Generally Speaking: The Memoirs of Major-General Richard Rohmer

591 Pages·2004·8.75 MB·English

by  Major-General Richard Rohmer

GENERALLY
SPEAKING
List ofPublications
Fiction:
Ultimatum(1973)
Exxoneration(1974)
Exodus UK(1975)
Separation(1976)
Balls!(1976)
Periscope Red (1980)
Separation II (1981)
Triad (1981)
Retaliation (1982)
Starmageddon (1985)
Rommel & Patton (1986)
Red Arctic (1989)
John A.’s Crusade (1995)
Death by Deficit(1995)
Caged Eagle (2002)
A Richard Rohmer Omnibus(2003)
Ultimatum 2 (in progress)
Non-Fiction:
Practice & Procedure Before the Ontario Highway Transport Board
The Green North: Mid-Canada (1970)
The Arctic Imperative (1973)
E.P.Taylor (1978)
Patton’s Gap (1981)
How to Write a Best-Seller (1984)
Massacre 747 (1984)
The Golden Phoenix: The Biography ofPeter Munk (1997)
Mustangs Over Normandy (1997)
HMS Raleigh On the Rocks (2003)
Generally Speaking: The Memoirs ofMajor-General Richard Rohmer
(2004)
GENERALLY
SPEAKING

THE
MEMOIRS OF
MAJOR-GENERAL
RICHARD
ROHMER

The Dundurn Group
Toronto
Copyright © Richard Rohmer,2004
All rights reserved.No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in
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Copy-Editor:Andrea Pruss
Design:Jennifer Scott
Printer:Transcontinental
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Rohmer,Richard,1924-
Generally speaking :the memoirs ofMajor General Richard Rohmer.
ISBN 1-55002-518-X
1.Rohmer,Richard,1924– 2.Authors,Canadian (English) — 20th century — Biography. 3.Canada.Canadian
Armed Forces.Reserve Force ofCanada — Biography. 4.Lawyers — Canada — Biography. 5.Canada.Royal
Canadian Air Force — Biography. 6.Fighter pilots — Canada — Biography. 7.Journalists — Canada —
Biography. 8.Canada — Biography. I.Title.
PS8585.O3954Z46 2004 971.064'092 C2004-904465-6
1 2 3 4 5 08 07 06 05 04
We acknowledge the support ofthe Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing
program.We also acknowledge the financial support ofthe Government ofCanada through the Book Publishing
Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export ofCanadian Books,and the Government of
Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program, and the Ontario Media Development
Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative.
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welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.
J.Kirk Howard,President
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table of contents

Chapter 1: Catching Field Marshal Rommel 9
Chapter 2: Beginnings and Roots,1924–1936 17
Chapter 3: Fort Erie and High School:Kicked Out of the House 29
Chapter 4: Joining the Royal Canadian Air Force 37
Chapter 5: Flying Training Windsor and Aylmer:Wings
and the New Pilot Officer 41
Chapter 6: Deadly Convoy Across the Atlantic 47
Chapter 7: Introduction to the Mustang I Fighter 53
Chapter 8: 430 Squadron at Ashford and Gatwick 59
Chapter 9: Winter 1943–1944 Operations Out of Gatwick 67
Chapter 10: 1975:Finding 430 Squadron’s Log Book 77
Chapter 11: Almost “Buying It”at Dieppe,April 24,1944 83
Chapter 12: The Flying Circus and Meeting General Patton 91
Chapter 13: A Noball Operation,May 13,1944 97
Chapter 14: D-Day,June 6,1944 103
Chapter 15: The Regent Palace Hotel Caper and the Arrival
of the First Buzz Bomb,June 12,1944 113
Chapter 16: 430 Squadron Moves to B8 at Magny in Normandy 119
Chapter 17: The Battle for Caen 129
Chapter 18: Thirteen Holes in My Mustang,July 13,1944 137
Chapter 19: Almost a Court Martial — Saved by Dirk Bogarde 143
Chapter 20: Enemy in a Pocket:Beginning the Falaise Gap 151
Chapter 21: Reconnaissance over the Falaise Gap and its Closing 157
Chapter 22: Montgomery at Fault for the Falaise Gap 163
Chapter 23: Belgium and Holland and My Shoot at the
Bridges ofVenlo 169
Chapter 24: George Cooley and the End of My 135-Mission
Tour of Operations 183
Chapter 25: Instructing at 41 OTU and Return to Canada 187
Chapter 26: Return to Assumption College,Windsor,
and the Whiteside Family 191
Chapter 27: To Osgoode Hall Law School and 400 Squadron 205
Chapter 28: Flying Vampire Jets and Starting Law Practice 211
Chapter 29: Wing Commander and CO 400 and 411 Squadron 219
Chapter 30: Roy Thomson,Lord Thomson of Fleet 227
Chapter 31: The Air Force,the Lang,Michener firm,and the
Arrival of Catherine 233
Chapter 32: To Don Mills,North York Council,
and the Civitan Club 241
Chapter 33: Civitan Visit to President Eisenhower 253
Chapter 34: The Reichmanns,Flemingdon Park,and the
New Queen’s Council 257
Chapter 35: Starting the North York General Hospital 267
Chapter 36: JFK,the Rohmer,Cory firm,and
Allan Waters of CHUM 269
Chapter 37: John Robarts’s Leadership Campaign
and the Premier’s Special Advisor 275
Chapter 38: Bramalea and Its Beginnings;Kuwait 289
Chapter 39: Patents and the MiniStation 295
Chapter 40: The McMichael Art Gallery 299
Chapter 41: Origins of the Ontario Science Centre 303
Chapter 42: The Start of GO Transit 309
Chapter 43: John George Diefenbaker 311
Chapter 44: The Creation of the Ontario Flag 317
Chapter 45: The Police Bill 319
Chapter 46: Design for Development,Donald Fleming,
and My Federal Candidacy 323
Chapter 47: Building Thompson House and
E.P.Taylor Place;E.P.’s Biography 327
Chapter 48: The Official Plan for CN and CP’s Metro Centre
Lands Around Union Station 333
Chapter 49: The Mid-Canada Development Corridor
and Conference 339
Chapter 50: Presentation of the Mid-Canada Report 351
Chapter 51: Manhattan,the Icebreaker Tanker,and the
Northwest Passage 359
Chapter 52: Back to 411 Squadron as Honorary
Lieutenant-Colonel 367
Chapter 53: Flight North by Otter (the Ancient Bird) to
Ellesmere Island 373
Chapter 54: The Great Plains Project,Northport,
and Boeing’s Resources Carrier Aircraft 381
Chapter 55: The Radio Station for Tuktoyaktuk 385
Chapter 56: The Royal Commission on Book Publishing 389
Chapter 57: Commander of the Air Reserve Group and
Chief of Reserves of the Canadian Armed Forces 403
Chapter 58: Ambulance for Tortola from the Queen,
and Princess Di at Green Park,June 1994 421
Chapter 59: With Rosemary Clooney,Donald O’Connor,
and Senator Tommy Banks 431
Chapter 60: The Sir John A.Macdonald Grave Caper
at Kingston 433
Chapter 61: Trooping the Colour 435
Chapter 62: Chancellor of the University ofWindsor 437
Chapter 63: Prince Charles 445
Chapter 64: The Funeral of John Parmenter Robarts 447
Chapter 65: Dundurn Hall,Collingwood,and Robert Fenn 451
Chapter 66: “The Man Called Intrepid”:Sir William Stephenson 455
Chapter 67: Colonel Michael Sifton and Toronto-Buttonville
Airport 463
Chapter 68: Part-Time TV and Print Journalist 467
Chapter 69: President Reagan and Conrad Black;
Advisory Council of the Order of Ontario 473
Chapter 70: Dame Vera Lynn 483
Chapter 71: Return to Venlo and Meeting Prince Bernhard
of the Netherlands 485
Chapter 72: Colin Powell,Magna International,and
President Bill Clinton 493
Chapter 73: The Temporary Resurrection of the
Mid-Canada Concept 499
Chapter 74: D-Day 1994 and the 60th Anniversary of
D-Day Advisory Committee to the
Minister ofVeterans Affairs 503
Chapter 75: Honorary Posts 521
Chapter 76: Literary Career,President Bush,and Brian Mulroney 525
Chapter 77: Chair ofthe Ontario Provincial Advisory Committee
on a New Veterans Memorial 531
Chapter 78: D-Day,June 6,2004,with the Queen,
Governor General,and Prime Minister
at Juno Beach,Normandy 533
Postscript 551
Appendix I: Design for Development 553
Appendix II: Program ofMid-Canada Conference August 1969
and List of Participants 557
Appendix III: Northport and Boeing Resources Carrier Aircraft 565
Appendix IV: Royal Commission on Book Publishing 567
Appendix V: Honorary Degrees granted by Chancellor Rohmer
of the University ofWindsor 572
Appendix VI: Terms of Reference of 60th Anniversary of
D-Day Advisory Committee 577
Appendix VII: My Decorations and Medals,Wings Room,
Royal Canadian Military Institute,Toronto 580
Index 582
chapter 1
Catching Field Marshal Rommel

Looking back over a reasonably long life I have decided that the
one event I took part in that had the most impact and significance
occurred in the late afternoon of July 17,1944.
The place was Normandy. The event occurred during the Battle of
Normandy,which lasted from D-Day on June 6,1944,through to August
20, when the German 7th Army was defeated and the Falaise Gap was
finally closed.
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel,arguably the most capable of all the
German generals who faced the Allied forces in northwest Europe,was
the commander ofthe German 7th Army and all ofthe forces facing the
Allies (the Canadian,British,American,Polish,French,and others who
had successfully assaulted the German forces in Normandy, breaching
Hitler’s Atlantic wall on D-Day).
By July 17,the Canadians and the British were pressing against Caen
and were moving toward Falaise to the west of that city.The battle was
tough and slow.
On that day,Field Marshal Rommel had left his headquarters on the
northern bank of the Seine River at La Roche Guyon,west of Paris.His
plan was to visit his Panzer Corps commander in Normandy, General
Sepp Dietrich,a long-time crony ofHitler.Dietrich’s headquarters were
located in the village of St.Pierre sur Dives southeast of Caen.It was a
long drive to Normandy,one that Rommel had taken many times with
his driver,Corporal Daniel.It was Rommel’s practice to sit in the pas-
senger seat and do the map reading.The automobile was a huge Horch
with a canvas top that on this day was down so that Rommel and Daniel
and the three officers in the back seat, Rommel’s aides, could keep a
 9 