Regional Reports - Nov '12

BC

Lee and I had a difficult decision to make this year regarding representing the HKVCA by setting up and attending our audio/visual education display during Veterans’ Week at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria on Vancouver Island. Although there is no question that this opportunity provides us with the optimal opportunity to tell the story of ‘C’ Force to a vast audience, funding is an issue. The expenses for ferries to Vancouver Island, fuel and lodging in order for us to attend this important venue, places a huge burden on the very limited financial resources of our region.

Unfortunately, our personal schedules would not allow us to travel together to save costs. Therefore, I stayed in the Lower Mainland and Lee travelled to Victoria with our display accompanied by his wife Sherry. Lee set up our display at the Museum and was kept very busy for the next few days conversing with hundreds of students and the general public. Lee would like to express his gratitude to his wife Sherry for her assistance and a very special thanks to Gwen Day (daughter of Major Bertram Gilbert, RRC) for all her help and support. Gwen lives in Mill Bay on Vancouver Island and is always there for us. Thank you also to our Vancouver Island members who attended and supported us.

I was talking to Lee on the phone last night and he told me about a group of Japanese students who filed attentively through the display. They had no idea about this piece of their country’s history and were both amazed and embarrassed. They vowed upon their return to Japan to ask questions and make others aware.

On the Saturday night of the event, Linda Quesnel (past BC Regional Director) and her husband Ron, invited Gerry Gerrard (RCCS), and Lee and Sherry to their home for a roast beef dinner.

Lee will be unable to attend the BOD meeting on November 28 because he is returning to Victoria (at his own expense of several hundred dollars) after accepting an invitation to lecture at St. Margaret’s School. Lee will be giving 2 presentations about ‘C’ Force to grade 11 students. Foreign students from Hong Kong, Japan, China and Korea will also be in attendance.

Lee and Graeme Stacey have accepted an invitation to lecture to high school students next month in Vernon, BC. Lee and Graeme (possibly myself) will be attending the ALPHA Symposium next month in Vancouver to set up our display and lecture. These events provide invaluable opportunities for the HKVCA educators from our region to support our mandate of educating students and the public. Lee and Graeme are tireless in this regard and continue to establish new material from the internal and external contacts they make at these events.

It is extremely important for us to find sources of funding to assist with the travel expenses related to education at both the regional and national levels. Our educators cannot be expected to absorb these costs on fixed incomes.

I have heard from many of our HKVCA members who placed wreaths throughout our province on Remembrance Day. For the second year, Phil Mondor (son of the late Paul Emile Mondor HQ) laid a wreath at the Victory Square Cenotaph in Vancouver. Bill Muir (WG), accompanied by his 3 grandsons, laid a wreath at the cenotaph in Langley. Sylvia Wiebe (daughter of the late Elmer Wiebe, WG) laid a wreath in Fort Nelson under very cold and snowy conditions. Gerry Gerrard (RCCS), Linda Quesnel (daughter of the late Cliff Carpenter, WG) and Lee Naylor (son of the late Howard Naylor Sr., RCCS) accompanied by family members laid a wreath at the Legislative Buildings in Victoria. Don Muir (son of Bill Muir, WG) accompanied by family members laid a wreath in Armstrong. My wife Lucy and I laid a wreath in Vedder Crossing. Unfortunately my father (Bill Doull, RRC who turned 93 on Nov. 25) and my mother were unable to attend due to health reasons. I know that other wreaths were laid but I have not been contacted about them yet. I have attached photos of Bill Muir and his grandsons in Langley and Sylvia Wiebe in Fort Nelson. Thank you very much to our members for supporting our HK vets.

We have been contacted by a Chinese news agency based in Hong Kong to assist them with a documentary they are producing about ‘C’ Force. Naturally we will comply. Also, the Chinese newspaper, Sing Tao, contacted us for information which Lee provided to them. They were very difficult to understand on the phone, but we persevered.

Respectfully submitted by Murray Doull on behalf of Lee, Bev and Graeme.

 

Prairie

Ontario

Quebec

Atlantic

 

Regional Reports - Oct '12

BC

On October 19, Lee Naylor and Graeme Stacey attended the British Columbia Teacher’s Social Studies Association Conference in Vancouver. They set up our region’s educational display and made a presentation about the history of “C” Force to 29 grade 11 teachers. Their efforts were extremely well received and will ensure that this important part of Canadian history will remain in the social studies curriculum in BC for grade 11 and 12 students.

Messages are arriving from many of our members expressing their intent to lay a wreath on behalf of the HKVCA in remembrance of our HK vets on November 11 at cenotaphs throughout the province. Although they have been offered reimbursement for the cost of the wreath purchased from their local Legion, many of them are happy to pay out of their own pocket.

We are still hoping to accept the invitation from the Royal BC Museum in Victoria to set up and attend our educational display during Veterans’ Week in November. Funding has become an issue and this topic will be discussed at our BOD meeting on October 24. This is such an important event for our Region as we receive so much exposure during the event as hundreds of students, teachers and members of the public attend. It allows us to continue to liaise with Veterans Affairs Canada and many other veteran groups. Our audio-visual display is very powerful and educates many people every year about our Hong Kong veterans.

Submitted by Murray Doull on behalf of the BC Region executive

Addition: from Murray: My apologies to Lee. In the Bc report I neglected to mention that on Nov. 4 Lee will be receiving the Minister of Veterans Affairs commendation at the Executive Hotel Ballroom in Vancouver. Jim, please add this to the report at your convenience and congratulations to Lee for all his continued hard work!

 

Prairie

Ontario

There are several events coming up soon in Ontario for teachers: the Ontario History and Social Studies Teachers’ Association conference, the Toronto District School Board’s Social World Studies and Humanities Curriculum Leaders’ Day, and the Parliamentary Library Resource Fair in Ottawa. We will be participating in all of these, with displays and handouts for all teachers.

One of our members has committed to a generous contribution that will enable us to buy a second set of the 3 vertical display banners we have been using at various events. We will keep this set in Ottawa, which should allow us to save substantially on the cost of shipping our original set.

I gave a presentation recently to the Chung Chi College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s alumni association here in Toronto. The audience were all former residents of Hong Kong who have emigrated to Canada. They were not at all aware of the story of the Battle of Hong Kong, and were fascinated by it. They took up a collection at the meeting, and donated it to the HKVCA, which was very kind of them.

A Councillor in the city of Richmond Hill, north of Toronto, made a motion at a recent Council meeting to recognize the Hong Kong veterans. Richmond Hill has quite a large immigrant population, many from Hong Kong and mainland China.

Enjoy the fall weather!

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Babin
Regional Director, Ontario

Quebec

Atlantic

 

Regional Reports - Sept '12

(also see National Newsletter)

BC

Prairie

Ontario

A great deal of work has been done by Pat Turcotte and her team to prepare the 2012/2013 edition of the Cross Canada Writing Contest. The contest information has now been sent to educators across Canada, and is on our web site.

All five of the Veterans’ stories on our web site have now been translated into French, which is a necessary ingredient for the Writing Contest.

We’re preparing for the upcoming Ontario History and Social Studies Teachers’ Association conference where we will have a display. The conference will be in Niagara-on-the Lake, ON. Work is also under way for our display at the Parliamentary Library Resource Fair in Ottawa.

Unfortunately, our planned luncheon in London, ON earlier this month had to be postponed. A new date hasn’t yet been announced.

I played in the recent Hong Kong Canada Business Association annual golf tournament. Had a lot of fun, and met some very interesting people, all of whom were very interested in hearing about the HKVCA and the Battle of Hong Kong.

All of our Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medals have now been presented, and I’m happy to say that all recipients were thrilled to receive them!

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Babin
Regional Director, Ontario
 

Quebec

Atlantic

 

Regional Reports - June '12

BC

Ab/Sask

Manitoba

Hi all well Manitoba has been quiet the last couple of months .Dennis and Marlene have been working hard at getting the convention going .Well be having a meeting on June 21st to discuss al the details regarding the Convention . From the information we received we will have five Veterans at out VJ Day Celebration on Aug 19th 2012.I am sending a letter of to the Lieutenant Governors office to see if he will be able o present the medals .I will also ask for another representative from the Federal Government ,l have my Daughter Bridget take the Pictures and send them to Jim Barry has looked in to getting the framing done for the documents .I am expecting approx. .100 people . the media will also be notified .I f an one has any other suggestions I am open to them .we will be holding our reunion in October in a less formal atmosphere .There will be no elections this year in Manitoba so the board stands as is .We are very happy that Alberta and Saskatchewan have come on board with Manitoba .Hopefully we can work together and at some point meet atleast once or twice in the year for some type of meeting ,not much else to say but I hope all are well and stay in touch .Juliet Lafortune

 

Ontario

Quebec

Atlantic

Regional Reports - March '12

BC

Recently, Bev Campbell took her Dad, Gerry Gerrard to see an old comrade of his in White Rock. Gerry and Wally Normand had a great visit and had lots to talk about. They are the last surviving members of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals and they spent the last few years of WWII in the same POW camp in Japan.

We were saddened to learn of the passing of Richard (Dick) Johnson (WG) on Jan. 23/12. Dick was a true gentleman who always put others first and he will be missed. There are currently 6 surviving HK vets in the BC region.

We are planning our regional spring membership meetings and luncheons in Vancouver and Victoria. We have not set a date in June yet for the Victoria gathering although we hope to have one before the national newsletter is distributed. The Vancouver date is set for June 23. Linda Quesnel has graciously agreed to host the Victoria luncheon and Lee and Murray will co-host in Vancouver. We will be sending all the particulars in a mail out to our members in April.

The mail out will also include the necessary information to hold a regional election for executive positions in BC this year. We hope to have elections completed by the summer.

We have lost contact with Marje Stewart, one of our widows, whose last known address was in Victoria. If anyone can help us with her whereabouts we would be grateful.

Lee and Graeme Stacey remain in contact regarding possible education opportunities and they are always looking to improve on their very effective approach to educating the public and students in particular. Our region’s education material and display continue to expand.

Submitted by Murray Doull on behalf of the BC region.

Manitoba

There aren’t a lot of brand new items to report on this beautiful "Spring" day but the usual people continue to work on our long term projects both in committee and on their own.

We are still examining how we might best approach the Canadian Museum for Human Rights to include the Battle of Hong Kong and its repercussions in their exhibits and we will have a meeting of our HR committee on March 21. A proper strategy is critical to success in this venture and that calls for quite a bit of debate. Our group remains keen to see our soldiers recognized in what is anticipated to be a remarkable museum.

And of course we have the National Convention on our plate and that committee will be meeting on March 24. Some good ideas for activities and venues have come forward so we will likely have lots to talk about.

This is the first year that we will not have the traditional Reunion Banquet in October but the HKVCA members still want to get together in some fashion. We are looking at an annual meeting as part of a social gathering, something which I believe other Regions have each year. The location for such an event is still in question as we want to move from the Holiday Inn where we have been for many years.

The Winnipeg Grenadiers Cadet Corps recently had its Annual Inspection, with 23 cadets in attendance. We are gratified that the Winnipeg Grenadiers continue to be represented in the cadet organization.

The Manitoba Region has an ongoing program to examine the feasibility of erecting a monument dedicated to the Grenadiers in ‘C’ Force and new concepts have been presented recently. I guess we are working in parallel with the Atlantic Region but I don’t see any conflict at this point. We may both be applying to the same federal grant program but hopefully that’s not a problem.

Coming up are the MB Region elections and the Ladies Tea will be held once again on April 21.

Best wishes from the Manitoba Region.

Barry Mitchell

Ontario

Susan MacDonell, George's daughter, ran a successful seminar in February at the Toronto District School Board. This was Sue's first time doing this for the HKVCA, and we're happy to have a new face in front of the teachers! She was ably assisted by Linda Guglick and Sandra Strom, who put together an excellent display to accompany the seminar. Feedback from the teachers was very positive.

Pat Turcotte has sent out about 450 letters to educators across Canada to remind them of the impending deadline for our Cross Canada Writing Contest (May 25). Hopefully this will spur teachers and students to prepare and make their submissions.

Mitzi Ross is busy organizing an HKVCA luncheon in Ottawa for early April for her Northeast area members.

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Babin
Regional Director, Ontario

Quebec

We recently held our first executive meeting for 2012. Year End Reports were read for 2011 and accepted.

Many subjects and previous suggestions were discussed and some decisions were made, others soon to come.

For the last 2 years on many occasions the committee discussed the future of Quebec Region Reunions. Other locations and date changes were tried and did not measure to our expectations due to the very low participation of our members. One sad and hard to make decision was taken to discontinue our Regional Reunions in it’s present form.

It is proposed to organize local gatherings and visits in areas where we could get the largest number of local veterans, widows and even family members.

We realize that when long travels and moving about gets to be more of a chore than a pleasure, it is time to make some changes.

Will keep you posted of dates and places of these gatherings.

We just completed a mailing of our "Call for Elections" , the newsletter "The Torch" with it’s local news and a last "Call for 2012 Membership Renewals" was also included. Pending on the result will make our telephone calls to the remaining delinquents with great hopes.

We have lost contact with HKV Bernard M. Thompson, last known address 715 des Spirées, Ste-Dorothée QC, Widow Florence Hawke, #6 205 Davignon Blvd, Cowansville QC and Regular member Sheila Coull, #2 153 Chemin Cyr, New Richmond QC. If anyone knows anything on these members, any info would be greatly appreciated.

For the upcoming national newsletter, we will be having a survey for RRC Nominal Rolls and notice to purchase 2011 Convention souvenirs.

That is it at this time,

Lucette

Regional Reports - February '12

BC

Ab/Sask

Manitoba

Things have been pretty quiet within the Manitoba Region what with some illness and a lot of travel my members.

Many of us were part of a very large group (almost 200) that attended the funeral of Grant Shepherd. Grant was with the British Royal Navy in Hong Kong but was imprisoned along with the rest of our guys. He was most popular and was an honourary member of the HKVA as well as the Commemorative Association.

Work continues in the preparation of a suitable presentation to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Having been rejected once, we are trying to put our case forward that will meet the criteria of the museum and may call upon professors at the University of Manitoba to help us with our definitions and interpretation of the guidlines.

Consideration is being given to building a memorial of some kind to the Winnipeg Grenadiers, to be erected in the military section of Brookside Cemetery in Winnipeg. An initial concept drawing has been put forward and more are anticipated. This will be a long term project.

Our committee responsible for the preparation of the National Convention 2013 continues to work on many of the details and we have so far confirmed the hotel and the venue for one of the evenings. Lots of time remains but we hope to continually put all the pieces together.

Membership continues to be a challenge although we are close to maintaining our numbers in recent years. However, dues a very slow in coming in and hopefully that isn’t a sign of diminishing interest. There is no doubt that we need to stir things up a little in our membership as a whole and that is a challenge for all of us.

Barry Mitchell

Ontario

Several Hong Kong Veterans, including some from Ontario, have been contacted by a TV production company creating a documentary for the History Channel. They are in the process of being interviewed. I'm not sure of the timing of the release of the documentary.

The ALPHA group (Association for Learning and Preserving the History of World War II in Asia) is planning their 2012 study tour to Asia. This is an annual ALPHA event, to which they invite educators from across North America. Participants travel to Asia and visit museums and meet with survivors of WW II. This year's group will travel to Hong Kong, Korea and several locations in China. While in Hong Kong they will visit Stanley and Sai Wan Cemeteries, and the new museum recently dedicated at St Stephen's College.

Pat Turcotte has followed up with all the provinces and territories by email to remind them of the May deadline for submissions in our Writing Contest.

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Babin
 

Quebec

Atlantic

 

Regional Reports - January '12

BC

Ab/Sask

Manitoba

Hello one and all I really don't have much to report as I am not kept in the loop of things until all is said and done .I can tell you George Peterson came to our meeting and gave his own report on the apology .George will be 91 on Feb.8th Our Tea and Tidbits was not as good as usual but it was nice to have the ladies present .Marlene and Dennis Bell are working hard at getting the Convention organized .We will be holding Elections in the Spring notices will be going out in Feb. Thanks for all the hard work you are doing keep it up Juliet

Ontario

As you might expect, the last month has been fairly slow in terms of activity. We did participate in a press conference last week announcing Asian Heritage Month in Toronto, and will be sponsoring some displays during AHM, which is during the month of May.

On February 17, Susan MacDonell, daughter of George, will be presenting a workshop at the Toronto District School Board. This is her first foray into this kind of activity with the HKVCA, and we are glad to see some new faces doing these kinds of events.


Best 2012 wishes to all!

Respectfully submitted,

Mike Babin
Regional Director, Ontario
 

 

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