OURS IS a funny country. Not only is it eager to destroy itself; it also wishes to stick a dagger into its military his- tory. A few years ago it was the Na- tional Film Board that did the dir- ty wozk. One of its pimply-faced youths sought to show ~~ 70 years after the event — that Billy Bish- op the great air ace shouldn’t have had a VC. More recentiy, a couple of snot-nosed products of the hippy era named Brian and Terence McKenna delivered on CBC-TV a stupid series on the Canadian roie in the Second World War. The atrocity in question was called The Valour and The Hor- ror, which sought to prove that Canadian and British commanders were bird-brains and sadists. It was a “docu-drama”’ in which actors were used to enhance the negative impression. Selected victims were made to appear as villains, and facts or views that would weaken the authors’ thesis were omitted. Veterans of the Normandy bat- tles might give me an argumeat about this, their contribution to beating Hitter also having been given the dirt-treatment. But in my view the worst part was the two hours featuring the air war ever Germany. The most evil character was Air Marsb=! Sir Arthur “‘Bomber’* Harris, the man who directed that contest and is now conveniently dead. He was depicted as a conspira- tor who chose his own strategy regardless of what his bosses - wanted, and an issuer of sinister ““secret directives.”’ ‘The McKennas didn’t seem to know that all war-time directives were secret. The uninformed viewer could be forgiven for thinking that Harris - was some sort of British Himmier. If he was, it’s strange that the Queen Mother is about to unveil a statue to him. Co ” “According to the McKennas, the air war was a badly-directed and ineffective campaign, the sole purpose of which was the needless destruction of human life. Unfor- tunately for them, there are still a lot of people around who know the facts. : One is Mr. Murray Peden, DEC, QC. He is a Winnipeg lawyer, a student of the Second World War, a former bomber pilot and the author of a book on the war called A Thousand Shali Fell He wrote a letter to the CRC -brass that has to be one of the ALL oug Collins ON THE OTHER HAND greatest put-downs since Dr. Samuel Johnson told Lord Ches- terfield where he could put his patronage. The program, he averred, was “studded with pustules of the sick viewpoint that most Canadians would style peacenik-revisionist.” Not that he relies on rhetoric. He trashes the McKennas’ effort point by relentiess point. Example: the 1943 attack on Hamburg created a fire storm and caused thousands of civilian deaths. So did raids on other cit- ics. Were such actions ‘‘cruel and inhumane,”’ as the CBC had it? Only if you subscribe to the Gan- dhi view that the Hitiers should not be resisted by force of arms. Peden pointed out that the enemy’s war factories were widely distributed, that those same civil- fans were working in them full blast, chat Germany was’ produc- ing the V1s and V2s that were to rain down indiscriminately on the U.K. (just like the bombs that rained down during the Blitz) and that the Nazis were trying to de- velop an atomic bomb. Someone might remind the - McKennas, wrote former Flying Officer Peden, that there were some people on the other side whose activities were not confined to playing in the Berlin Philhar- monic. The program claimed that the bombing of German cities was in- effective and stiffened German morale. . Peden quotes Albert Speer, Hitler’s armaments minister: “It (the Hamburg operation) _ had catastrophic consequences for MERCHANDISE SATURDAY MAY 23 241 LONSDALE AVE. N.VAN. us ... The devastation ... could only be compared with the effects of a major earthquake. ‘*L informed Hitler that arma- ments production was collapsing and threw in the further warning that a series of attacks of this sort, extended to six more cities, would bring Germany's arma- ments production to a total halt.’’ As for bombing having stiff- ened morale, that too is a myth. The war went on, it is true. And I know why. First, the Nazis knew their own necks were at risk. Second, the slightest opposition to the war meant death. Third, the prospect of a Russian occupation put the fear of God into everyone. The program even suggested that the bombing gave the Ger- man fighter pilots ‘‘the high moral ground.’’ Peden sees that as ‘outrageously offensive.”’ He had a healthy respect for those pilots, having been shot up by them. But, he adds, their fighting ability had the effect of prolonging the Nazi regime and the occupation of Europe. “*The death carps, atong with the slave labor camps, ran until the Allies hammered Germany in- to the ground, and would have stayed in operation many months longer but for the Combined Bombing Offensive which the CEC reviles.*? He could have pointed out, too, that it was Hitler who prociaimed **total war.’’ And that he reaped the whirlwind. There is a movement to remove the tapes of this mess from public sale. But what is needed is net censorship. What is needed is contempt and ridicule. - CrEnarEne, Government-Guaranteed Coupon Annuity Packages An Innovative, Government Guaranteed Investment offering the ultimate flexibility in personatized retirement income planning For more information please call The North Shore’s only full Service Investment firm. RBC COMINION SECURITIES Tieeber of thc Royel Ban Grove 925-3131 201-250 15th Street, West Vancouver HELP US HELP YOUR COMMUNITY Your opinions will help government develop a new capital grants program for communi- ties throughout British Columbia. This year’s provincial budget sets aside half of all lortery proceeds for urgent health care _ priorities. The remaining half goes to general government revenue. That means there is no longer a separate lottery fund and the GO BC program has been cancelled. Although the overall amount of money available has been reduced, we have created a new Community Grants Program to replace the oid program. Grants from this program will be capital in nature. That is, chey will go to eligible community organizations to acquire or improve assets such as buildings and equipment, not to cover operating costs or provide services. Other ministries provide operating assistance to qualifying organizations. This is an opporcunity to advise your government. Please take a few minutes to answer the following questions and mail to the address given below, by June 15, 1992. Q UE S$ T I O N § ‘To ensure that projects have significant local support, provincial capital grane pro- grams traditionally pay only 1/3 of the total project costs. Do you think this is fair? If noc, what portion of the costs do you think the provincial government (that is, all che taxpayers of the Province) should contribute? GO BC had 2 maximum award of $1 million. Given that funds are limited do you chink British Columbia's communities would benefit more from a few large grants or many smaller grants spreacl chroughout the province? What, in your view, should be rhe maximum grant? What types of capital projects should the provincial government's Community Grants Program support? What types of projects should NOT qualify for provincial assistance and why? PLEASE SEND YOUR OPINIONS TO: Community Grants Branch Ministry of Government Services 1117 Wharf Street Victoria, B.C. V8W 2Z2 FAX 356-9358 Ministry of Government Services Hon. Lois Boone, Minister