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A grandson remembers a father and son war effort By Duncan H. Ross SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER 9 · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, November 12, 2009 · www.oakvillebeaver.com F ather and son. As I look at this image on Remembrance Day, I am overcome with emotion. One man who I loved and learned so much from and one man who I never met, but who has become such a hero to me. David Alexander Ross and Harold Hugh "Rusty" Ross were men who embodied honour, dignity and public service. They intuitively knew the right thing to do and they did the job despite the risks. They lived this way in war and in peace. Rusty, like most Canadian men of his generation, answered the call to enlist in the Canadian army at the start of the First World War in 1914. He was in the first wave of the Canadian Expeditionary Force to head overseas to an absolutely horrific war. Remarkably he survived the entire war while many of his fellow Winnipeggers did not. He was a sergeant with the First Canadian Mounted Rifles. He suffered through the early carnage of Ypres, the Somme and was part of the amazing Canadian force that was victorious in the epic battle of Vimy Ridge. He was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre for some act of distinction or bravery that he never bothered to tell his family about. would have a few too many whiskeys with fellow battle survivors. The whiskey numbed the painful memories of the trenches and fuelled some uncharacteristically rowdy behaviour. Like most men of his time he never released these highly charged emotions to his family as they would never be able to fathom what he had been through. When the Second World War started, Rusty volunteered training young army recruits and when Dave turned 18 and was eligible to enlist for regular service, Rusty signed back up to serve Canada in another war. The father and son photo was on the cover of the Canadian Forces Recruiting Newsletter for Manitoba. Lieutenant David Ross and Major Both Rusty and Dave headed overseas. Harold `Rusty' Ross Rusty was an officer assigned to a Supply Unit in England and Dave, after some furWhen he returned from Europe, he ther training in England, was sent into the resumed his normal life in Winnipeg as an insurance broker and church elder, got mar- thick of the war a few days after D-Day as a ried, had one son and went about the busi- lieutenant with 8th Recce, 14th Canadian Hussars. ness of building the community. While Rusty toiled tirelessly behind the The Ross family survived the Great Depression, which was no small feat for an scenes, Dave, not quite 20 years old, was commanding men twice his age and having insurance guy, whose clients were small to make decisions that most of us would business people and farmers. find unthinkable. Rusty wouldn't miss the annual Vimy Dinners at the Winnipeg Armoury. These events were mainly to honour the fallen and were apparently legendary. They were the one day each year he One of very few stories he ever told was of his men being on one side of the Maas River in Holland and Germans being on the other side. The job of the Reconnaissance Unit is to find out the enemy positions. A tough job at the best of times, but very challenging when told by his superiors to do it at night. So Lt. Ross determined the only way to flush out the position was for two Canadians to drive a vehicle up and down the road along the river in order to draw mortar fire and then the positions of the Germans would be determined by the mortar flashes. But how do you determine who drives the jeep? Dave's approach? Don't ask anybody to do something you won't do yourself. He told his troops he would do the first run, (after a shot of whiskey) and after that, the unit would play cards and the winners would earn the right to watch for the flashes and not to have to drive. He didn't lose any men in the three weeks along the Maas. They did manage to contribute to driving the Germans out of Holland, but more importantly he built See Sacrifices page 14 C A R P E T · O R I E N TA L R U G S · V I N Y L · H A R D W O O D · C E R A M I C S · C A R P E T · C C E R A M I C S · C A R P E T · O R I E N TA L R U G S · E R A M I C S · C A R P E T · O R I E N TA L R U G S · V I N Y L · H A R D W O O D C E R A M I C S · C A R P E T · O R I E N TA L R U G S · V I N Y L · H A R D W O O D · C E R A M I C S · C A R P E T · O R I E N TA L R U G S Don't Pay TO WALL DOLLAR SALE WALLtill 2010 UP TO WALL TO WALL CARPET 50% OFF $1/SQ. FT. CARPET SPECIALS ALL IN-STOCK AREA RUGS... $ 99* $ L99*! ESS ALL IN-STOCK AREA RUGS... $1/SQ. FT. UP TO HARD WEARING BERBER LUXURIOUS 50 oz. NYLON TWIST INSTALLED OR LESS! BONUS! 1/2 PRICEWITH MEMORY FOAM $2/SQ. FT. SELECT 1PRICE OR2 1/2 6 3/4" HARDWOOD $5.99/SQ.FT. AREA RUG PAD A PURCHASE $1 (WITH RUGOVER $250 ) INSTALLATION $1/SQ. FT. VALUED Just S 24" x99* MATS 36" VINYL $1/SQ. FT. 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