April =

1945 — Page 11

_ What Soldiers Think —

By SERGEANT. JACK PHILLIPS

RECEIVED a fetter a short time ago from an old friend in Vancouver.
_ Jack,” he wrote, “What do the boys talk about overseas—aside from the usual small —
talk? Are they interested in Canadian and world affairs? Do they expect to come back to

sa: better Canada than they. leff—or a worse Canada?”

i am sure Joe will pardon me
if he is disappointed with -the

short reply I sent him, because
a Man on active service can’t

always find time to sit down
and marshal all his: thoughts
and analysis of a given subject,
and then put them down in good
English.

However, I promised Joe, who
is a faithful P.A. booster, that
as soon as I found time I would
write a short letter on the sub-
‘ject for the greatest little in-
formation center and morale
booster in B.G.: The Pacific Ad-
yocate.

ac begin with the average

Canadian soldier overseas
is a healthy young man who
volunteered to serve his country
anywhere in the world, and in
most cases, has been away from
home two, three, four and five
years. Naturally he wants to
see the war end as soon as pos-
sible, so he can get home to his
beloved land- and be with his
loved ones. Believe me, brother,
Canada never meant so much to
us as it does now, after such a
long absence. When a soldier,
sailor or airman writes that he
will kiss the ground with joy.
when he sets foot on Canadian
soll again, he is speaking for
every man and woman overseas
with the forces.

When we see devastation:
rain and horror that fascist

_ War has breught to England,

France, Belgium and Hol-
Jand, we realize full well how
hecessary our full particips-
tion in the war has been (Cand
still is), and we thank our
lucky stars that we are going
back to a country undamaged
by war and stronger in many
Ways than She was in A939.
Believe me, this is not my
Settiment alone. No! Ali
of us who have seen the con-
vulsions and sickness of
Eurepe feel the same way—
Ro matter how we express
ourselves.
Further,

amongst service-

| taen overseas there is a srowing
{| ©onviction that it is not enough
| to win the war—but we must

| Win the peace by banishing war
) 2nd the fear of war from the

<atalogue of international af-

fairs.

Primarily, your average Cana-

a
| dian soldier in Germany today is

interested in himself and His
loved ones. Hé is thinking about
and planning ‘his future. This
is only natural.

“A good many have jobs, posi-
“tions or careers to ‘return to.
Others will go back to the farm
or into business. ° A good many

"Want to take advantage of the

- Veterans’
a want to learn new trades, con-

Land Act. Others

tinue their education, build

© homes and start on their own at
3 - £0vernment expense.

There is sill a great deal

af skepticism in the army about

-2¢cepting the government’s
Program for the rehabilita-

tions of the veterans at face
value. Too many of the lads
remember the shabby deal
handed out to their parents;
too many, nauseated by me-
mories of selfish, vote-grab-
bing politicians, question the
Sincerity of the program; and
too many, far to many, want
to know if the new govern-
ment placed in office soon
will keep Canada prosperous

or allow another depression ~

to develop.

We HAVE only to look back
over the period between
1919 and 1989 to realize that
such questions and doubts are
legitimate expr essions of intelli-
gent minds.
Says the lad interested in buy-

“Tell me,

managed to get together and
close their ranks behind him.

Squabbles over conscription,
when an infantryman’s life is
hardly a picnic, rows about
children’s allowances when the
anxious frontline soldier is_
wondering how his wife will
manage to pay the hospital
bills for their sick child—such
petty political maneuvers are
hardly conducive to giving the
serving soldier a healthy re
spect for the home front. To
the contrary, it tends in many
cases to obscure the magnifi-
cent contribution the home
front has made in the very teeth
of such political sabotage.

“What does the average sol-
dier on active service think
about conscription?” He be-

of Canada. Basinee they be-

lieve that such a campaign
would have been, in the long
run, a much happier solution
than the various compromises
arrived at since then.

HE biggest percentage of us
joined up when we were not
yet at war with Japan. We
realize full well that Japan is
a terrible menace to world
peace, security and our own liv-

ing standards. We realize that
the (Allies must throw every-

thing they’ve got at Japan and

beat her war machine to a pulp.
Too true! But many of our
boys are asking: “How will
they, pick the men for the army
in the Pacific?”

True, a certain percentage
wil be raised by the voluntary
system, but how about the bal-
ance? Speak to any soldier
who has spent two, three, four

or five years away from home

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As victory approaches the soldier overseas is giving

serious thought to the kind of Canada he wants to

come home to.

In this article Jack Phillips outlines

some of the things as the fighting men see them.

©

ing a $6,000 farm under the
Veterans’ Land Act: “I’d hate
to work 10 years building up my

farm and then have the price ~

of wheat collapse.”

Says the 26-year-old soldier
who has a wife and child: “I
want to learn accountanecy—but
if I spend a year in school, or
more, after I leave the army,
will all the available jobs be
gobbled up?”

There is a widespread feeling
throughout the Canadian Army
overseas,
back home are in an awful mess.
While opinions on the methods
to be used in cleaning up the
mess represent almost every
known (and some unknown!)
shade of Canadian public opin-
ion. There isn’t the slightest
doubt that your boys overseas
are profoundly disturbed and
somewhat disgusted by some of
the political squabbles that have
taken place at home.

In all fairness, | must admit
that here in the theatre of op-
erations, it is easy to be of one
mind and purpose, because we

all belong to one big team and —

we have only one job to do: to
defeat the enemy and end the
war.

However, a soldier who is
risking his very life that the
war should never reach Can-
ada’s shores should be ex-
eused if in assessing the sit-
uation on the home front, he
can’t see why all parties of
good faith, all groups whe
speak for a section of the
Canadian people have not

that political affairs _

lieves in equality of sacrifice,
and feels that the plebiscite of
1942, which gave Mackenzie
King a majority people’s vote
to institute conscription, should
have been acted on. Your Eng-

lish-speaking soldier has every |

respect for Jean Batiste as a
fighting man, but he strongly
criticizes Mackenzie King for
not carrying the fight to Que-
bee after the plebiscite, and
winning French Canada to sup-
port of conscription by placing
the issue fairly and squarely
before them, and by undermin-
ing the support of the isolation-
ist and nationalist groups who
have done so much to give Que-
bee a black name in other parts

Sst. JACK PHILLIPS

‘and you. will find that he is

in’ favor of conscription for the
Pacific war;-if necessary, to
meet our full commitments. In
Britain, young men in reserved
occupations will be liable to
call-up for-.seryice in the Pa-
cific, so that veterans of the
European and other theatres of
war will be able to return to
their homes soon after the de-
feat of Germany.

The fact that the Tory party
is already agitating on this
question, and that Canada, un-

like the USA and Britain, has
anounced no general plan for
general demobilization after

the defeat of Germany is dis-
_concerting to thousands of sol-

diers overseas. They want fair
treatment and justice and
they do not want to be political

- footballs.

Not so long ago, a chap I
know received a letter from his
sister, telling him a friend had
been arrested by the military

police. This friend had re-
turned home, a veteran of Di-
eppe. and the fMItalian. cam-

paigns, twice wounded and with
five years overseas service to
his credit. The réason for his
arrest? He did not want to go
back overseas and was AWOL.

Since then public pressure
has foreed the government to
change its positien on this
question. Now, a soldier return-
ing to Canada after five years
service overseas is returned to
a theatre of operations only at

his own request—otherwise he
is posted near home.

Two facts emerge from this
change of policy that are im-
portant for the average soldier
over here:

@ The government changed
its policy because of public
pressure.

@ The fact that the Cana-
dian Legion took up the issue
had a great bearing on the case.

SPE to almost any soldier

and youll find a man who
intends te join the Canadian
Legion after the war. It’s
nothing unusual to hear one
of the lads say: “We must stick
together after the war and join
ene organization, the, Canadian
Legion. If all the veterans be-—
long to one strong organization
then no government will dare
give us a raw deal.”

There, in its essence, you
have the serving soldier’s pet
fear of the future: fear of a
raw deal.

He doesn’t expect to go back
to a Utopia, but he wants a
fair chance to get on his feet
and make. his own way in life.
It’s not charity he wants, but
opportunity, consideration and
fair play. .

He wants to see veterans’
affairs administered ~- justly.
but generously, and with none
of the penny-pinching, soul-
destroying pettiness of a
dole system, and without
stifling tons of red tape de-
Signed te build a wall be-
tween veterans and the goy-
ernment.

Despite the cynicism of the
front line and the barracks,
every Canadian overseas is
really proud of his army, his
country and his people. He be-
lieves that Canada will emerge
from this war as one of the
great powers—the greatest of
the small powers — and he
wants to see his country be as
great in peace as she is in war.

I have no doubt that out of
the fire and flame of the thou-
sand and one engagements that
Canadians have so gallantly
served in, there will emerge ~
many of Canada’s great leaders
of tomorrow.

Schooled by years of com-
mon discipline and service te
the common good, tempered
by the intense heat of active
service and sobered by the
tragic effects of Munich
policies, which they haye seen
with their very own eyes,
Canada’s soldiers want to see
Canada as an active member
of an international organiza-
tion that. will prevent war,
and usher in an era of truly
international good will based
on justice, epportunity and
the recognition in a practical
way of the people’s right to
a full employment of the
bounties of nature, industry.
and the amenities of life.

Unless the statesmen who
meet at the coming peace con-
ferences lay the basis for such
a world, then, according to the
average soldier on active sery-
ice, “we'll really have a big
fight on our hands—a bigger
fight than this Hitler show.”