VJ Day, August 15, 1945
July 1945 the Ile de France was sailing from Scotland to Canada with happy passengers on board...World War II in Europe was over. The ship was loaded with returning service men and women, survivors from German prisoner-of-war camps, war brides and some volunteers to fight the war in the Pacific.
Astonishing things were underway. Over the following week or so United States President Harry Truman authorized atomic bombs to be dropped [“Cause for peace,” August 3]. World War II was over. The Allies declared August 15, 1945 as VJ Day.
I well remember that evening of joining together with two Navy friends, Bob and Bill. We discovered some liquid refreshment at Tommy’s Taxi. We sipped the ale and pondered on our future. Bob had joined the Royal Canadian Navy in 1941, he had two more years to serve. Bill was Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve, I was Royal Canadian Air Force. We wondered when we would get out and what we were going to do. It was a wondering time. The war had been going since September 1939.
Some of our friends did not make it—Jim Kenney was blown up at Ostend while serving in the motor torpedo boat squadron; Bill Stone was killed in an air force training accident in England; Stu Reed was killed in Holland—and so many more.
Kohima-Assam, India, has a simple memorial cross with the inscription: When you go home, tell of us and say for your tomorrow we gave our today.
We remember our comrades.
Charlie Tatham
Fairmont Street
World peace
Your editorial note [“Cause for peace,” August 3] drew attention to the urgent need for world peace.
Readers were reminded of the 66th anniversary of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 6 and August 9, 1945, and the thousands of deaths and devastation caused by the nuclear explosion.
This was the first time nuclear weapons were used in warfare, and brought about a swift ending of World War II in the Pacific. It saved thousands of lives of allied forces poised for invasion of Japan, but it was also an experiment on a civilian population, of the subsequent deaths caused by the ionizing radiation released. This was studied and documented by the USA to discover the effects of ionizing radiation on human survivors.
The Hibakusha, Japanese for atomic bomb survivors, many of whom have died since from a variety of cancers, have recorded their experiences in moving testimonials which have been published and presented worldwide.
The Fukushima catastrophe on March 11 this year revived memories of the terrible suffering from radiation since 1945. The event exposed a huge population in Japan to radiation from the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors.
The plume of radiation has already spread from Fukushima to the northern hemisphere. Although the Canadian government reassures us, “there is nothing to worry about,” evidence from Health Canada monitoring is quite the reverse. It requires the media and civilian population to act responsibly to alert people of the risks, and what can be done to alleviate the effects of the spread to the BC coast and the rest of Canada.
The danger from nuclear power plants must be addressed by the Canadian government. People who understand and care about the next generation must lobby and protest peacefully to move us away from this energy resource. Nuclear power is already costing the lives of Canadians, and especially vulnerable children whose lives are before them. The tragedy of Fukushima must be made to promote awareness, to prevent that which we cannot cure.
Sylvia Keet Peebles, MD
Comox, BC
Act to save community
Without having an overland highway to connect Powell River to the Lower Mainland, Powell River and area will continue to languish [“Alternative highway needed,” August 3]. Businesses, which provide the jobs here, will continue to close their doors. Services will continue to diminish. Schools will continue to close. Church congregations will decline. Property values will continue to fall. Tourism will continue to decline. Ferry traffic will also decline.
Amid all these losses, ferry rates are scheduled to increase by eight per cent per year for the next three years. Since pretty much all goods and services that come to the paradise of Powell River arrive by trucks on the ferries, then those transportation costs will be passed on to the consumers of Powell River, and the other communities of the Sunshine Coast. The costs will continue to increase while the ability to pay will depreciate.
The idea of having government further subsidize the ferries is unlikely or a short-term solution at best. In the end, we the consumers of ferry services will pay the costs of operation and the profit that is due to the providers of the ferry service. When disembarking the ferry we always hear their gratitude: Thank you for sailing with BC Ferries. At present there is no other choice. There should be another choice.
Call your elected representatives from all levels of government: municipal, provincial and federal. Tell them we need an overland highway to connect Powell River to the rest of the BC mainland. Without that access Powell River may well become Paradise Lost.
Thomas Wheeler
Collingwood Way
