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

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22 PARIS HIGH SCHOOL YEAR BOOK Our War Guests When on June 19, 1940, the British Government announced their inten- tion of sending 10,000 refugee children to Canada as soon as transportation was possible, Canada was ready. Many people in the Dominion of Canada who have relatives in Great Britain are taking their relatives' children for the duration of the war. Children without relatives here are being taken in groups to large houses and others privately to small homes. Some of the older boys and girls are being placed in boarding schools. In each province the Child's Welfare Or- ganization is looking after the distribution of the children to the homes. This transportation of refugees has brought the high and low classes of England closer together. Nobility and common people have the same pri- vileges. An example of this is that the two Princesses, Elizabeth and Mar- garet Rose, are staying in England sharing the same dangers as the thou- sands of other children unable to come to safety. The purpose of transporting the children is to remove them from the horrors and ravages of war so that they may be fitted and educated to carry on the work of the next generation wisely and peaceably. A great responsi- bility will rest on their shoulders to rebuild the country after this awful war is over. The British children are in every way desirable guests. They are highly intelligent and have had physical examinations before leaving England and on entering Canada. They are courageous and cheerful and do not seem to mind being taken from their homes and set in different surroundings be- cause they know it is for the good of their country and themselves. Never- theless they deserve our sympathy because of the strain imposed upon them, knowing that their parents are in danger. During the journey across the Atlantic and especially aboard the two ships torpedoed, the children showed cheerfulness, courage and obedience. On the second ship torpedoed sixty-three children lost their lives. The peo- ple of Canada extend their sincerest sympathy to the parents of these young children. When the children finally arrive in Canada they are distributed to homes and boarding schools. Among our more distinguished guests who we are especially proud to welcome are Crown Princess Juliana of Holland with her daughters Beatrice and Irene, and the daughter of the Earl and Countess of Athlone with her children. The hospitality of the Canadian people is wonderfully represented in their whole-hearted welcome of the British children. When the project was Hrst announced people poured to meetings and stated their decisions to take children even although they had some of their own or could not rightly af-

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PARIS HIGH SCHOOL YEAR BOOK 21 the Croix de Guerre. Roy Brown, of Brantford, brought down Germany's air ace in a dog-fight in France. These are only two of the renowned avia- tors of 1914-18. After the Great War was over, Canada saw the need of an Air Force of her own. The Air Board Act of nineteen hundred and nineteen was passed and the R.C.A.F. came into being. Although started on a small scale, Canada's Air Force is being slowly but surely built up. The total strength of the R.C.A.F. on December the thirty-first, nineteen hundred and thirty- two, was ninety-eight officers and five hundred and ninety-two airmen. Now let us look to the future of our Air Force. Great prospects are held for the young aviators of to-morrow. Aeroplanes will be used much more commercially than ever before in the history of Canada. It is probable that transport planes will be making weekly or even daily flights to the United Kingdom. Until now the Navy has been the most important factor in the fighting forces. Now the R.C.A.F. is doing its best to wrest the proud title, The Silent Service, from its naval comrades. The first time the Canadian fighter squadron went into action they were successful in bringing down two Dornier bombers, since then, with pride and joy, we have read of their continued success and know that these are only the forerunners of an extremely large number of enemy machines that will never return to their bases. As in the last war Canadian airmen are the masters of any problem the enemy may set them. We are again producing airmen better trained, in fact superior in every way to anything that the Nazis can send against us. When the Prime Minister of Great Britain said in the House of Commons, Never in the field of human conflict was so rnuch owed by so many to so few, he not only paid a tribute and a nation's thanks to a service of heroes, but set a standard to which future airmen will aspire. We know that even this standard will be beaten, as these men fully understand that, as the rep- resentatives of the democracies, they stand for all the aims and ambitions of their forefathers who in many cases fought and died to create this Empire which is ours. The man whose good fortune it has been to be selected as a member of any of the Empire's Air Forces, realizes it is a great honour. Into his hands, at the moment, has been placed a large portion of the defence of our freedom and we all know that, as the days go by, he will rise to full manhood with his laurels won and our Empire still free. The Canadian airman is, without doubt, superior to any and only one result is possible:- It is Victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terrors. Vic- tory, however long and hard the road may be. For without Victory, there is no survival. Eva Scott.

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PARIS HIGH SCHOOL YEAR BOOK 23 ford it. Canadian women everywhere are busy making clothes for refugee children. Now that the British Government has decided that it is sending no more children because of the danger of German torpedoes or U-boats this hospi- tality will remain for those that are here. If later more do come it will be extended to them also. The sending of British war guests is a great linking of the Mother Country with Canada. The English children will learn to know Canadians and Canadian ways better so that a great bond of understanding and friend- ship will be built up between the people of the two countries. We should be proud to shelter the children of our Mother Country, to think that we are doing this small service while they are enduring the bombing raids and other terrors of war. It is the least we can do to show our appreciation of their fine bravery in defending our Empire and making the world a safe place for us all. Many people believe that the torpedoeing of the innocent refugee child- ren will be the turning point of the war and that the forces of the world will rise to put the cruel tyrant, Hitler, from power. There'll always be an England, and England shall be free. Beth Holder. ,i .l.l. The Royal Canadian Navy England expects that every man this day should do his duty. Lord Nelson. By the passing of the Naval Service Act in 1910, the Royal Canadian Navy came into being. The training scheme is identical with that of the Royal Navy, as are the qualifications for promotion. The R.C.N. and its Re- serve Forces are under the direction of the Chief of Naval Staff who is a member of the defense council. The Service consists of the Royal Canadian Navy Cpermanentlg The Royal Canadian Naval Reserve fnon-permanentlg The Royal Canadian Na- val Volunteer Reserve tnon-permanentl, and the Royal Canadian Fleet Re- serve tnon-permanentj. The ships of the R.C.N. are manned by men from all parts of Canada. Because of the possession of only one small but' excellent Navy College, se- lected officers and men are sent to England to attend special courses in the training schools of the Royal Navy. A proportion of the men are lent to H. M. Ships for training at sea. Joint exercises with ships of the Royal Navy while in Canadian waters are carried out at every opportunity by H.M.C. Ships. The Royal Canadian Naval Reserve and The Royal Canadian Navy Vol- unteer Reserve are organized along the same lines. The R.C.N.R. must train for forty-two days during the first year of enrolment and fourteen days an- nually in the period of enrolment of six years. The R.C.N.V.R. was organiz-