COURAGE

...A WEEK OF REMEMBRANCE...

REMEMBER THOSE WHO HAVE FALLEN, AND THANK THOSE WHO SURVIVED

THE DIEPPE RAID - the 69th Anniversary

History

The Raid on Dieppe, France, on August 19, 1942, was a pivotal moment in the Second World War. With virtually all of continental Europe under German occupation, the Allied forces faced a well-entrenched enemy. Some method had to be found to create a foothold on the continent, and the Raid on Dieppe offered invaluable lessons for the successful D-Day invasion in 1944, saving countless lives in that momentous offensive.

Publications

• The 1942 Dieppe Raid



• M.I.9 - Partners in Evasion (from Uncommon Courage)



• The Dieppe Raid Historical Sheet

Historical Information

• Dieppe Raid Regiments



• Map of Dieppe (Opens a New Window)

Photo Gallery

• Dieppe Raid Photo Gallery

Remembrance

By remembering Veterans' service and sacrifice, we recognize the tradition of freedom they fought to preserve. Those who fought in the Dieppe Raid were everyday citizens who became heroes by standing up for what we as a nation believe in: peace, freedom and justice. The resources found on this page can help ensure that the torch of Remembrance continues to burn brightly in the hearts of all Canadians.

Memorials

• Pourville Memorial


• Puys (Royal Regiment, Black Watch)


• Square du Canada


• UK Memorial The Village Hall, East Dean, East Sussex


• UK Memorial Beach Road, Newhaven, East Sussex

Cemeteries

Content courtesy of Commonwealth War Graves Commision

• Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery


• Saint-Sever Cemetery Extension

Victoria Cross Winners

• Charles Merritt (Opens a New Window)


• John Weir Foote (Opens a New Window)

Books of Remembrance

• Second World War


• Merchant Navy


• Newfoundland

Medals

• Dieppe Bar

Diaries, Letters and Stories

• He Traded Places to Escape


• Ron Beal Story

Additional Resources

• 1992 Poster


• 1994 Poster


• The Dieppe Raid stamp (Opens a New Window)

A Soldier’s Last LetterTaken for "Chicken Soup for a Woman's Soul".

This letter reminded me of similar letters I have written, mind you not as eloquently, prior to my tours overseas and I know several of my brothers in arms have done so as well. Even though this is American I believe that it is fitting. I post this for them and their loved ones during trying times.

A week before the Battle of Bull Run (also known as Manassas), Sullivan Ballou, a major in the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers, wrote home to his wife in Smithfield:

July 14, 1891Washington, D.C.

My very dear Sarah,
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write a few lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.

I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American civilization now leans on the triumph of the government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing - perfectly willing - to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government and to pay that debt.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break. And yet my love of country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly, with all these chains, to the battlefield.

The memory of all the blissful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me, and I feel most deeply grateful to God and you that I have enjoyed them so long. And how hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years when, God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us...

If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, nor that when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name. Forgive my many faults and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless, how foolish I have sometimes been.

But, oh Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they love, I shall always be with you in the brightest days and in the darkest nights. Always. Always.

And when the soft breeze fans your cheek, it shall be my breath; and as the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead: Think I am gone and wait for me, for we shall meet again.

Maj. Sullivan Ballou

Submitted by Nancy Wong

Editor's note from "Chicken Soup for a Woman's Soul"
Maj. Ballou was killed a week later at the first Battle of Bull Run

Medals Finally Home!

Woman to honour father at ceremony - Florence Layton and her son Bert hold Mrs. Layton’s father’s wartime medals.

Every evening, as the sun sets in Ypres, Belgium, the long drawn-out notes of two bugles signal traffic to come to a stop at the Menin Gate Memorial. The Last Post honours the 55,000 Commonwealth soldiers killed in the First World War whose only grave is that of the Unknown Soldier.

For nearly 80 years, that sombre ceremony was one of the only tributes to Frank Forsdike, a corporal from the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles killed in June 1916 at the Battle of Mount Sorrel in Belgium.

But next Saturday, thanks to the timely connection of long-lost cousins from opposite sides of the Atlantic, a public ceremony will be held in Berwick to present the unclaimed service medals of Cpl. Forsdike to Florence Layton, his recently found 94-year-old daughter.

"This means so much to Mom," Bert Layton, Florence’s son, said from his Berwick home. "She says it’s been a real blessing that she can celebrate him in such a public way."

Florence was only two years old when her father was killed in action and her mother remarried shortly after the war.

She only found out when she was 18 that the man who raised her was not her biological father.
A typographical error in the name Forsdike on Florence’s birth certificate made tracking family history tough — something she and her three children tried unsuccessfully over the years.

Then last fall, while searching online for information about "the mystery name in the family tree," Mr. Layton came across a website dedicated to the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles.

Incredibly, he found a reference to his mother and grandmother as well as a family photograph taken in 1915 — the only one known to exist. "I couldn’t believe my eyes," said Mr. Layton. "It was incredibly exciting."

Three days later, he sent an e-mail to the website manager with the subject line: distant cousin.
When Ian Forsdike, sitting at his computer in Bedford, England, received the e-mail, he almost fell out of his chair.

"When I started reading, I became quite emotional," Mr. Forsdike said. "It was the end of 12 years of searching."

Mr. Forsdike created the website three years ago to learn more about his great-grandfather’s brother, whose military service had intrigued him ever since he read his ancestor’s name engraved on the Menin Gate Memorial.

"It was a personal loss in that moment," said Mr. Forsdike. "I have no explanation as to why that happened."

In his search, he found other Forsdikes in Canada and England, but he was most interested in Frank’s family.

Until that auspicious day last November, his search had proved fruitless. And when Mr. Forsdike discovered Florence was still alive, he said he couldn’t believe it. He travelled to Nova Scotia to meet his new-found family over the holidays and they applied to collect Frank’s medals from Veterans Affairs.

"Medals should not sit in a vault and not see the light of day," he said.
On May 10, almost 92 years after Frank Forsdike was killed on the front lines of Belgium, sunlight will shine on his medals.

The Royal Canadian Legion in Berwick will hold a formal ceremony, where Cpl. Forsdike’s medals will be officially presented to his daughter.

Ian Forsdike, who is speaking at the event, said the most important thing is that Florence gets to honour her father.

"It is so important that Frank’s sacrifice be remembered," said Mr. Forsdike. "And this can bring closure for Florence, who never knew her father."

by Mark Iype

Chronicle Herald

4 May 08

April 17, 1945: Canadian army repels desperate Germans - CBC Digital Archives

April 17: Canadian army repels desperate Germans

Broadcast Date: April 17, 1945April 17, 1945: OTTERLO, Netherlands — "Victory is in the air," says CBC war correspondent Matthew Halton. The war is winding down. But even as Canadian forces continue their sweep through enemy-occupied Holland, the Germans aren't giving up without a fight. In a bid to get back into western Holland, 1,000 German soldiers launch an attack at Otterlo, tossing grenades and firing on the Canadians. Reuters war reporter Charles Lynch tells the story for CBC.

Canadian gunners fire back at the Germans before digging slit trenches and using Sten submachine-guns, rifles and pistols to repel the attackers. But once the Germans get past the gun lines there's only one way to stop them. The Canadians roll four flamethrowers into position, sending flames into advancing columns of Germans. When it's all over Canadian casualties are light, but 400 Germans have been killed and 250 taken prisoner.

To hear these news reports at the digital archives of the CBC look here

Daniel Adams Butterfield - Composer of Taps

I had previously recieved a story about the bugle call "Taps", which I posted and have now discovered to be incorrect. I have recently removed it on the advice of a reader. The real story - according to Wikipedia - is quoted below. For more of the story go to - ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Butterfield

"While the Union Army recuperated at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, from its Seven Days of retreating, Butterfield experimented with bugle calls and is credited with the composition of Taps, probably the most famous bugle call ever written. He wrote Taps to replace the customary firing of three rifle volleys at the end of burials during battle. Taps also replaced Tattoo, the French bugle call to signal "lights out". Butterfield's bugler, Oliver W. Norton of the 83rd Pennsylvania Volunteers was the first to sound the new call. Within months, Taps was sounded by buglers in both the Union and Confederate armies."

Thanks from War Zone to the reader who discovered the true story behind the bugle call.