ALL ACCESS - August 9, 2024
These photos show a German Prisoner of War funeral at an unnamed camp in Canada in 1942. It is interesting to note the prominence of the Nazi flag and swastika as well as the presence of a Canadian honour guard.
#GermanPOWsinCanadaWW2
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On August 9, 1945, Canadian pilot Lieutenant Robert Hampton ‘Hammy’ Gray earned his Victoria Cross. Piloting an 1841 Squadron Corsair during a sortie against shipping in Onagawa Bay, Japan, he singled out the escort vessel IJN Amakusa. As Gray closed in, he came under intense anti-aircraft fire, which shot away one of his 500lb bombs and set his aircraft alight.
Nonetheless, Gray pressed home his attack and released his other bomb on target. Even as the blazing Corsair crashed into the water, Amakusa was destroyed as her aft magazine detonated, killing 71 of her crew. Gray is believed to have died instantly, the last Canadian serviceman to be killed in the Second World War.
On 13th November, Robert Gray was posthumously gazetted the Victoria Cross, one of only two Fleet Air Arm pilots to receive the award. Though no trace of his body was ever found, a memorial to Gray was later erected by the Japanese overlooking the site of his death.
Images:
1) Robert Hampton Gray, VC.
2) ‘Finale’ by Don Connolly, depicting Gray’s attack on Amakusa.
On August 9, 1941, Winston Churchill arrived in Newfoundland for the Atlantic Charter Conference with FDR. As Churchill prepared to board USS McDougal, at anchor in Placentia Bay, he paused to pet 'Blackie' of HMS Prince of Wales to prevent the cat from crossing the gangway and defecting to the U.S. Navy.
The Atlantic Charter was a joint declaration the United States and Great Britain issued that plotted a vision for the postwar era. First announced on August 14, 1941, a group of 26 Allied nations eventually pledged their support by January 1942. Among its major points were a nation’s right to choose its own government, the easing of trade restrictions and a plea for postwar disarmament. The document is considered one of the first key steps toward the establishment of the United Nations in 1945.
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A Canadian Red Cross Society worker distributing craft supplies to patients at No.7 Canadian General Hospital, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (R.C.A.M.C.), Marston Green, Birmingham, England, 19 November 1943.
#RoyalCanadianArmyMedicalCorps
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A Canadian Regimental Aid Party carrying a wounded soldier, Italy, October 1943.
#Italy1943
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A Canadian sailor prepares to hoist the Union Jack on the expropriated Japanese-Canadian fishing boat KUROSHIMA NO.2, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada, 29 December 1941.
#JapaneseCanadiansWW2
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A Churchill tank of the Three Rivers Regiment taking part in Exercise SPARTAN, England, 8 March 1943.
#ThreeRiversRegiment
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A company sergeant-major of the Royal 22e Régiment searching German prisoners-of-war, Italy, 1944.
#Royal22eRégiment
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A convoy of trucks of Allied food supplies moving into German-occupied territory along the road from Wageningen to Rhenan, Netherlands, 3 May 1945.
#NetherlandsRelief1945
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