was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1994 for his charitable work, not his heroics. He considered the fund for children his greatest accomplishment.
Jim Stone was born on Aug. 2,
1908, in Gloucestershire, England.
He died on Nov. 24 at The Lodge
at Broadmead in the Victoria
suburb of Saanich. He was 97.
He leaves daughters Shelley
Bouska and Victoria Patricia
Shimmons; a son, Michael Stone;
six grandchildren; and, two great-
grandsons. He was predeceased
by his wife, the former Esther
King, whom he married on April 2,
1946. She died in 1990. He was also predeceased by a daughter, Moira, in 1956 and a son, James, in 1958.
© Copyright 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
- Reaction score
- 25
- Points
- 430
Lieutenant-Colonel (retd) John Kristjan Marteinson passed away Tuesday morning following a brief illness.
Funeral services for John Marteinson will be held at St George's Cathedral (King St, Kingston) on Saturday 21 January at 1330 hrs, followed by interment in the Cataraqui Cemetery.
More complete details will appear in the Kingston Whig Standard and the Globe and Mail on Thursday.
LCol Marteinson served in the Regular Fort Garry Horse. He has authored many books about Canadian military history, producing histories for The Royal Canadian Armoured Corps and The Governor General's Horse Guards. He has also worked as editor of the Canadian Defence Quarterly and later the Canadian Military Journal. He was updating the Garrys' regimental history while lecturing at RMC.
He will truly be missed in the Corps.
Funeral services for John Marteinson will be held at St George's Cathedral (King St, Kingston) on Saturday 21 January at 1330 hrs, followed by interment in the Cataraqui Cemetery.
More complete details will appear in the Kingston Whig Standard and the Globe and Mail on Thursday.
LCol Marteinson served in the Regular Fort Garry Horse. He has authored many books about Canadian military history, producing histories for The Royal Canadian Armoured Corps and The Governor General's Horse Guards. He has also worked as editor of the Canadian Defence Quarterly and later the Canadian Military Journal. He was updating the Garrys' regimental history while lecturing at RMC.
He will truly be missed in the Corps.
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 210
RIP Sgt (Retd) Wayne Fornier
http://www.thewhig.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=143319&catname=Local+News&classif=News+Alert
Trucker dies in fiery crash
By Jordan Press
Local News - Wednesday, February 01, 2006 @ 07:00
Wayne Fournier loved the outdoors.
Whether it was working on the lawn or in his garden or watching the cows and horses on the farm across from his home, Fournier loved being outside.
On a trip out west with his wife Karen, Fournier went out in a boat and sat, waiting for the right fish to catch his line.
“He had his boat, we had our camper and he was fishing,” Karen said. “He caught a trout.”
The man who family recalled as a great chef who loved the outdoors died yesterday morning in a fiery crash on Highway 401, about 15 minutes from home.
“It is a hard thing,” Karen said, sitting in the family’s home. “He’s going to make a big void in our lives.”
The 51-year-old Fournier had been driving his tractor trailer home from Toronto a route he followed every night when he collided with another truck around 2:30 a.m. just west of Highway 38.
A Hamilton-area driver pulled out of a truck stop and entered the merging lane while Fournier drove his truck in the right-hand lane, said Ontario Provincial Police Const. Rob Besselink.
“It’s unclear at this point who entered whose lane,” Besselink said.
The trucks clipped, and the collision sent Fournier’s truck into the rock cut where it caught fire.
“It’s very tragic,” Besselink said.
“The cause of death was the collision. The cause of the accident we don’t know yet.”
During the day, investigators were on scene trying to determine what caused the crash, analysing debris and skid marks. An autopsy was to be conducted yesterday.
The accident closed the 401 eastbound lanes from Odessa to Kingston until late in the day. Traffic was diverted to Highway 2, leaving a long line of creeping cars and trucks to wind their way through the countryside until they could reconnect with the 401 at Gardiners Road.
The highway was still down to one lane last night.
Fournier had taken up driving tractor-trailers on his dedicated route after retiring from the military. He had spent 20 years as a chef, cooking around the world.
He got the taste for being in the kitchen in high school in Brockville, where he grew up. Fournier worked as a short order cook at the local Zellers before taking the chef training course at Algonquin College in Ottawa.
It was also while working in high school that he met Karen. They started out as friends, but Fournier had his eye on her and finally their friendship grew into love. Thirty years ago, they tied the knot.
But the military beckoned and Fournier signed up. At one point, he spent six months as part of a peacekeeping mission in Cyprus.
Karen said the military was a good life, as the family got to move to different cities and places.
In the military, Fournier was known as a guy who could do anything with everything, making elaborate meals with whatever was left lying around.
His hours always left him time to come home and make dinner for his family. Karen said her husband made all the meals with some help to make the table look good.
“He didn’t make it pretty he’d make it good,” she said. “The last few years with him driving, meals were not the same. But he would still make Sunday night dinners.”
And how he cooked was part of the show.
“A pinch of this, a dash of that never a measuring cup,” said his son Shaun, 23. “He’d just throw it into the pan.”
Finally, after Fournier retired from the military, the family decided to make their home in the Storrington area.
He was looking for something to do and took up driving. For someone who was very private and enjoyed having his own time, driving seemed a good fit.
“I think he enjoyed the peace and quiet when he was driving,” Karen said. “He enjoyed being by himself at nighttime.”
The rest of the time, he enjoyed being with his three sons Shaun, Scott, 26, and Kevin, 21 and spending time on the golf course with his older brother Ray.
“Yeah, he thought he was Tiger Woods,” Ray said, laughing.
But Fournier never took his golfing seriously, Ray added. It was all about spending time laughing with family and friends.
He was also ready to lend a helping hand. Fournier enjoyed working, especially if it involved physical activity, said his father-in-law Lloyd Smith.
One time, Smith and Fournier noticed a downed tree bent over Smith’s property. There was a mention of getting rid of it, but Smith didn’t jump at the task.
“I didn’t pay any attention to it and five minutes later he’s cutting it down,” Smith said.
Word of Fournier’s death spread through the small community quickly, with members of the family’s church congregation bring over food and providing support.
“We’re in a small community out here,” Karen said. “I’m sure we’ll get through this.”
As for the rest of the family, Karen said their three boys were “feeling the unfairness of it today.”
But it hasn’t hit that Fournier is gone, Ray said.
“Today, it’s still shock,” he said. “I don’t think reality has set in.”
http://www.thewhig.com/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=143319&catname=Local+News&classif=News+Alert
Trucker dies in fiery crash
By Jordan Press
Local News - Wednesday, February 01, 2006 @ 07:00
Wayne Fournier loved the outdoors.
Whether it was working on the lawn or in his garden or watching the cows and horses on the farm across from his home, Fournier loved being outside.
On a trip out west with his wife Karen, Fournier went out in a boat and sat, waiting for the right fish to catch his line.
“He had his boat, we had our camper and he was fishing,” Karen said. “He caught a trout.”
The man who family recalled as a great chef who loved the outdoors died yesterday morning in a fiery crash on Highway 401, about 15 minutes from home.
“It is a hard thing,” Karen said, sitting in the family’s home. “He’s going to make a big void in our lives.”
The 51-year-old Fournier had been driving his tractor trailer home from Toronto a route he followed every night when he collided with another truck around 2:30 a.m. just west of Highway 38.
A Hamilton-area driver pulled out of a truck stop and entered the merging lane while Fournier drove his truck in the right-hand lane, said Ontario Provincial Police Const. Rob Besselink.
“It’s unclear at this point who entered whose lane,” Besselink said.
The trucks clipped, and the collision sent Fournier’s truck into the rock cut where it caught fire.
“It’s very tragic,” Besselink said.
“The cause of death was the collision. The cause of the accident we don’t know yet.”
During the day, investigators were on scene trying to determine what caused the crash, analysing debris and skid marks. An autopsy was to be conducted yesterday.
The accident closed the 401 eastbound lanes from Odessa to Kingston until late in the day. Traffic was diverted to Highway 2, leaving a long line of creeping cars and trucks to wind their way through the countryside until they could reconnect with the 401 at Gardiners Road.
The highway was still down to one lane last night.
Fournier had taken up driving tractor-trailers on his dedicated route after retiring from the military. He had spent 20 years as a chef, cooking around the world.
He got the taste for being in the kitchen in high school in Brockville, where he grew up. Fournier worked as a short order cook at the local Zellers before taking the chef training course at Algonquin College in Ottawa.
It was also while working in high school that he met Karen. They started out as friends, but Fournier had his eye on her and finally their friendship grew into love. Thirty years ago, they tied the knot.
But the military beckoned and Fournier signed up. At one point, he spent six months as part of a peacekeeping mission in Cyprus.
Karen said the military was a good life, as the family got to move to different cities and places.
In the military, Fournier was known as a guy who could do anything with everything, making elaborate meals with whatever was left lying around.
His hours always left him time to come home and make dinner for his family. Karen said her husband made all the meals with some help to make the table look good.
“He didn’t make it pretty he’d make it good,” she said. “The last few years with him driving, meals were not the same. But he would still make Sunday night dinners.”
And how he cooked was part of the show.
“A pinch of this, a dash of that never a measuring cup,” said his son Shaun, 23. “He’d just throw it into the pan.”
Finally, after Fournier retired from the military, the family decided to make their home in the Storrington area.
He was looking for something to do and took up driving. For someone who was very private and enjoyed having his own time, driving seemed a good fit.
“I think he enjoyed the peace and quiet when he was driving,” Karen said. “He enjoyed being by himself at nighttime.”
The rest of the time, he enjoyed being with his three sons Shaun, Scott, 26, and Kevin, 21 and spending time on the golf course with his older brother Ray.
“Yeah, he thought he was Tiger Woods,” Ray said, laughing.
But Fournier never took his golfing seriously, Ray added. It was all about spending time laughing with family and friends.
He was also ready to lend a helping hand. Fournier enjoyed working, especially if it involved physical activity, said his father-in-law Lloyd Smith.
One time, Smith and Fournier noticed a downed tree bent over Smith’s property. There was a mention of getting rid of it, but Smith didn’t jump at the task.
“I didn’t pay any attention to it and five minutes later he’s cutting it down,” Smith said.
Word of Fournier’s death spread through the small community quickly, with members of the family’s church congregation bring over food and providing support.
“We’re in a small community out here,” Karen said. “I’m sure we’ll get through this.”
As for the rest of the family, Karen said their three boys were “feeling the unfairness of it today.”
But it hasn’t hit that Fournier is gone, Ray said.
“Today, it’s still shock,” he said. “I don’t think reality has set in.”
- Reaction score
- 18,532
- Points
- 1,360
RIP Wayne. 
That's one of the worst stretched on the 401...I would do ride alongs with my neighbour in the OPP out of the Napanee detachment often and the rock cuts are not very forgiving there...
That's one of the worst stretched on the 401...I would do ride alongs with my neighbour in the OPP out of the Napanee detachment often and the rock cuts are not very forgiving there...
- Reaction score
- 18,532
- Points
- 1,360
George Wallace said:
Holy crap, I missed this, George! I saw John just before I left for Kabul...really, really nice guy! That's a kick in the gut...
thoughts to his family and friends.
RIP John!
- Reaction score
- 4,320
- Points
- 1,160
This just came in on The RCR/RHC net:
MAJOR THE REVEREND CANON KEN MAXTED (SOLDIER PRIEST)
Major the Reverend Canon Kenneth Edward Maxted passed away peacefully at Toronto General Hospital with his family at his side on March 18th, 2006 at the age of 74. He will be greatly missed by all of his family and friends. Canon Maxted served for 38 years in Canada's army both regular and reserve.
He enlisted at 17 in 1948 in the Irish Regiment of Canada, subsequently serving with 'The Black Watch', The Royal Canadian Regiment, the Canadian Guards and the Royal Regiment of Canada. He served with the U.N. forces in Korea and the N.A.T.O. forces in Germany. In 1986 he was appointed an officer of the Order of Military Merit. He also served for 13 years as an Aide De Camp to four Lieutenant Governors of Ontario. While continuing to serve in the reserve Army, Major Maxted was ordained an Anglican Priest in 1964.
He served for 30 years in the Diocese of Toronto at St. Anne's, St. John's York Mills, St. Luke's, Holy Trinity and St. David's. He also assisted at St. James Cathedral in his retirement.
Canon Maxted served on many community boards including Metro Social Planning Council, Toronto Amsterdam Twin Cities Association, Folk Arts Council and East York Community Ser vice Board. He served for 20 years as a Trustee of the East York Board of Education including six years as the Chairman. He also was a Trustee for eight years on the Metro Public Board. Following retirement he was appointed and served on three Federal Administrative Tribunals, Canadian Pension Commission, Veterans Review and Appeal Board and the Canadian Forces Grievance Board. Canon Maxted was the Chaplain of the Fort York Branch Royal Canadian Legion and the Royal Canadian Military Institute. He volunteered assisting Toronto Firefighters and was Chaplain to 54 Division Toronto Police Services.
Beloved husband of Hendrina for 49 years. Cherished father of daughter Pamela Sattz (Steve) and of sons Sean and Kevin (Jennifer). Devoted grandfather to Steven and Ryan. Loving brother to Patricia Evenson and uncle to Jim and John.
The family will receive friends on Thursday, March 23 from 12-2 pm at ST. JAMES' CATHEDRAL, 65 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 2E9. Funeral service to follow at 2 pm.
In lieu of flowers, donations to Princess Margaret Hospital, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2M9 or the charity of your choice would be greatly appreciated.
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
MAJOR THE REVEREND CANON KEN MAXTED (SOLDIER PRIEST)
Major the Reverend Canon Kenneth Edward Maxted passed away peacefully at Toronto General Hospital with his family at his side on March 18th, 2006 at the age of 74. He will be greatly missed by all of his family and friends. Canon Maxted served for 38 years in Canada's army both regular and reserve.
He enlisted at 17 in 1948 in the Irish Regiment of Canada, subsequently serving with 'The Black Watch', The Royal Canadian Regiment, the Canadian Guards and the Royal Regiment of Canada. He served with the U.N. forces in Korea and the N.A.T.O. forces in Germany. In 1986 he was appointed an officer of the Order of Military Merit. He also served for 13 years as an Aide De Camp to four Lieutenant Governors of Ontario. While continuing to serve in the reserve Army, Major Maxted was ordained an Anglican Priest in 1964.
He served for 30 years in the Diocese of Toronto at St. Anne's, St. John's York Mills, St. Luke's, Holy Trinity and St. David's. He also assisted at St. James Cathedral in his retirement.
Canon Maxted served on many community boards including Metro Social Planning Council, Toronto Amsterdam Twin Cities Association, Folk Arts Council and East York Community Ser vice Board. He served for 20 years as a Trustee of the East York Board of Education including six years as the Chairman. He also was a Trustee for eight years on the Metro Public Board. Following retirement he was appointed and served on three Federal Administrative Tribunals, Canadian Pension Commission, Veterans Review and Appeal Board and the Canadian Forces Grievance Board. Canon Maxted was the Chaplain of the Fort York Branch Royal Canadian Legion and the Royal Canadian Military Institute. He volunteered assisting Toronto Firefighters and was Chaplain to 54 Division Toronto Police Services.
Beloved husband of Hendrina for 49 years. Cherished father of daughter Pamela Sattz (Steve) and of sons Sean and Kevin (Jennifer). Devoted grandfather to Steven and Ryan. Loving brother to Patricia Evenson and uncle to Jim and John.
The family will receive friends on Thursday, March 23 from 12-2 pm at ST. JAMES' CATHEDRAL, 65 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 2E9. Funeral service to follow at 2 pm.
In lieu of flowers, donations to Princess Margaret Hospital, 610 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2M9 or the charity of your choice would be greatly appreciated.
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 60
For those that may not have heard, I noted in the London Free Press today that Kevin passed away quietly at his home on Monday, May 15th, 2006. It was announced that a service will be held for Kevin on Tuesday, May 23rd, at 1400 hrs at the St. Paul's Anglican Church, 9 Douro St, Stratford, Ont.
Stand Easy Kevin.
Ubique, and Pro Patria.
Stand Easy Kevin.
Ubique, and Pro Patria.
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 260
Maj. Robinson was the O.C for Charles Coy 1 RCR back in 94-95 , he conducted my very first and only charge parade. Very fair and quite intimidationg. He was a great man and I will always remember one of his quotes......" Troops you think you can do a better job...come over to the dark side and give it a try." Those who servedunder him will remember that for some strange reason he liked to run the golf course in Petawawa with the whole Coy, man I hated those runs....too many hills.
I will always remember him.
Rest in Peace Sir.
I will always remember him.
Rest in Peace Sir.
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 430
I agree,
A great man to have served under. He made us all feel as we were one, Charles Company, regardless of hats or epaulets.
Rest In Peace Sir,
dileas
tess
A great man to have served under. He made us all feel as we were one, Charles Company, regardless of hats or epaulets.
Rest In Peace Sir,
dileas
tess
Gunner
Army.ca Veteran
- Reaction score
- 11
- Points
- 430
Major Roy Farran
(Filed: 05/06/2006)
Major Roy Farran, who died on Friday night aged 85, was one of the most highly decorated soldiers of the Second World War; he was awarded the DSO, three MCs, the Croix de Guerre and the American Legion of Merit.
But like some other gallant soldiers, Farran did not take easily to the peace he had never expected to see, and in the years that followed he pursued a wide variety of callings. For a time he worked with the security police in Palestine, where he was accused of murder. When the charges were dropped, he came home to Britain, where his brother was killed by a letter bomb.
Farran was head of a construction company in Rhodesia before coming home to stand unsuccessfully in the 1950 general election. He farmed in Herefordshire before emigrating to Canada. He also wrote a classic account of the desert war and the early years of the Special Air Service.
The son of an Irish warrant officer in the RAF, Roy Alexander Farran was born on January 2 1921 in India, and attended Bishop Cotton School at Simla. After Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards (3DGs) and sent to the 51st Training Regiment. Posted on attachment to the 3rd King's Own Hussars in Egypt, he was soon in action at the battle of Sidi Barrani.
On May 20 1941, when the Germans invaded Crete, "C" Squadron of the 3rd King's Own Hussars was in its leaguer four miles west of Canea, and 2nd Lieutenant Farran was sent to block the road from Galatos with his troop of tanks.
When he saw a party of Germans escorting a group of about 40 hospital patients who had been taken prisoner, he killed the guards. The next day he supported 10th Infantry Brigade in a successful attack on Cemetery Hill.
After the Germans broke through the line at Galatos, Farran counter-attacked to retake the village, but was wounded in both legs and an arm, and taken prisoner. He was awarded his first MC.
After being flown to a PoW hospital in Athens he made several attempts to escape, eventually managing to crawl under the perimeter wire. Greek peasants passed him from house to house at great personal risk and enabled him to evade his pursuers.
The Greeks lent him money to hire a caique, in which he set course for Egypt with a mixed group of British, Australians and others. The vessel encountered severe storms, and was blown off its course for 48 hours; and when it ran out of fuel Farran rigged up a sail made out of blankets. One of the men went off his head after the supply of water was exhausted and Farran, the senior officer on board, had to knock him out before he endangered the whole party.
The escapers were too weak to paddle, but their lives were saved by a Sergeant Wright, who made a primitive distiller which provided drinking water from the sea. After nine days Farran and his comrades, almost dead from thirst, were rescued by a destroyer 40 miles north of Alexandria; he was awarded a Bar to his MC.
In January 1942 Farran was appointed ADC to General Jock Campbell, VC, commander of the 7th Armoured Division in North Africa. Farran was driving the general when the car skidded and overturned; Campbell was killed.
Six months later Farran was wounded and evacuated to England, where he was posted to three different units before he was able to join a draft for North Africa in February 1943.
After an interview with Lt-Col Bill Stirling and a rigorous parachuting course, in May Farran joined 2nd SAS Regiment as second-in-command of a newly-raised squadron. Despite suffering from malaria, he insisted on leading a raid to capture a lighthouse which was suspected of housing machine-gun units at Cape Passero, on the south-east coast of Sicily. In September Farran commanded "B" Squadron on reconnaissance patrols and sabotage operations in southern Italy. On the night of October 27 he led a detachment of 2 SAS which was dropped north of the River Tronto behind the German lines. Over the next five days his small force blew up the railway line, cut telephone communications and destroyed enemy transport. He was awarded a second Bar to his MC.
Farran returned to England early in 1944 and, on August 19, was landed by Dakota on an airstrip at Rennes, Brittany, to command a Jeep squadron based in the Forest of Châtillon, north of Dijon. Over the course of the next four weeks his small force destroyed 23 staff cars, six motorcycles, 36 trucks and troop carriers, a goods train and a supply dump holding 100,000 gallons of petrol.
At Beaulieu, the Germans were panicked into blowing up their wireless station and evacuating the garrison. While about 500 enemy were killed or wounded, seven members of the squadron were killed, two were wounded, one was missing and two taken prisoner. Farran was awarded a DSO in the name of Patrick McGinty, a pseudonym he had used since escaping from the Germans in 1941; he claimed that the name came from a song about an Irish goat which swallowed a stick of dynamite.
Following a reconnaissance trip to Greece, Farran led 3 Squadron, 2 SAS, in Operation Tombola to harass German troops withdrawing from Italy. Although forbidden to take personal command, he was not prepared to direct the operation from a wireless set in Florence; and, having persuaded the US aircrew to say that he had accidentally fallen out of the aircraft while they were dispatching the advance party, he was dropped on Mount Cusna, east of La Spézia.
As soon as reinforcements arrived from the SAS, Farran raised a force composed of British commandos, Italian partisans and escaped Russian prisoners which became known as the Battaglione Alleato. At the end of March he led a night attack on the German 51st Corps HQ at Albinea, near Réggio Nell'Emilia, again in contravention of orders.
Although the enemy put up a spirited defence, a German general and his chief of staff were among the casualties.
Subsequently Farran led a series of raids against Highway 12, south of Modena. After the victory parade at the end of the campaign, he expected to be court-martialled; but his operations had been of great assistance to US IV Corps, and those pressing for his court martial had to give up when the Americans said that they were awarding him the Legion of Merit. When the war ended, Farran went to Norway with 2 SAS to help with rounding up the Germans there.
In 1946 he was awarded the Croix de Guerre.
Becoming second-in-command of the 3rd Hussars, he accompanied them to Palestine. One day he was lunching in the officers' mess at Sarafand when terrorists attacked a nearby ammunition dump. Farran and his comrades pursued them, wounding two.
After a spell as an instructor at Sandhurst he returned to Palestine to put his knowledge of clandestine intelligence-gathering at the disposal of the Palestine Police. He formed "Q" Patrols, made up of hand-picked undercover police officers whose job it was to infiltrate the terrorists' network.
There were claims that a hat bearing Farran's name had been found at the spot where a 16-year-old Jewish youth, Alexander Rubowitz, had been abducted; and there were also reports that the youth had been killed. After allegations had appeared in the Palestine Post, Farran was put under house arrest.
Farran claimed to have a water-tight alibi, but believed that he would be sacrificed by the British authorities in order to demonstrate impartiality in dealing with the Jews and Arabs. When he heard that he was to be charged with murder, he stole a car and, accompanied by two of his NCOs, crossed the border into Syria and told his story to the head of the British Legation in Damascus.
Farran flew back to Palestine with the Assistant Inspector-General of the Palestine Police and was incarcerated in Allenby Barracks, Jerusalem. He escaped again, but surrendered after members of the Stern gang started to take reprisals against his friends.
At his trial it was maintained that no body had been discovered and that Farran had not been identified in a line-up by those who claimed to have seen the boy taken away in a car. The case was dismissed because of lack of evidence. But when he was in Scotland shortly before the first anniversary of the boy's disappearance, Farran's youngest brother, Rex, was killed by a letter bomb sent to the family home near Wolverhampton; Farran suspected the Stern gang.
After a brief spell as a quarrymaster in Scotland, he moved to Kenya and then Rhodesia to head a construction company. He then flew home again to stand as a Conservative for Dudley and Stourbridge in the 1950 general election, but lost by some 13,000 votes to the future Labour paymaster-general George Wigg.
Farran subsequently emigrated to Alberta, where he made his home for the rest of his life, though he was to offer his services to the War Office during the Suez crisis. He took up dairy farming at Calgary, worked as a reporter and columnist for the Calgary Herald and, in 1954, founded the North Hill News, which became the country's leading weekly newspaper.
In 1961 Farran was elected a city alderman and, 10 years later, a Progressive Conservative member of the provincial legislature. As minister of telephones and utilities he was responsible for providing gas supplies to every farmer. Then, as solicitor-general, he introduced breathalyser tests and outdoor camps for young offenders.
On stepping down from politics in 1979, Farran became chairman of the Alberta Racing Commission and head of the North American Jockeys' Association. He was a columnist for the Edmonton Journal in the 1980s and a visiting professor at Alberta University from 1985 to 1989. He established the Farran Foundation in the French Vosges as a centre for exchanges between French and Canadian students and, in 1994, returned to Bains-les- Bains in the Vosges to accept the Légion d'honneur from the French government.
In 1996 Farran went to Zambia and Zaire to trace the route of a cattle drive made by his brother Kit in the 1950s. He was held up by rebels, and had a close brush with a lion.
Three years later he was diagnosed with throat cancer and had his larynx removed; but he mastered talking through a hole in his throat so well that he was able to return to public speaking.
Aged 80, while herding cattle at his ranch, Farran was thrown from his horse, breaking his back for the sixth time; the first two injuries were the result of wartime accidents, while the others were caused by riding falls.
Farran had a strong Catholic faith, and used to say the Hail Mary before going into action. In later life he said that he did not dislike Jews and bore no ill will towards the British authorities over his arrest and court-martial, believing that they had been placed in an impossible position. His books included Winged Dagger (1948) and Operation Tombola (1960) about his wartime exploits, as well as a history of the Calgary Highlanders and some half dozen novels.
Roy Farran married, in 1950, Ruth Harvie Ardern. She predeceased him, and he is survived by their two sons and two daughters.
(Filed: 05/06/2006)
Major Roy Farran, who died on Friday night aged 85, was one of the most highly decorated soldiers of the Second World War; he was awarded the DSO, three MCs, the Croix de Guerre and the American Legion of Merit.
But like some other gallant soldiers, Farran did not take easily to the peace he had never expected to see, and in the years that followed he pursued a wide variety of callings. For a time he worked with the security police in Palestine, where he was accused of murder. When the charges were dropped, he came home to Britain, where his brother was killed by a letter bomb.
Farran was head of a construction company in Rhodesia before coming home to stand unsuccessfully in the 1950 general election. He farmed in Herefordshire before emigrating to Canada. He also wrote a classic account of the desert war and the early years of the Special Air Service.
The son of an Irish warrant officer in the RAF, Roy Alexander Farran was born on January 2 1921 in India, and attended Bishop Cotton School at Simla. After Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales's) Dragoon Guards (3DGs) and sent to the 51st Training Regiment. Posted on attachment to the 3rd King's Own Hussars in Egypt, he was soon in action at the battle of Sidi Barrani.
On May 20 1941, when the Germans invaded Crete, "C" Squadron of the 3rd King's Own Hussars was in its leaguer four miles west of Canea, and 2nd Lieutenant Farran was sent to block the road from Galatos with his troop of tanks.
When he saw a party of Germans escorting a group of about 40 hospital patients who had been taken prisoner, he killed the guards. The next day he supported 10th Infantry Brigade in a successful attack on Cemetery Hill.
After the Germans broke through the line at Galatos, Farran counter-attacked to retake the village, but was wounded in both legs and an arm, and taken prisoner. He was awarded his first MC.
After being flown to a PoW hospital in Athens he made several attempts to escape, eventually managing to crawl under the perimeter wire. Greek peasants passed him from house to house at great personal risk and enabled him to evade his pursuers.
The Greeks lent him money to hire a caique, in which he set course for Egypt with a mixed group of British, Australians and others. The vessel encountered severe storms, and was blown off its course for 48 hours; and when it ran out of fuel Farran rigged up a sail made out of blankets. One of the men went off his head after the supply of water was exhausted and Farran, the senior officer on board, had to knock him out before he endangered the whole party.
The escapers were too weak to paddle, but their lives were saved by a Sergeant Wright, who made a primitive distiller which provided drinking water from the sea. After nine days Farran and his comrades, almost dead from thirst, were rescued by a destroyer 40 miles north of Alexandria; he was awarded a Bar to his MC.
In January 1942 Farran was appointed ADC to General Jock Campbell, VC, commander of the 7th Armoured Division in North Africa. Farran was driving the general when the car skidded and overturned; Campbell was killed.
Six months later Farran was wounded and evacuated to England, where he was posted to three different units before he was able to join a draft for North Africa in February 1943.
After an interview with Lt-Col Bill Stirling and a rigorous parachuting course, in May Farran joined 2nd SAS Regiment as second-in-command of a newly-raised squadron. Despite suffering from malaria, he insisted on leading a raid to capture a lighthouse which was suspected of housing machine-gun units at Cape Passero, on the south-east coast of Sicily. In September Farran commanded "B" Squadron on reconnaissance patrols and sabotage operations in southern Italy. On the night of October 27 he led a detachment of 2 SAS which was dropped north of the River Tronto behind the German lines. Over the next five days his small force blew up the railway line, cut telephone communications and destroyed enemy transport. He was awarded a second Bar to his MC.
Farran returned to England early in 1944 and, on August 19, was landed by Dakota on an airstrip at Rennes, Brittany, to command a Jeep squadron based in the Forest of Châtillon, north of Dijon. Over the course of the next four weeks his small force destroyed 23 staff cars, six motorcycles, 36 trucks and troop carriers, a goods train and a supply dump holding 100,000 gallons of petrol.
At Beaulieu, the Germans were panicked into blowing up their wireless station and evacuating the garrison. While about 500 enemy were killed or wounded, seven members of the squadron were killed, two were wounded, one was missing and two taken prisoner. Farran was awarded a DSO in the name of Patrick McGinty, a pseudonym he had used since escaping from the Germans in 1941; he claimed that the name came from a song about an Irish goat which swallowed a stick of dynamite.
Following a reconnaissance trip to Greece, Farran led 3 Squadron, 2 SAS, in Operation Tombola to harass German troops withdrawing from Italy. Although forbidden to take personal command, he was not prepared to direct the operation from a wireless set in Florence; and, having persuaded the US aircrew to say that he had accidentally fallen out of the aircraft while they were dispatching the advance party, he was dropped on Mount Cusna, east of La Spézia.
As soon as reinforcements arrived from the SAS, Farran raised a force composed of British commandos, Italian partisans and escaped Russian prisoners which became known as the Battaglione Alleato. At the end of March he led a night attack on the German 51st Corps HQ at Albinea, near Réggio Nell'Emilia, again in contravention of orders.
Although the enemy put up a spirited defence, a German general and his chief of staff were among the casualties.
Subsequently Farran led a series of raids against Highway 12, south of Modena. After the victory parade at the end of the campaign, he expected to be court-martialled; but his operations had been of great assistance to US IV Corps, and those pressing for his court martial had to give up when the Americans said that they were awarding him the Legion of Merit. When the war ended, Farran went to Norway with 2 SAS to help with rounding up the Germans there.
In 1946 he was awarded the Croix de Guerre.
Becoming second-in-command of the 3rd Hussars, he accompanied them to Palestine. One day he was lunching in the officers' mess at Sarafand when terrorists attacked a nearby ammunition dump. Farran and his comrades pursued them, wounding two.
After a spell as an instructor at Sandhurst he returned to Palestine to put his knowledge of clandestine intelligence-gathering at the disposal of the Palestine Police. He formed "Q" Patrols, made up of hand-picked undercover police officers whose job it was to infiltrate the terrorists' network.
There were claims that a hat bearing Farran's name had been found at the spot where a 16-year-old Jewish youth, Alexander Rubowitz, had been abducted; and there were also reports that the youth had been killed. After allegations had appeared in the Palestine Post, Farran was put under house arrest.
Farran claimed to have a water-tight alibi, but believed that he would be sacrificed by the British authorities in order to demonstrate impartiality in dealing with the Jews and Arabs. When he heard that he was to be charged with murder, he stole a car and, accompanied by two of his NCOs, crossed the border into Syria and told his story to the head of the British Legation in Damascus.
Farran flew back to Palestine with the Assistant Inspector-General of the Palestine Police and was incarcerated in Allenby Barracks, Jerusalem. He escaped again, but surrendered after members of the Stern gang started to take reprisals against his friends.
At his trial it was maintained that no body had been discovered and that Farran had not been identified in a line-up by those who claimed to have seen the boy taken away in a car. The case was dismissed because of lack of evidence. But when he was in Scotland shortly before the first anniversary of the boy's disappearance, Farran's youngest brother, Rex, was killed by a letter bomb sent to the family home near Wolverhampton; Farran suspected the Stern gang.
After a brief spell as a quarrymaster in Scotland, he moved to Kenya and then Rhodesia to head a construction company. He then flew home again to stand as a Conservative for Dudley and Stourbridge in the 1950 general election, but lost by some 13,000 votes to the future Labour paymaster-general George Wigg.
Farran subsequently emigrated to Alberta, where he made his home for the rest of his life, though he was to offer his services to the War Office during the Suez crisis. He took up dairy farming at Calgary, worked as a reporter and columnist for the Calgary Herald and, in 1954, founded the North Hill News, which became the country's leading weekly newspaper.
In 1961 Farran was elected a city alderman and, 10 years later, a Progressive Conservative member of the provincial legislature. As minister of telephones and utilities he was responsible for providing gas supplies to every farmer. Then, as solicitor-general, he introduced breathalyser tests and outdoor camps for young offenders.
On stepping down from politics in 1979, Farran became chairman of the Alberta Racing Commission and head of the North American Jockeys' Association. He was a columnist for the Edmonton Journal in the 1980s and a visiting professor at Alberta University from 1985 to 1989. He established the Farran Foundation in the French Vosges as a centre for exchanges between French and Canadian students and, in 1994, returned to Bains-les- Bains in the Vosges to accept the Légion d'honneur from the French government.
In 1996 Farran went to Zambia and Zaire to trace the route of a cattle drive made by his brother Kit in the 1950s. He was held up by rebels, and had a close brush with a lion.
Three years later he was diagnosed with throat cancer and had his larynx removed; but he mastered talking through a hole in his throat so well that he was able to return to public speaking.
Aged 80, while herding cattle at his ranch, Farran was thrown from his horse, breaking his back for the sixth time; the first two injuries were the result of wartime accidents, while the others were caused by riding falls.
Farran had a strong Catholic faith, and used to say the Hail Mary before going into action. In later life he said that he did not dislike Jews and bore no ill will towards the British authorities over his arrest and court-martial, believing that they had been placed in an impossible position. His books included Winged Dagger (1948) and Operation Tombola (1960) about his wartime exploits, as well as a history of the Calgary Highlanders and some half dozen novels.
Roy Farran married, in 1950, Ruth Harvie Ardern. She predeceased him, and he is survived by their two sons and two daughters.
devil39
Sr. Member
- Reaction score
- 39
- Points
- 330
A great soldier.... those who spent some time in the PPCLI Home Station Officers' Mess in Calgary may have met him at one time or another... and likely would not of known how impressive a soldier and leader he was. He certainly didn't flaunt it, a man with a DSO, 3 MCs, the Croix de Guerre and the American Legion of Merit.
His book "Winged Dagger" is a must read on the subject of WWII SAS.
His book "Winged Dagger" is a must read on the subject of WWII SAS.
FormerHorseGuard
Sr. Member
- Reaction score
- 422
- Points
- 760
wow some life he led. may he rip.
most can only dream of living an action hero's adventure, he lived it and lived to tell the tail.
most can only dream of living an action hero's adventure, he lived it and lived to tell the tail.
- Reaction score
- 4,320
- Points
- 1,160
RSM (CWO) John Juteau, the Royal Canadian Regiment, passed away in Victoria, BC on 11 July 2006.
I had the pleasure and honour of serving with Mr. Juteau when he was RSM of 2RCR in Germany (Soest) in the late ‘60s. He was a first rate soldier and a gentleman. He was also an ever tactful guide to young captains who were (very, very often) in danger of overreaching themselves.
The battalion, back in those days, had an excellent core of NCOs and men – many from the Nort’ Shore of New Brunswick but it had a few leadership problems. RSM Juteau was brought on board by then LCol (later BGen) Big Jim Cowan – in large measure, I believe, at the behest of then Maj (later LGen) Jack Vance as part of the process of dragging the entire Regiment into the second half of the 20th century. He did wonders with the morale (and professional standards) of the Sergeants’ Mess and he asked that the officers pull up their socks, too. Such was his professional presence that officers were pleased to take up the challenge.
I remember more than one late night with RSM Juteau in the battalion CP where he demonstrated his sound knowledge of battalion tactics, his (highly uncommon) common sense and his ability to sort wheat from chaff.
He welcomed me into his home and I had the pleasure, then and, now and again, later, of meeting his son LCol Len Juteau (Signals) who, sadly, predeceased his father. Father and son were much alike: good, solid men with abundant ability, a great work ethic and a deep love of the Army and the country.
Pro Patria
I had the pleasure and honour of serving with Mr. Juteau when he was RSM of 2RCR in Germany (Soest) in the late ‘60s. He was a first rate soldier and a gentleman. He was also an ever tactful guide to young captains who were (very, very often) in danger of overreaching themselves.
The battalion, back in those days, had an excellent core of NCOs and men – many from the Nort’ Shore of New Brunswick but it had a few leadership problems. RSM Juteau was brought on board by then LCol (later BGen) Big Jim Cowan – in large measure, I believe, at the behest of then Maj (later LGen) Jack Vance as part of the process of dragging the entire Regiment into the second half of the 20th century. He did wonders with the morale (and professional standards) of the Sergeants’ Mess and he asked that the officers pull up their socks, too. Such was his professional presence that officers were pleased to take up the challenge.
I remember more than one late night with RSM Juteau in the battalion CP where he demonstrated his sound knowledge of battalion tactics, his (highly uncommon) common sense and his ability to sort wheat from chaff.
He welcomed me into his home and I had the pleasure, then and, now and again, later, of meeting his son LCol Len Juteau (Signals) who, sadly, predeceased his father. Father and son were much alike: good, solid men with abundant ability, a great work ethic and a deep love of the Army and the country.
Pro Patria
- Reaction score
- 4,320
- Points
- 1,160
I had the opportunity to visit the Sai Wan Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in Hong Kong a few days ago.
It was a reminder – even though we don’t really need one, of the nature of the supreme sacrifice.
Two headstones reminded me that death in battle takes the young and old:
• Rifleman M.G.C. Thompson, Royal Rifles, who was only 18 when he was killed; and
• Brigadier John Kendall Lawson, late of The Royal Canadian Regiment, who was killed at the age of 54, in close quarter fighting when his brigade headquarters was overrun.
It was a reminder – even though we don’t really need one, of the nature of the supreme sacrifice.
Two headstones reminded me that death in battle takes the young and old:
• Rifleman M.G.C. Thompson, Royal Rifles, who was only 18 when he was killed; and
• Brigadier John Kendall Lawson, late of The Royal Canadian Regiment, who was killed at the age of 54, in close quarter fighting when his brigade headquarters was overrun.
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