WWGroucho

I am in Craven.

All you American lads have a grand Thanksgiving! I hear you eat Turkey. That seems odd to me but one must keep an open mind. In Canada, we eat Beaver Tail, Sugar Pie and a dish called poutine which is French Fries topped with cheese and gravy. It is an instant heart attack. Actually, we eat turkey too for Thanksgiving but it must be bilingual.

Gosh man. Lots of logistical hurdles, but it sounds like a new dawn is coming soon.

Powerful stuff guys. Covid-19 came to my school Thursday and to my class. My kids are out for two weeks. My buddy’s dad died from it last week. Only 72. He had dementia, and he had to go in long term care. He contracted it there. It’s everywhere in Toronto. 503 cases today. Met a man yesterday, who really believes there is too much government control over Covid. We need more.

God bless you Icy. No more Swastikas. I am putting your logo on my tail. Respect. Salut. Groucho.

Icy’s wife sent a message. You might have it already. Apologies if you do. Tim passed away a few minutes ago. Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. He enjoyed flying with you all. he isn’t suffering anymore.

Will do sir.

Salut! Boy do I think understand. My knee operation made me realize having good health is a blessing. Sorry for bumping in. Hope you get better soon. WWGroucho

Thanks Sir. G.

Happy Birthday Icy. I hope today is a great one for you. I am looking forward to flying with you again. Salut!

This story is about one young man who was part of organization that greatly helped win World War II.docx

Salut Craven. I need all the luck I can get. Put down my address please. 77. Groucho.

Hi Craven. I promise not to shoot at Navy. May I have one please. Perhaps I am not allowed yet though to fly the colors? Groucho

Tomorrow I will have knee replacement surgery (Monday). I will try to make it Tuesday (Sept 22).

Salut! Thank you one and all. I will do my best not to let the squadrons down. This is a great honour. Groucho.

Imagine landing on a beach like this and the enemy knows you are coming! This is a picture of the cliffs of Dieppe over the port town of the same name. The Battle of Dieppe, Operation Jubilee, was “a commando raid” en masse. It was not meant to hold ground. It’s goal was to see the results of attacking a port head-on. The lesson learned was don’t. The Germans were victorious, calling in aircraft from as far away as Belgium. The raid also has many side stories... for example, there was an attempt to steal an enigma code machine and many lessons learned for D-Day. The overall commander was Lord Mountbatten who knew casualties might be high. Mountbatten went on to command the British theatre in the Pacific and negotiate the independence of India and Pakistan. He became a political target and was assassinated by the IRA in the 1970s during the bad times in Northern Ireland. German Field Marshall Rundsted said the allies would learn from the Dieppe debacle. For example, they learned they needed to have complete control of the air and sea lanes through the English Channel. They discovered what individual beaches in France could support armoured vehicles, the absolute need for complete surprise and the use of diversion. They gleaned the great difficulty in capturing a port intact, the necessity of intensive shore bombardment, not to over-stack units in one location, the need for intercepting enemy communications, and having in-depth knowledge of enemy shore batteries, radar installations and unit makeup, etc. Operation Jubilee was one of the first operations for the US Army Rangers.

Here is a link about the HMCS Sackville. I am not sure but the narrator might be Canadian Lorne Green who played Pa on the show Bonanza. During WW2, Green was known as the “voice of doom” as he worked for the CBC and often read war news. The Sackville was a corvette. It was based on a whaler design. It was said it would “roll in dew.” They could be built quickly however and were fairly fast but after a week at sea the ship smelled of oil, sweat, tobacco and one was constantly wet as your gear would never fully dry from one watch to another. Greyhound would have been much more comfortable and less rocky.