Tommy gun in the ETO

[Ed Storey]

You are kidding, right? Stop shaving a week before an event! Have a quick look at the images held within the Faces of War site that is hosted by the Library and Archives Canada. You will not find many Canadian soldiers who are not clean shaven, shaving was and still is SOP.

Instead of trying to portray what you think is 'cool', why not do a bit a of research and present to the public what was accurate and correct.

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

You are kidding, right? Stop shaving a week before an event! Have a quick look at the images held within the Faces of War site that is hosted by the Library and Archives Canada. You will not find many Canadian soldiers who are not clean shaven, shaving was and still is SOP.

Instead of trying to portray what you think is 'cool', why not do a bit a of research and present to the public what was accurate and correct.

You misquote me sir, I never used the word 'cool'. I've seen several photos of scraggly faced Canadian soldiers over the years, the most well known of which is the picture taken on August 11, 1943 of Sgt. H E Cooper of the 48th Highlanders of Canada which was widely distributed in the press. If you feel the need to quote me again in the future, "historically accurate" would be more appropriate.

Derek.

[Mk1rceme]

My Grandfather had a Thompson while driving ambulances for 1MAC in Sicily/Italy, and after the creation of the RCEME where he spent his days with 1div, 3bde infantry workshop. He was able to keep it until he got the word that he was going to France.

If I recall correctly, he was issued the Thompson in England shortly before leaving for Sicily. He said you had to be very protective over the Thompson...if you put it down and turned your back for a second, it would be gone.

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally Posted by sapper740

You misquote me sir, I never used the word 'cool'. I've seen several photos of scraggly faced Canadian soldiers over the years, the most well known of which is the picture taken on August 11, 1943 of Sgt. H E Cooper of the 48th Highlanders of Canada which was widely distributed in the press. If you feel the need to quote me again in the future, "historically accurate" would be more appropriate.

Derek.

. . . did it ever occur to you Derek, that Sgt. Cooper may have been a ‘Pioneer’ . . .

The photo you refer to is attached (Source: LAC)

Cheers

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Mark W. Tonner

. . . did it ever occur to you Derek, that Sgt. Cooper may have been a ‘Pioneer’ . . .

The photo you refer to is attached (Source: LAC)

Cheers

No, it never occurred to me because if he was a Pioneer he wouldn't have caught heck, as it was reported, from his superiors for having the beard.

Derek.

[Ed Storey]

I did not misquote you at all, I was politely stating that your misguided and wrong interpretation of what you think a Canadian soldier looked like during the Second World War is based what you think is cool to impress your re-enactor friends and not what was the norm during that period.

Did it not even dawn on you that you are basing your impression on a very small percentage of images of bearded Canadian soldiers held in vast archival collection of material? That alone should have been enough, but from what I see from your previous post, I suspect that you are on some 'bearded crusade'. Perhaps you can do us all a favour and actually find for us and post some of the other images of bearded Canadians during the Second World War that you apparently may have researched, because right now I have my doubts you can, but you may surprise me.

Did none of the members of your 're-enactment unit' question your bizzare no shaving request, or are they as blatantly mis-informed about the people and the period as you are?

[sapper740]

Originally Posted by Ed Storey

I did not misquote you at all, I was politely stating that your misguided and wrong interpretation of what you think a Canadian soldier looked like during the Second World War is based what you think is cool to impress your re-enactor friends and not what was the norm during that period.

Did it not even dawn on you that you are basing your impression on a very small percentage of images of bearded Canadian soldiers held in vast archival collection of material? That alone should have been enough, but from what I see from your previous post, I suspect that you are on some 'bearded crusade'. Perhaps you can do us all a favour and actually find for us and post some of the other images of bearded Canadians during the Second World War that you apparently may have researched, because right now I have my doubts you can, but you may surprise me.

Did none of the members of your 're-enactment unit' question your bizzare no shaving request, or are they as blatantly mis-informed about the people and the period as you are?

Yes it did dawn on me that I'm basing my impression on a very small percentage of images of Canadian soldiers. On that point we completely agree. To my mind there are two impressions that we can present to the public; the parade square soldier and the soldier who just spent a week fighting Hubert Meyer's 12th SS. Neither impression is incorrect, just a short cameo of the life of a Canadian soldier at various points during his service to his country. We put on a lot of show battles here for the public and I always thought that the reenactor next to me with the polished boots, freshly pressed uniform, and clean shaven face looked way out of place whereas my guys with the dirty boots, wrinkled uniform, and scraggly faces looked more authentic, but that's just my opinion...and a few others. In any event, I'm sorry my position on this matter disturbs you so much but I'm not going to stop accurately portraying what a Canadian soldier looked like after a week in combat. Also this will be my last response to this thread as I'm not the least bit interested in pissing matches.

respectfully, Derek