May 31, 2012
Vol. 12, No. 21
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Remembering D-Day and Juno Beach
WW ll veteran Gordon Wood honored in Cloyne by Julie Druker n a special presentation at Barrie Hall in Cloyne on May 21, members of the Cloyne and District Historical Society honored Second World War veteran Gordon Wood, who landed at Juno Beach on June 6, 1944. That event began the invasion of Normandy, which turned the war around, putting the German forces on the defensive and ultimately leading to their defeat in 1945. Wood, who is now 86, received a standing ovation from family, friends and members of the community as he entered the hall on Monday. He served as a Bren gunner in the conflict and landed at Juno Beach at the tender age of 17. He also fought in many of the battles that followed the landing in various countries and ended up in Germany at the end of the war. Gordon Wood was first trained as a soldier at Camp Borden in Ontario. He then flew to England in 1943 where he joined the Regina Rifles of Saskatchewan and served in the D company of the 3rd Battalion. He returned to Canada after the war in 1946. The presentation included a showing of the Canadian documentary film, Storming Juno, which has been touted as one of the first Canadian films to portray the real life experiences of Canadian soldiers who landed at Juno Beach on D-Day. The beach landings were part of a surprise attack that was two years in the making, and which was the largest sea-borne invasion in history. The Juno Beach landing put Canadian soldiers face-to-face with one of the most heavily defended beaches on the French coast. Countless Canadian solders were killed at the invasion’s initial outset, and many never even made it to dry land. The film came to the attention of the Cloyne Historical Society due to the involvement of Malcolm McCulloch, (son of Carolyn and Gordon McCulloch), who worked as a locations manager on the
I
film. When the film was completed, Malcolm gave his parents a copy of it and after seeing it, Gordon McCullough decided to interview Gordon Wood, in the knowledge that eyewitness accounts of historic events need to be documented and archived. “When I found out that Gordon landed at Juno Beach, both Carolyn and I knew immediately that I needed to interview him,” Gordon McCullough said. “Gordon Wood’s story is amazing in two respects: firstly that he survived the landing at all, since as a Bren gunner he was one of the guys that the Germans were out to get; and secondly for the fact that it was the Canadian forces alone who managed to accomplish their objective during the first day of the landing.” Following the film presentation, the audience was shown a clip of Gordon McCulloch and videographer Dave Deacon’s interview with Gordon Wood, who described that fateful day when he landed at Juno. “The water was red, full of the blood of all of the wounded soldiers. It was terrible. I had a lot of friends who didn’t make it.” Wood has been back to Holland five times since the war and has made regular annual trips to Saskatchewan where his entire regiment regularly meets. Gordon Wood front and Centre at the Barrie Hall surrounded by four generations of his family, recalled what he remembers most about the war years. “It was hardship all of the way through - you really only had one friend and that was your gun.” Gordon Wood’s full interview will be available at the Cloyne and District Historical Society’s museum for others to view. Thanks to a few dedicated Flinton historians and a crew of very able documentary film makers, there now exists two timeless records of one Flinton veteran’s experience of one of the fiercest invasions in the history of world wars.
SF Fire department passes superior water tanker shuttle certification with flying colors
SF Fire Department surpasses the water mark
by Julie Druker
A
total of 12 fire and rescue vehicles and 30 staff from five fire halls in South Frontenac, plus two additional vehicles from Kingston and Stone Mills were out in full force in Harrowsmith on May 26, striving to obtain their re-certification for superior water tanker shuttle. To pass certification the department is required to pump a minimum of 200 gallons per minute continuously for two hours to receive residential rating, and 400 gallons per minute continuously for two hours to obtain commercial rating. To have a fire department that passes certification is good news for rural home owners since the certification enables them to receive a special fire insurance rating for their homes. It is in effect, the same credit that
applies to home owners supplied by hydrants or municipal water systems. Fire Chief Rick Chesebrough said that he and his team far surpassed the minimum flow for both residential and commercial ratings in an earlier morning test, when he and his team pumped 700 gallons per minute continuously in the allotted time. Chesebrough said that he expected the same results in the second test, which was underway when I interviewed him. That's good news for property owners in South Frontenac. The drill also brought joy to the faces of many youngsters in the area, who likely have never witnessed so many fast-moving, light-flashing and sirenblaring fire trucks in a single day.
Update on Green Energy Task Force - North Frontenac Council May 28 by Jeff Green
J
ohn Kittle, the chair of the Frontenac County Green Energy Task Force, presented an update of the task force's activities and proposed setting up a similar initiative in North Frontenac at a meeting of North Frontenac Council on Monday, May 28. “We started up a number of 'streams' to investigate what needed to be done in energy conservation, education, solar energy, micro-hydro, wind power and lobbying for hydro grid access for renewable energy projects in the Frontenacs, “ said Kittle of the county task force. “We also talked about a Frontenac buyers’ club.
WWll veteran Gordon Wood of Flinton (center), with five generations of his family.
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Some of these 'streams' were successful, and some not so successful." Among the successes that Kittle mentioned is the municipal solar rooftops program, a project where the county and each of the four townships have committed to building a 10kw MicroFIT project on a township-owned property. Thus far, Frontenac County and Central Frontenac have microFIT programs up and running and North and South Frontenac and Frontenac Islands have projects pending. Kittle also talked about the ongoing
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Please see NF Council Continued on page 2