Murray Wood: Police officers in the line of fire need more support from Ottawa.
Two RCMP officers were wounded in Melville, and officers have been killed in Montreal and Toronto. Murray Wood says the ...
Like countless others from the “Greatest Generation,” Robert Cade lied about his age so he could serve in Germany.
But the prairie boy born in 1933 in the small, prison town of Stony Mountain, Man., was not old enough to serve during the Second World War alongside his father and two older brothers.
Cade was just six years old when the war started but joined the reserves in 1950 around the time of the Red River Flood. When he was 17, he served in West Germany with the 27th Brigade, helping NATO rebuild the country and stop the Russian advance.
“Everybody was surviving, putting the world back together after World War II, rebuilding, lots of jobs, lots of work,” said Cade.
There was no problem telling his family he was leaving home to serve his country.
“My father said, ‘If you go, you stick it out. No quitting,’ ” said Cade.
Cade’s father fought in both world wars and two of his older brothers served in the Second World War. Canada was just coming out of the Depression in the 1930s and Cade said the opportunity to go to war was a godsend.
“When the war came to my two brothers, that was a relief to them … because growing up in a Depression, is no future. None,” Cade said.
His father and brothers all survived the war but returned home with injuries. One was a corporal in Italy and got blown out of a tank turret from a direct hit by a German 88-millimetre cannon.
“He was the only one to live but he had no stomach. He had no clothes when they picked him up. He just had his boots on, the rest were all burnt off,” said Cade, adding he spent a long time in rehabilitation.
His other brother was taken out of Italy and sent to Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in the United Kingdom to become an officer. He was sent back to war with the South Saskatchewan Regiment as a lieutenant. He returned home with minor wounds.
During Cade’s time in Germany, he said everywhere he looked, there was a reminder of what the Second World War was all about.
“The devastation that we saw from a young man’s point of view was unbelievable. Where our camp was, it was a bombed-out building,” said Cade.
There were displaced persons camps all over Europe as a result of families being torn apart by the war as people tried to get away. Cade said they were filled with kids whose parents were killed and who were picked up by others who helped them along the way.
Looking at the current immigration issues around the world, Cade is passing along lessons that can be learned from his time working with NATO.
He said everything that happens today is instant and nothing seems to happen in the world that you won’t see on TV every night or on Twitter.
“There’s no chance of dialogue. There’s no chance to think about it. There’s no chance of sitting back and reading the paper and taking a good, objective look at something,” said Cade.
He explained the first goal of conflict resolution is to avoid it altogether.
“Let’s talk. Let’s think it out. What is it we really want to do here and how can we do it with the resources?” said Cade.
Looking into the future, Cade believes the world has learned enough lessons to avoid another world war. He added we’re not going to get rid of wars entirely, pointing to others like the wars in Afghanistan and Bosnia.
His message to all Canadians is to be diligent and keep in mind what kind of country they want for their children.
Cade spoke to students at O’Neill High School earlier this month. He said the future is in good hands, calling them very bright, inquisitive, forward thinkers who are eager to learn.
“I think the young people today are smarter — they’re wiser, but they have to learn that we have to sometimes sacrifice something to protect what we’ve got,” said Cade.
“When you go to fight a war of any sort, patriotism is one thing — and very hard to define. Most of us are cowards when somebody’s shooting at us, (rightfully) so, but it’s the fellow on either side of us — that’s why you’re there. You can’t let them down and so the courage comes within to support the guys on either side.”
