Explosion in Dawson Creek? A year or so ago I posted about Dawson Creek, British Columbia, a tightly knit little community, isolated from the rest of the world by distance and geography and weather. The community had no idea that WWII had put them center stage in the war effort. The invasion of the US …
Category Archives: Canada in World War II
Dieppe
Dieppe, a port city in Northern France, offered the Allies an opportunity. Their German enemy controlled the entire continent, and to win the war the Allies would sooner or later have to make a successful amphibious attack. A raid on Dieppe would test equipment, teach valuable lessons, and make a serious dent in Germany’s continental …
Canada Went to War Early
Canada declared war on Germany when Great Britain did in 1939. And the first important Canadian contributions happened in the air. The Royal Canadian Air Force established an air training command in Canada to train pilots from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand—and, of course, Canada. And Canada paid hundreds of millions to support it. …
Doug Bell
Doug Bell worked the length of the Alaska Highway from its earliest days. When I first met him, I thought him one of the most fascinating and funniest men I’d ever met. Doug’s memories made life on the early Highway come alive. His eloquent stories made it real. Doug passed away on April 18. His …
Relations
Relations between Canada and its tightly coupled neighbor to the South, generally but not always good, influenced the Alaska Highway Project in 1942. Even today, the things we get up to down here don’t always leave Canadians, our oldest and best international friends, with a warm fuzzy feeling. And the things we get up to …
What Next?
What next? After attacking Dutch Harbor and occupying two islands, where would the Japanese War machine turn up next? The men who went north to build the Alaska Highway in 1942, left the rolling catastrophe of War with Japan behind. struggled to keep up with news of the war. But everyone understood one thing. The …
Sleeping Standing on their Heads
Sleeping standing on their heads? That’s just one of the things the Tomlinson men hadn’t anticipated when they headed north. Link to another story “Ft. Nelson, Chester Russell’s Passage” At the beginning of World War II, officials in Washington and Ottawa developed a propensity for dispatching men deep into the subarctic north to accomplish all …
Heavy Trucks on a Road
Heavy trucks on a road could carry enough men and weapons across Canada to Alaska to defend North America from a Japanese assault. But in 1939 no such road existed, and airplanes could at least carry some material. Between 1939 and 1941, desperate Canadians built a string of airfields across British Columbia and Yukon Territory. …
Cooperation built the Alcan
Cooperation between soldiers and civilians and between the citizens of two countries made the colossal project, the Alaska-Canada Highway, happen. Canada entered WWII when Great Britain did, two years before Pearl Harbor pulled the United States in. Mackenzie King and Canada’s other leaders recognized the Japanese threat to North America long before leaders in the …
Communicable Disease and Canadian Natives
Communicable diseases swept the native population of Northern Canada in 1942. And, when illnesses began to appear, the army and civilian physicians who came with the Corps offered their services. At first Canadian bureaucracy made that difficult. Territorial authorities, protecting existing private medical practices, required Canadian licensure for physicians treating Canadian citizens. Sickness from Outsiders …
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