Paris District High School - Yearbook (Paris, Ontario Canada)

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PARIS HIGH SCHOOL YEAR BOOK 17 Legion Essay Contests As in former years, the Paris Branch of the Canadian Legion has shown a kind interest in P.H.S. by donating prizes for the best patriotic essay in each grade. The subjects were: First Year, Our War Guests, Second Year, The Royal Canadian Air Force or The Royal Canadian Navy, Third Year, K'Britain Under Siegef' Fourth Year, Why Canada is at War. The winners were Beth Holder, Eva Scott, Doris Edgington and Edith Ritchel respectively. These essays were written during school hours, three or four of the best being picked from each class for final judgment. In the second year, an es- say on The Royal Canadian Air Force was chosen, but the best on The Royal Canadian Navy has been chosen and also printed. Betty Stanton. Why Canada ls At War Why is Canada at war ? This may be asked in all sincerity for no na- tion goes to war without a reason. Canada, Britain's greatest overseas Do- minion, saw the Motherland threatened by hordes of totalitarian barbarians. She saw the fine democratic institutions of free countries in danger of being ground under the heel. of Nazi domination. She heard the cries of murdered Poles, those liberty-loving, heroic people, calling for aid against a Iiendish, cold-blooded, murderous foe. Canada, a land of liberty, equality and justice is at war to help restore these rights to other nations and maintain them for herself. For years we have witnessed the wickedness, cruelty and deceit of the Nazi regime in Germany. Helpless, innocent people were hurled into concen- tration camps to be cruelly tortured. Austria and Czeco-Slovakia, through the deceit of lying German officials, unwillingly succumbed to the domina- tion of the Nazi dictatorship. Treated cruelly, harshly and unmercifully, these people recoiled from the evil principles of their Nazi oppressors. Can- nada is at war to help rid these countries of the oppression, wickedness, and vice performed by their German masters. For centuries British peoples have enjoyed the right to work out their own destiny on the lines of free speech, freedom of the press, religious tolera- tion, and justice. We Canadians owe our free democratic institutions to Britain. In Nazi controlled countries it is not men's bodies but their minds which are enslaved. In Canada men are free both in mind and body to plan their lives to the best of their capabilities on an equal basis with their fellow men. To maintain these priceless liberties we took our place at Britain's side. According to Nazi doctrines the rights of the individual are suppressed to the demands of the state for its so called glory. Workers are forbidden by law to organize for the purpose of bettering working conditions. The thoughts and aspirations of the individual are controlled by the policies of a

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16 PARIS HIGH SCHOOL YEAR BOOK their messages, signals. The necessity for sending word from ship to ship at sea became moie evident. In this matter the British took the initiative and the merchants in ports such as Chatham, Plymouth or Devonport devised private signals to be used by their own vessels at sea. The mcst popular of these was Captain Marry- ot's. It was developed and used by his own ships sailing out of England in 1812 and gradually adopted by ships of several seafaring nations and might be termed the first International Code of Signals. It was developed on the principle of hoisting flags in a serie-s of from one to four flags on ropes term- ed signal haliardsf' These haliards were hoisted to the yard-arms, making them visible to ships in company. Captain Marryot's code consisted of flags representing numbers from naught to nine and eight special flags such as negative, ahead or astern flags. In different arrangements these flags took different meanings as listed in the code book carried by the ships using this system. This made nine thousand signals available and was used by both naval and merchant shipping. In 1855 the British again took the lead when the British Board of Trade set up a committee giving it the task of inquiring into and reporting on the possibilities of a British Code of Signals for ships at sea. A code was soon drafted containing seventy thousand signals. This was made possible by using only eighteen flags. It was through such initiative and far-sightedness that Britain became mistress of the seas. This code was republished in 1857 in two editions. One was translated for universal and international use, while the second part was reserved for British government and naval use. This was used solely by the navy for thirty years, but then government mail and merchant ships were allowed to use it. The edition used internationally was brought up to date from time to time by the board of trade as the necessity arose. As a result of small changes and additions in the number of flags used a new edition was brought out in 1897. It was translated and distributed to merchant marine all over the world. It contained twenty-six Hags and several pendants. During this period a new code was developed for the Royal Navy, but in 1914-18 so many nations were involved in patrol, minesweeping, convoy and examination work that it was the international code that Was put to the test. It wasn't altogether successful due to the signalmen not being properly trained before being sent to sea. After the war Britain promptly revised the International code and in 1928 translated it into French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Norwegian. As in the last war our naval signalmen have again taken up their duties putting the International Code and their training to the test. In this training he must know the single meaning of forty-seven international flags and eighty-six naval flags and pendants. This training period to qualify as a signalman takes about nine months. In action the life of a signalman ave- rages about twenty-two minutes. Still the greatest signal of all will be flag sixg cease fire! John J. Coates.

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18 PARIS HIGH SCHOOL YEAR BOOK few unscrupulous leaders. To prevent our minds, thoughts, and personal liberties from being enslaved we are at war. Dishonour and deceit have supplanted honour and truth in the German government. Racial hatred is taught to the people as if it were a virtue in- stead of the unjust theory that it is. Canada is at war to prevent the spread of these false principles, and to assist other nations to restore truth and in- tegrity. For if the totalitarian states were allowed to continue, civilization as we know it would be wiped from the face of the earth. Edith Ritchel. Britain Under Siege The whole world, after twenty-one years of peace, has again been plunged into a war, more devastating than the last, by the mad desire of a dictator to conquer the continent of Europe and ultimately the whole world. Herr Hitler, an Austrian paper hanger who has risen to the position of dic- tator of Germany, began, in the fall cf nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, to conquer by force of arms, the weaker nations of Europe. Austria and Czecho-Slovakia had already been taken, more by terrorism and fifth columnism than by actual fighting, but when Hitler tried to take Poland he found that these means were not enough. On September the first, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, the German battleship, Schleswig-Hol- stein, began an intensive shelling of Polish territory and, after eighteen days of fierce fighting, Poland surrendered. Britain, in the meantime, unable to see the weaker nations overrun by a mad, power-seeking dictator, declared war on Germany on September the third. For the iirst few months of the war, there was no battle front where the British could attack the Nazis. In April however, the Hun soldiers in- vaded Norway. She put up a ,strong iight with the help of Britain but the fifth column agents were too powerful. Norway fell beneath the sway of German rule. In May, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg fell by fifth col- umn action and force of arms in the nature of parachute troops and aero- planes. The 'fall of Belgium provided an easy route into France which was not prepared for an attack from behind. They were assisted by Britain but France was too full of spies and Nazi sympathizers to keep the enemy back. Orders were given which were never carried out. Consequently Paris fell and with it, the French nation. Herr Hitler then turned his attentions to- ward the island of Great Britain. Around the first of August, Hitler began his bombing of Britain, promis- ing the world that he would be in London by August the fifteenth. August the fifteenth came, and he was far from London. His planes were making no impression on England and he had not yet attempted to invade Britain. Frcm this time on, however, the air raids increased in intensity. While the British planes and anti-aircraft fire have kept them from damaging military