Walter Percy Adams - Veteran of WWI and WWII

Guest speaker: David Pelletier

When:  Thursday, October 15, 2015, from 19:30 to 21:00

Where: Centennial Hall,

             288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period

Walter Percy Adams, maternal grandfather of our speaker, was in both WWI and WWII, however he saw the most action in WWI and was awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) amongst other medals. David will show all his medals from both World Wars as well as some souvenirs brought home by Walter Percy Adams.

Walter Percy is mentioned prominently on the website memorializing the soldiers of the 117^th Eastern Townships Battalion where he was amongst the first to volunteer. He was part of the 14^th RMR (Royal Montreal Regiment) for most of his action overseas.

While both sets of David’s grandparents lived in Beaconsfield, Walter Percy spent almost all his time in the Veterans Hospital as in his later years he suffered from the effects of mustard gas from a battle in WWI at Hill 70. He was also at Vimy Ridge and The Canal du Nord in 1918.

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Guest speaker: Derek Grout

When:  Thursday, September 17, 2015, from 19:30 to 21:00

Where: Centennial Hall,

             288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period

On November 11, 1918 the guns fell silent over the Western Front, and the Great War passed into history and legend. Author Derek Grout will explore the many ways we remember, almost a hundred years later, the most destructive war in history up to that time, and some of the effects of the war that defined the turbulent twentieth century.

He will also discuss his new book on the Great War, entitled Thunder in the Skies, published in 2015.

Copies of the book will be for sale at this event.

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Guest speaker: Robert L. Baird

When: Thursday, May 21, 2015, from 19:30 to 21:00

Where: Centennial Hall,

              288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.

Carrying on the current theme of military history, Robert Baird’s talk will be on military history during the summer of 1945 and t
he Canadian support in the preparation of the American invasion of Japan: “Operation Downfall”.

The American military were actively involved in elaborate preparations for the invasion of Japan and scheduled it in two phases, one starting on November 1st 1945, “Operation Olympic” and the second on March 1st 1946, “Operation Coronet”. The summer of 1945 was a fascinating period of military history, in which Robert Baird took part.

A resident of Beaconsfield since 1962, Robert was an active member of the Beaconsfield Planning Committee for over 14 years. He wrote and published the book “Beaconsfield and Beaurepaire” in conjunction with Gisèle Hall who did most of the research. He has a degree in Civil Engineering from McGill and a Master degree in history from Concordia University. Bob was a volunteer member of the Sixth Canadian Infantry Division in 1945.

How in 1914 Canada Went to War for a "Scrap of Paper"

Guest speaker: Jean-Pierre Raymond

When: Thursday, March 19, 2015, from 19:30 to 21:00

Where: Centennial Hall,

              288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

At the beginning of this event, the Société historique Beaurepaire-Beaconsfield will show a 7-minute video taken at the Heroes Park launching ceremony and at the Heroes Park inauguration ceremony, in recognition of the implication, in this project, of the Beaconsfield High School and especially of the students Cheyenne Skurczak and Devyn Sherry, BHS spokespersons. Certificates of recognition, accompanied by the Roberta-Angell 2015 Prize, will be presented to the school as well as to these two students.

Lecture in English, with French visuals, followed by a bilingual question period

Jean-Pierre Raymond, retired engineer, talks about many little known facts that explain how a series of human misjudgements occurred resulting in WWI. He explains the legal process which brought the United Kingdom and, consequently, Canada into the war and the motivations for each of the seven powers of the time. Starting with the end of the Napoleonic era, the chronology of catastrophic events is presented.

Guest speaker: Peter McBride

When: Thursday, February 19, 2015, from 19:30 to 21:00

Where: Centennial Hall,

              288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period

Life-long resident of Baie d’Urfé and Beaconsfield, Bob McBride enlisted in the RCAF in September 1940. Following completion of flight training in Canada, Bob went overseas in September 1941, winning promotion to Pilot Officer and Flying Officer in 1942, and to Flight Lieutenant in June 1944. He was shot down in a torpedo bombing mission over the Bay of Biscay on November 7, 1942, wounded and taken prisoner. As a POW, Bob resided in the Stalag Luft III and took part in what became known as “The Great Escape” on March 24, 1944. Recaptured at the tunnel’s mouth, Bob remained a prisoner until his release at the war’s end in 1945.

Peter McBride, one of Bob’s four children, has pieced his story together from various sources and will share it with us at our February meeting.

The first modern Code-talker: 

Elmer Jamieson and the Mohawks in the Great War

Guest speaker: Roy Wright16-Jan-15

When: Thursday, January 15, 2015, from 19:30 to 21:00

Where: Centennial Hall,

              288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period

You will discover how the Mohawk language became a talking secret code during WWI.