A New Chapter (19)

Scotland, WW2 Books, and Beyond

 West Coast view of Scotland familiar to Doug and Gord Harrison

 Looking west from Irvine, Scotland

Looking south from Irvine to Navy Camp Auchengate and Troon

Continued from a June 24, 2015 post:

Upon reflection, do I think the column* about my trip to Halifax reveals more than positive details about accomplishing what I'd set out to do? That I took Dad's ashes east? Tossed them successfully into the Atlantic? And do I think it reveals more than a positive mood after an enlightening day in Ottawa?

Yes. But how so, one might ask?

The last line of the column reads: Will it (the boat containing my father's ashes) reach Scotland?

My reference to Scotland reveals I knew something related to one country other than Canada in which my father trained for his role in World War II. That knowledge likely came from one of the many columns Father wrote for the Norwich Gazette, though admittedly it didn't run very deep. For example, several photographs I took in Halifax and a few days later in Ottawa (e.g., at Canada's War Museum) focus on materials related to the Merchant Navy. As well, in my trip's journal I describe some of my dad's books as his "Merchant Marine books" and I was soon to learn he was not a member of that organization at any time during WW2.

 Dad's books are about the Combined Operations organization

The books are not about the Merchant Marine

That being said, it is evident that I had at least a bit of borrowed knowledge and some small personal interest in my father's wartime experiences prior to my trip to the East Coast in 2010. And I have some evidence my interest grew during the trip.

Besides photos of items specifically related to the Merchant Navy, there are many others that focus on the wider topic of 'Canada and Canadians at war', many of war memorials, memorabilia and museum displays. And in Ottawa, for the first time ever, I made a point of purchasing books that I felt might help me better understand certain events that took place during World War II that might have had some impact on my father.

The 'hot spot' in Ottawa 

I found books near the 34, then Jail Hostel (circled) on Nicholas

Safely parked beside the historic jail

I remember the experience well. Shortly after I arrived in Ottawa and started to ride west on Rideau Street toward the Jail Hostel (my accommodation for three days), I had to stop at a red light. Smothering heat hit me like a brick. I quickly raised the face shield on my helmet to catch any breeze, unzipped every zipper on my heavy leather jacket, and, while experiencing a hot flashback to the frustration I felt about getting lost in the woods near the Atlantic Coast  - under the same sun a few days earlier - I prepared to curse the sweltering sun and molten tarmac. It was then I spotted a colourful book rack on the sidewalk outside a used book store. Like it was yesterday I recall I was able to make out the title of one large book - U-BOAT WAR.

"Two used books related to WW2 didn't break the bank" - 

cheaper than parking fees

The 'lost in the woods flashback' disappeared from my mind and several other thoughts raced through my head before the traffic light turned green: Buy that book. Don't pull over now, you're boiling, you're dripping wet. Besides, it's a big book, there's no room on the bike. Check into the hostel, shower, put on shorts and fresh T-shirt, walk back here, buy that book.

The light turned green and I moved along Rideau, albeit slowly, to my destination. I checked in, etcetera, and had the book - and one more - in my possession before suppertime. Now, admittedly, the purchase of two used books related to WW2 didn't break the bank (13 bucks, about what I paid for parking my bike for three days), it does prove that during the summer of 2010 I was willing to learn more about my father's World War Two experience.

 After reading U-BOAT WAR: I asked, "Why would Dad ever

want to join the Merchant Navy?"

As it turns out, he was never a Merchant man

Together, the two columns I wrote about my trip to Halifax tell an important part of the story related to my new and growing interest in my father's wartime adventures. Since 2010 my interest has continued to grow. I've made a handful of trips in the name of research since that time, including to Halifax and Ottawa a second time, Vancouver Island (twice as well) and Scotland, and feel I've only just begun. And though I won't ever forget that first trip to the East Coast, and tossing dad's ashes upon the waves, there was something related to my time in Ottawa that made me feel I was starting a new chapter to my own adventures following faint footsteps.

A return trip to Ottawa three months later lit a fuse that burns to this day.

* the column was published, coincidentally, five years earlier than the post  - to the day, June 24, 2010

More to follow.

Link to A News Dispatch from Ottawa 18

Photos GH