The Americans who died for Canada in WWII

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
117,275
14,263
113
Low Earth Orbit
If somebody came to Botswana and ask me to trap my as$ in a Spitfire and get paid damn good too do it, I'd be first in line.
 

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
49,916
1,907
113
Douglas Bader - captured in Aug 1941 with 20 kills and no legs....

Probably would have been close had he stayed in service

And Bader was British, of course.

He lost both legs in 1931 after he crashed his RAF plane whilst attempting aerobatics. He was on the brink of death, but recovered, retook flight training, and requested reactivation as a pilot. This was refused and he was retired against his will on medical grounds.

However, when Britain declared war on Germany in 1939, Bader, despite having no legs, applied to rejoin the RAF and was accepted (the British military needed all the men it could get).

He scored his first victories over Dunkirk during the Battle of France in 1940. He then took part in the Battle of Britain and became a friend and supporter of Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and his "Big Wing" experiments.

The Big Wing, also known as a Balbo, was an air fighting tactic proposed during the Battle of Britain by 12 Group commander Air Vice-Marshal Trafford Leigh-Mallory and Acting Squadron Leader Douglas Bader. In essence, the tactic involved meeting incoming Luftwaffe bombing raids in strength with a wing-sized formation of three to five squadrons. In the Battle, this tactic was employed by the Duxford Wing, under Bader's command.

In August 1941, Bader bailed out over German-occupied France and was captured. Soon afterward, he met and befriended Adolf Galland, a prominent German fighter ace.

The circumstances surrounding how Bader was shot down in 1941 are controversial. Recent research strongly suggests he was a victim of friendly fire. Despite having no legs, Bader made a number of escape attempts! He was eventually sent to the POW camp at Colditz Castle. He remained there until April 1945 when the camp was liberated by the First United States Army.

He's a true British hero. Had he been an American, a Canadian or a Frenchman there's no way he would have applied to go fighting in a war with no legs.
 
Last edited:

Sons of Liberty

Walks on Water
Aug 24, 2010
1,284
0
36
Evil Empire
He's a true British hero. Had he been an American, a Canadian or a Frenchman there's no way he would have applied to go fighting in a war with no legs.

You know Blackleaf, even our tolerance to your pathetic chest thumping has its limits. You f uckin Europeans plunged the world into a world war on your own....twice you Europeans f uckers couldn't get your sh!t together an dragged the planet into chaos and the you bitch who didn't come to fight with you or that you would have won the war. You're a f uckin disgrace and you dishonor millions of people's memories (soldiers or not) that lost their lives, grow the f uck up.
 

EagleSmack

Hall of Fame Member
Feb 16, 2005
44,168
96
48
USA
Sorry, kept them {Soviet reserves} in the east.

What do you mean they died for Canada ?! Did Canada drag them over the border kicking and screaming to conscript them. Sounds like American BS.

Ooooo... relic got butt hurt.
 

relic

Council Member
Nov 29, 2009
1,408
3
38
Nova Scotia
My point exactly, .volenteers,They came of their own free will,and Canada was easier to get to than England.My question was what was meant by they died for Canada,Canada didn't need them.
 

Tecumsehsbones

Hall of Fame Member
Mar 18, 2013
60,213
9,455
113
Washington DC
You know Blackleaf, even our tolerance to your pathetic chest thumping has its limits. You f uckin Europeans plunged the world into a world war on your own....twice you Europeans f uckers couldn't get your sh!t together an dragged the planet into chaos and the you bitch who didn't come to fight with you or that you would have won the war. You're a f uckin disgrace and you dishonor millions of people's memories (soldiers or not) that lost their lives, grow the f uck up.
Three times. I've never been able to figure out why the Napoleonic Wars aren't called World War I. They were fought on a broader scale than WWI, on every continent except Antarctica and on all the oceans.

Whose uniform did they wear?
Their own, I hope. You can get some nasty infections and fungal infestations from wearing other guys' uniforms.

The circumstances surrounding how Bader was shot down in 1941 are controversial. Recent research strongly suggests he was a victim of friendly fire.

Well now, that's very British.
 

hunboldt

Time Out
May 5, 2013
2,427
0
36
at my keyboard
Three times. I've never been able to figure out why the Napoleonic Wars aren't called World War I. They were fought on a broader scale than WWI, on every continent except Antarctica and on all the oceans.


Their own, I hope. You can get some nasty infections and fungal infestations from wearing other guys' uniforms.


Well now, that's very British.


" Today , troop, we shall exchange our underwears.
Schultz, you vill exchange vith Horsts..."
 

Goober

Hall of Fame Member
Jan 23, 2009
24,691
116
63
Moving
I can safely say that WWII very much became America's business when Germany and Italy declared war on it and Japan bombed it.

"WWII is none of America's business and we shouldn't have been involved in it" is a ludicrous, historically ignorant myth that I hope I never have to read again on here.

Ahem- Correct order please-
Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
US Declared War on Japan.
Then as follows, Germany, Italy declared War with the US.

On December 8, 1941 the United States Congress declared war upon the Empire of Japan in response to that country's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor the prior day. It was formulated an hour after the Infamy Speech presidential address of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Following the declaration, Japan's allies, Germany and Italy, declared war on the United States, definitively bringing the United States into World War II.