Convoy Magazine-Capt.George Blackburn M.C.

Alex Blair (RIP) · #1 10-11-05, 01:59

The latest Convoy magazine has ,among other features, a feature on Coe Hill -Warrior Days..
I wrote the artical and George Blackburn was at Coe Hill and very involved with the weekend program ,as was shown in Convoy Magazine.
He is one of Canada's true heros and I had been trying to contact him to deliver his complimentry magazine to him and have another chat with him..(There is a great picture of him on the front cover)
After a week of phone calls and home visits I finally contacted his son who told me that George has suffered a mild stroke and was hospitalized..
He is still in hospital but his son tells me he is up and around and progressing well.
He is expected to be home next week and I will contact him when he gets home and report back..
I asked his son about get well cards and he said that he would like that but said that it may be confusing to him to be swamped with cards from people he didn't know...
A possible solution to those who would like to send George get well wishes is to send them to me at my home address with a simple'"George " on the back of the envelope.Make sure your return address is on the envelope and I will deliver them to him in bunches with explanations of them personally.
George Blackburn,M.C., is a true Canadian hero ,a gentleman,family man and a great friend..
Alex Blair
1719 Heron Rd,
Ottawa,Ontario,
Canada,K1V-6A2

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/content/fea...to/photo7.html

Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP) · #2 10-11-05, 02:49

Thanks for that service, Alex. I shall be among your first customers.

BTW, why do I seem to think he made Major before being demobbed? Just my imagination?

An outstanding man and an outstanding Canadian.

Alex Blair (RIP) · #3 10-11-05, 09:36

Quote:

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
Thanks for that service, Alex. I shall be among your first customers.

BTW, why do I seem to think he made Major before being demobbed? Just my imagination?

An outstanding man and an outstanding Canadian.

Hi Jif,
Thanks for the endorsement and your thoughts..
I thought ,or may have read some where that he was a Major and in the artical I wrote Major...
Before we went to print I talked with George again and called him Major Blackburn....
He straightened me out right away saying "I never made Major ,Captain was bad enough " or something along those lines..
I reported these back to Convoy editor Marc Montgomery and he made the changes but one "Major" Blackburn slipped through under a photo caption..."To err is human,to forgive is devine.."
George is not on line but when he is better I will bring him here for coffee and let him visit MLU and see our Forum..
George has made many friends over the years and hopefully more will send him cards ..His son says he likes getting mail ,but unsolicited mail drives him nuts..just like the rest of us..This is why he would be confused if all these cards came to him..He wouldn't know where or who they were from ...
So thanks again and I will keep you informed on George's progress..
Canada is very fortunate to have had men and women of George Blackburn's ilk and we have to look after them as best we can...
We all only walk this road once...

Hanno Spoelstra · #4 10-11-05, 14:34

Quote:

Originally posted by Alex Blair
A possible solution to those who would like to send George get well wishes is to send them to me at my home address with a simple'"George " on the back of the envelope.

Alex, I've sent you an e-card via PM, please print and pass on.

Thanks Alex!

Hanno

P.S.: See WW2 RCA Gunner: last May 7th a commemorative plaque honouring Canadians was unveiled by Groesbeek Airborne Friends. Sadly, I only found this out the day after the fact, otherwise I would have made sure I was present...

"George Blackburn of the 4th Field Regiment speaks during the unveiling of a commemorative plaque in front of the windmill which he used as an observation tower during winter of 1944 and 1945. Mr. Blackburn was a Forward Observation Officer (FOO) with the Canadian Army. He is member of the Order of Canada and received the French Legion of Honour."

Alex Blair (RIP) · #5 10-11-05, 15:52

Thanks Hanno..
I'll be sure to pass this along..Very thoughtful card and I printed it to pass on to him.
I'm hoping to bring him up here and take him through the MLU system and you site..I think he would be interested for sure..
He's going on 89 years old and up until last week was driving his own car and all over the place..The last conversation I had with him ,we were going to wet down Mike Calnans crown,but he said then that he was going to have to start saying "No" to some of the many requests he gets for appearances..He is in schools regularly talking to school kids,very involved with the war museum and many other veterans organizations..
Hopefully I'll get to see him next week but his son will contact me this weekend probably and I'll post a progress report and up date here..
Thanks again..
Alex

peter simundson · #6 11-11-05, 03:16

You will also notice Mr. Blackburn is wearing the MC.
Nice medal. Not easily won.

Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP) · #7 11-11-05, 04:14

Quote:

Originally posted by peter simundson
You will also notice Mr. Blackburn is wearing the MC.
Nice medal. Not easily won.

I've seen fewer of those on parade than DSO's, the latter sometimes awarded for "leadership". Any man who's earned an MC, MM or DCM you know earned it the hard way and probably damned well deserved more.

cmperry4 · #8 11-11-05, 19:46

George Blackburn's excellent books have a lot to do with my going deeper into Canadian military history and for taking the plunge into messing about with military vehicles for real, starting with a motorcycle, after reading his descriptions of DRs.

For those who haven't yet read his books, his is writing is very vivid, and he employs second-person voice quite a bit, which really puts the reader on the scene. His description of his spell spent as FOO in that windmill is one of the most interesting chapters.

Alex Blair (RIP) · #9 11-11-05, 20:10

Hello group...
I just got back from the hospital and spent about a half hour with George,his daughter in law and his two grand daughters..I met them in the cafeteria and I tryed to get there earlier but was waylayed with some brake troubles..
I had coffee and we chatted..He looked in amazingly great shape and his speech was great ...
Names he forgot but he got me to write it down,and the instant he saw it ,he recognized it right away and jumped up and shook my hand and smiled from ear to ear..Did me proud to see it..
I brought him the morning paper and Hannos card and read it to him and gave it to him and some other papers he could read and interestingly enough I showed him a pre war tourist map of Antwerp with all the streets and buildings and the Scheldt River and after studying it for a minute or two pointed a towered building and said..."I was up in that building...climbed right to the top but couldn't see a thing..!!"
So he is coming along great ..He was tired and I said my goodbys and said we'll get together for coffee once he's out of hospital..

I passed along best wishes from all his readers and friends and well wishers..
I spent my Remembrance Day with a true Canadian hero...
Lest We (I) Forget.....

peter simundson · #10 11-11-05, 22:06

And I along with our Association President spent the afternoon at Westlake Park in Weston. This Park commemorates the 3 Westlake brothers two killed June 11 at Le Mesnil Patrie, together
both Queen's Own and the third killed two days earlier with the North Novas. All the chidren the family had. As far as I know no other family lost all three sons. Victory over the Nazi swine had a crushing price.

Barry Churcher · #11 12-11-05, 04:32

I was able to meet the couple who own the windmill in Groesbeek. They were George's guests in Canada and they visited Coe Hill with George. We quaffed a few in the Legion and George bought. Quite an honour for me.
Kees (pronounced Case) who owns the mill was very excited about the Canadian connection and has led a very interesting life. His English is superb and he would be well worth visiting if you ever get to Groesbeek. His lovely wife doesn't speak English so I drove her nuts trying out my atrocious Dutch the whole afternoon.
Cheers,
Barry

Alex Blair (RIP) · #12 16-11-05, 14:11

Quote:

Originally posted by Barry Churcher
I was able to meet the couple who own the windmill in Groesbeek. They were George's guests in Canada and they visited Coe Hill with George. We quaffed a few in the Legion and George bought. Quite an honour for me.
Kees (pronounced Case) who owns the mill was very excited about the Canadian connection and has led a very interesting life. His English is superb and he would be well worth visiting if you ever get to Groesbeek. His lovely wife doesn't speak English so I drove her nuts trying out my atrocious Dutch the whole afternoon.
Cheers,
Barry

Jeez,Barry...
I didn't know "Churcher" was Dutch..I thought it was half Scotch and half soda.....Ohhhhhh....maybe I'm mixing you up with "Winnington-Brawl"........
Saw George on Sunday afternoon..His son had him out for the afternoon and they stopped by the house for a minute or two...He's looking well and hopefully he will be out of there soon..