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Colonel, The Honourable Iona V.
Campagnola, Lieutenant Governor of
British Columbia, honoured area veterans
and University of Victoria students
who participated in the Veterans Oral
History project. The event was held in
the Naval Officers..Training Centre Gun
Room at Work Point Barracks, Esquimalt
on Friday, 29 Sept.
Those honoured received certificates from Her Honour for participating in this joint UVic and Royal United Services Institute of Vancouver Island Lest We Forget..history project. Designed to ensure that the voices and memories of Veterans are preserved for future generations, it is offered as part of the regular University of Victoria history curriculum.
UVic and RUSI of VI have teamed up to enable undergraduate students in this new course to interview and archive the personal stories of veterans, including peacekeepers and veterans..families. The Institute has undertaken to match ten history students with suitable veterans in each semester, according to their areas of interest and research. Thus their stories will be available in the UVic Reg Roy Military History Collection for future research by others.
After Col (Ret) John Eggenberger, Institute president, introduced the Patron of RUSI of VI, Her Honour reminded all, that this honours the actualization of the ongoing plan of making accessible to future generations, memories and experiences of individual warriors engaged with Canada.s Armed Forces during the past six decades or so, inclusive of the Second World War, the Korean War and peacekeeping, with no doubt new sections to be added as our young military men and women return from harm.s way in Afghanistan. Their experiences in war conditions, she said, will contribute in due course, with additions from those serving elsewhere, to future military planning and execution of those plans.
Dr. Martin Taylor spoke on behalf of UVic president Dr David Turpin. He emphasized two features of the project: its integration of research and teaching; and its engagement with a vital group within our community.
The core mission of a university, he said, is to conduct high quality research and to disseminate knowledge through its teaching programs. This project is particularly notable because it does just that. The knowledge created by capturing the experiences of our veterans through their first hand accounts, enriches our students ..understanding of some of the most important events in the recent history of our country. This is all the more instructive because the students themselves have been directly engaged in conducting the interviews. And we (UVic) sincerely thank the veterans who participated in the project to make this possible.
Other faculty members present from UVic were Dr. Andrew Rippon, Dean, Faculty of Humanities; Dr. Thomas Saunders, Chair, History Department; Dr. David Zimmerman, Professor Military History; Dr. Shawn Cafferky, Assistant Professor, Military History.
“Today,” Lieutenant Governor Campanola emphasized, “we put some distinguished ‘faces’ to some of those unique and important memories.” She then awarded Certificates of Appreciation to each student interviewer and the veterans in that study group.
In conclusion, RUSI of VI members hosted all present to an informal buffet luncheon.
Following topic research and interviews with the selected veterans, the students consolidated their research into an undergraduate essay. Topics researched ranged from RCAF Bomber Crews to Prisoners of War, the Battle of the North Atlantic and Aboriginal Veterans in Canada.
A particularly poignant essay was completed by Ms Jude Goertzen entitled Bats and Bananas: POW experiences in German, Russian and Japanese POW camps... She records RAdm Richard Leir.s experience as a Japanese POW after the sinking of HMS Exeter in the Java Sea. Sleeping bats were pulled from banana trees in the camp before dawn and boiled to augment the day.s meager 400 caloric diet.
Some of the student essays can be read on the RUSI VI web site: www.rusiviccda.org/oralhistory/essays/
| Sara Bowen with | BGen
(Ret) Ron L. Bell, CD, Col (Ret) John C. Eggenberger, OMM, CD, VAdm (Ret) Nigel Brodeur, CMM, CD. |
| Matt Chapman with | W/O 1
(Ret) Douglas Hudson, Capt (Ret) Irwin Ross, DFM, CD, W/C (Ret) James Baillie, CD. |
| Natalie Genest with | Plt/O(NS) (Ret) Jean Everard,
Flt/Lt(NS) (Ret) Catherine Frewen, CD, Flt/ Lt(NS) (Ret) Norma Fieldhouse. |
| Jude Goertzen with | Lt Dietrich Puetter,
(Luftwaffe Pilot -Russian POW
1942 ..1949), Fred Lereverend, RAdm (Ret) Richard Leir CD. |
| Suneil Karod with | Sqn/Ldr (Ret)
William Rodney, DFC*, Flt/Lt (Ret) Ken Pask, Sqn/Ldr (Ret) Finley. |
| Alyssum Nielse with | Ms
Betty Ramshaw, Ms Sylvia Wilkes, Ms Edith Taylor. |
| Louise Walton with | VAdm (Ret) Robert George, |
| Steve Weatherbe with | MGen (Ret) James
Tedlie, DSO, CD, Mr. Patrick Sheppard, Col (Ret) Robert Rogers. |
| Jessica Wood with | L/Cpl (Ret)
Ernest Clark, L/S (Ret) Claude McKenzie. (* second award) |
| Nick Allen with | Sqn/Ldr
(Ret) William Rodney, DFC*, F/O (Ret) Gerald Wilson, DFC*, Sqn/ Ldr (Ret) Arthur Sager, DFC*. |
| Ned Debeck with | CDR (Ret) Peter
Chance, CD, Capt (N) (Ret) Godfrey (Skinny) Hayes, OMM, DSC, CD, Lt Cdr (Ret) Arthur Howard, CD. |
| Marshall Horne with | Cdr
(Ret) Peter Chance, CD, RAdm (Ret) John A. Charles, CD, RAdm (Ret) Robert Welland, DSC*. |
| Gene Johnson with | Flt/Lt (Ret)
Arthur Kinnis, Queen.s Medal, Mr. Jim Lang, Mr. Norman Leslie Reid. |
| Bryce Miller with | MGen (Ret)
Herb Pitts, MC, CD, Lt Col(Ret) Ken Reeves, CD, Maj (Ret) Gerald Resch, OMM, CD. |
Jennifer Nicks with |
Flt/Lt (Ret) John Calder,
DFC, Mr. Robert Landbury, Sqn/ Ldr (Ret) William Rodney, DFC*, Flt/Lt (Ret) Robert E. Spooner, DFC. |
| Peter Scales with | G/C
(Ret) George F. Foot, OBE, MID,
BGen (Ret) Lloyd Skaalen, CD. |
| Kate Sinclair with | Ms Kathleen
Craig, Ms Mary Eggenberger, Ms Barbara Lane. |
Cameron White with
|
Mr. Hugh Gordon, Capt (N) (Ret) Godfrey Hayes, OMM, DSC, CD, Cdr Edmund Semmens, CD. |
The next course has commenced with eleven lucky third and fourth year history students at the University of Victoria. They were guests and introduced to our RUSI of VI members during the monthly meeting Wed., 11 October at Bay Street Armoury.
The students and topics being pursued through research and interviews of selected veterans are:
| Lucas Ker: |
POWs |
| Caitlin Martin: |
Aid to Civil Power (role of Army in Canada ..i.e., Oka or similar standoffs like FLQ); |
| Titania
Guterson: |
Persian Gulf War (Navy s role); |
| Taryn Jones: |
Women in the Military (any service or trade); |
|
John Mooney: |
NORAD; |
| Kenan Murseli: |
Canadian Army in Korea; |
|
Marie
Perry: |
Peacekeeping (Army); |
| William Pratt: |
Peacekeeping (Cyprus); |
| Kristin Price: |
War Brides (can be done again); |
|
Allison Smith: |
Canadian families overseas with No. 1 Air Division; |
| Craig Young: |
No. 6 Group, RCAF (strategic bombing). |
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