Nick.

When the second world war began in 1939, I was ten years old. Not old enough to be as worried and very concerned as where the adults in the community. Who, of the men, might be "called up" and have to leave their families and go off to Europe to fight in the war. But I was old enough to have some appreciation of the horrors of war. Of course we had no such communication media as modern televeision. We did not even have an electric radio. Coverage of the war for us was mostly done by the print media, newspapers and magazines. A newspaper was delivered daily to our mailbox.

Even as children, though, we where encouraged to make what ever contribution we could to the war effort. For my part, it was knitting.

One of the functions of the Red Cross was to supply knitted garments to the servicemen overseas. In our area, the Red Cross supplied wool to anyone who could knit, so most farm women, members of the womens institute and otehr social groups where supplied with all the knitting wool they wished to have to knit items for the servicemen.

In our school, the teacher also began a knitting program among the students, with wool supplied by the Red Cross. Because of our commitment to helping in the war effort, we children where allowed to knit during school hours whenever we had spare time.

Being a knitter from quite a young age, I began knitting in earnest and was soon producing a good quantity of items. We where supplied with navy wool to knit for sailors, khakli for the soldiers and air force blue for the airmen. The knitting needles and pattersn for socks, mitts, scarves and helmets where also supplied by the Red Cross.

I knitted during school hours and I knitted at home. As I recall, I knitted a total of 35 items, the very large sweaters of course, taking a few weeks to complete. But I loved to knit and i felt I was really doing something worth while.

The wool came in large skeins so it had to be wound into balls before starting to knit. We girls always recruited the boys who did not knit, into helping with this part of the project. They held out their arms to hold the skeins of wool while we wound the wool into balls. Someone from the Red Cross arrived at the school with the woolen skeins for us and to pick up the items which we had finished knitting.

We where even taught the proper way to wind a ball of wool on our thumb so that the ball of wool would sit flat (and not roll away)and the wool would exit the ball and not tangle, rather than the wool unwinding from the outside of the ball. It is a technique I use to this day whenever I purchase a skein of wool instead of a ball of wool.

Recently, while searching through my several books of knitting patterns, for a particular reason, I cam across the instruction booklets handed out to me by the Red Cross those many years ago. Why I had kept them I do not know, but there they where. Treasures.

Jean Marshall.

The people of Vietnam are pulled into the Second World War as France falls to Nazi Germany. Japan, a Nazi ally, seizes control and occupies Vietnam while allowing the token administration of the country by Vichy France. The underground militias continue to flourish. The strongest group, the Viet Mihn is a coalition of Ho Chi Mihn’s communists and Emperor Bao Dai’s nationalists. Its members are becoming savvy fighters with skills in communications, logistics and combat.

In 1945 the Viet Mihn boldly declare the formation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and proclaim Vietnam’s independence. The French will not accept this and attempt to squash the guerrilla forces. Eight years later, the French find themselves on the losing end, but not without a fight.

The French Expeditionary Forces attempt to cut off the supply lines to the Viet Mihn and entrench a garrison at Dien Bien Phu during the spring of 1954. Unfortunately, the French soldiers are sitting in the eye of a storm. The savvy nationalist-communist forces move overwhelming numbers of fighters and equipment into the hills surrounded the garrison. A dogged battle ensues and within sixty days it is over. The decimated French forces surrender and the First Indochina War is over. Vietnam is no longer a colony but it is not yet a nation either. 

The French military defeat at Dien Bien Phu swiftly leads to negotiations and from May to July, 1954, a conference is convened in Geneva, Switzerland, to resolve the problems within Indo-China; specifically Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

The Geneva Accords is drafted and provides for Vietnam’s return to independence - but, not before free elections scheduled for July of 1956. Until then, Vietnam is temporarily divided into two states to enable the separation of the opposing parties. The Communists are to go to the north of the 17th parallel while others are to withdraw to the south.

A three-nation observer force is installed under the auspices of the Geneva agreement. Canada, Poland and Indian make up the International Commission for Supervision and Control (ICSC). This non-United Nations (UN) force consists, respectively, of western, communist, and neutral administrators and military personnel. It is an unexpected and unique invitation for Canada that sees members of External Affairs and the military on a mission together. In short order, 133 Canadians are dispatched to locations throughout Indo-China during the fall of 1954.

The ICSC mission is to ensure that the cease-fire is obeyed, that military forces and refugees return to their areas and that cross-border movement of unauthorized military personnel and war materiel is controlled throughout Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. As part of the Agreement, the international observers are to monitor the elections that will determine Vietnam’s future as a nation.

The members of the Canadian Delegation are witnesses to history from the onset. The former Viet Mihn alliance crumbles as Ho Chi Minh and his communist allies seize power in the north while Emperor Bao Dai’s nationalists are left to administer the south. However, it doesn’t take long for Bao Dai to be flushed out of the scene as the USA intensifies its involvement in the politics and warfare of Southeast Asia. In October of 1955, the anti-communist, U.S. backed, Ngo Dinh Diem declares the south as the Republic of Vietnam and announces himself as its president.

The promised elections that Canadians are to observe never transpire. Ngo Dinh Diem continues to squash any talk of elections by refusing to negotiate with the North all the while suppressing any opposition to his rule. His defiance spoils the hope of reunification and this leads to the Second Indochina War, better known as the Vietnam War of the 1960s.

Canadians leave in 1959 but rejoin the ICSC in the 1960s. In 1965, two Canadian soldiers are killed during the observer mission as Vietnam is engulfed in war between communist and democratic powers. The UN finally pulls the ICSC out of Southeast Asia as war peaks in 1969.

Vietnam, the former colony, will not be a nation again until the north and the south are united - and - the communists have plans for that eventuality.

The Canadian connection to Vietnam continues as a result of the January 1973 peace talks between the USA, the Vietcong, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Canada returns to the embattled area to monitor peace under the United Nations’ new International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS). However, the political divisions run too deep and the desire to be one country is too strong. In 1975, a well-coordinated invasion of the south by communist forces seals Vietnam’s fate. The former colony is reunified and once again a nation. 

Background Information
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The conference stipulated national elections take place in two years, but Diem suppressed the advocates of the agreed to election, and it never took place. The suppression continued, which led South Vietnamese opponents of President Ngo Dinh Diem to form the National Liberation Front, better known as the Viet Cong, which eventually launched guerrilla attacks against the RVN government and desired the reunification of Vietnam. The Viet Cong were supported by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) of the North.

Backed by the United States, Diem's government refused to open consultation with the North Vietnamese concerning general elections. The South contended it did not have to honor the agreement as it was not a signatory, and the U.S. feared that the communists would win the election.

Guerrilla activity in the South escalated, while U.S. military advisors continued to support the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The result was the Second Indochina War, more commonly known as the Vietnam War.

Sources
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Philip Shenon, "Bao Dai: Last Emperor of Vietnam" New York Times, Aug 2 1997. “Colby's Vietnam: History misrepresented” Washington Post, May 1, 1981. DND-CF Archives, VAC, DHH, Military Communications & Electronics Museum, “Canadian Delegation – ICSC 1955-1956”, United Nations file ICCS 1973. Private photo collection: Sgt (Ret) Renald "Ray" Paquette.

There is a saying I like that I may have even coined. "If you don't know who you were, you won't know who you are." It seems basic enough, but if you think about it for a moment, it becomes apparant that for far too many Canadians, the truth is they don't know who they where. In other words, we as a people are simply ignorant about those who went before us and laid the foundations of this nation. Many ask why I chose Military history as my main focus for Answer the call. There are many aspects of our history worthy of recognition, outside of our military heritage. But in my mind at least, all the other accomplishments, and they are many, that Canadians should be proud of, are only possible because of the success of our fighting men on the oceans, in the air and on the battlefields that have secured for the scientist, poet and inventor, the society necessary to engage in their creative endeavours that now enrich our lives.

The genesis for this series, begins back in high school when my passion for history first took root. I admit a certain appeal in the pages of the books that recounted the deeds of noble men for great causes. Romantic idealism perhaps, but when you are a 16 year old bookworm who simply can't stop reading, it isn't surprising. Over the years, my passion for military history has gone from the study of the tactics, battles and machinery used during the second world war, especially the Battle of Britian and the Spitifre, to a more mature interest in the personalities involved not only in that war, but in all our conflicts.

Several years ago, listening to the late Paul Harvey and his "Rest of the story" series, I asked myself why dosn't someone do something like that here in Canada? Our history is simply overflowing with examples of unknown heroes that should be household names but, sadly, aren't. People Like Len Birchall, Raymond Collishawand Harry De Wolfe are bonafide superstars, but tragically the vast majority of Canadians simply have never heard of any of these incredible people. I have come to undertand that if you want something done, be prepared to do it yourself, so I sat down at the computer and began to write. The rest as they say, is history.

Answer the call is more than a simple recounting of deeds of derring do. It is an appeal to all of us to find out more about those who paved our way, for in learning their story we are really learning ours.