Sandy and I recently shared cocktail hour with some good friends of ours. Joe grew up in upper New York in a town (Malone) twelve miles from the Canadian border and 58 miles south of Montreal. After World War II had ended, Joe’s father told him about the German U-boat activity in the St. Lawrence River and the effect it had on the Canadians.

Daniel Gallery, Commanding Officer of the Guadalcanal on the Conning Tower of the captured U-505. Photo by USN (June 1944). PD-US Government. Wikimedia Commons.

According to Joe’s father, the French Canadians weren’t too worried about the German occupation of France and the collaborationist government known as Vichy. That is until a U-boat was discovered in Montreal Harbor and stories of German spies being off loaded onto Canadian soil. That woke them up.

The Battle of the St. Lawrence

This is the term used today to describe the periods of time when the U-boats actively hunted down convoy boats in the St. Lawrence River. There were two primary periods of activity: May 1942 to September 1943 and then a resumption of activity in the fall of 1944 (due to a new technology on the submarines that allowed them to stay submerged longer). Read More Hallucination Caused by Fear?

There were many painful and disturbing legacies that countries had to face after the end of World War II. The most obvious is Germany. France had its own demons to deal with concerning Vichy France and its collaboration with the Nazis (France was the only Allied country to collaborate with the Germans). It wasn’t until 16 July 1995 that the French President Jacques Chirac publically acknowledged and accepted responsibility for France’s collaborationist role.

Comfort Women, rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. Photo by Claire Solery (2012). PD-CCA-Share Alike 3.0. Wikimedia Commons.

Recently, Japan has apologized to Korea for its role in “recruiting” women to serve in brothels set up for its soldiers during World War II. These women have been called “Comfort Women” and no agreement has ever been reached as to whether they were kidnapped or volunteered. One thing most historians agree on is that once in the brothels, the women were not allowed to leave. I suppose that in the strictest sense, this meant these women were sex slaves. Read More Comfort Women

Tag: World War II

Hallucination Caused by Fear?

The Battle of the St. Lawrence

Comfort Women

stewrosstravel