Against All Odds
Page 23
Ottawa Citizen journalists Frank Swanson, Tommy Shields, and Jack Koffman extensively covered the Flyers from the get-go, as did Canadian Press sports editor and reporter Jack Sullivan. I primarily relied on the paper and scanned photocopies of their stories that I had access to from Tom Schroeter and Ralf Brooks. Many of the complete news stories relating to the team can also be found online through a Google news documents search.
There were a lot of Canadian citizens with opinions and information about the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association’s response to the new amateur rules from the International Olympic Committee in the summer of 1947. Many of my interviewees supplied me with information about it. I based my account of this issue on their perspectives, in combination with numerous articles that appeared that summer and into the fall in the pages of the Ottawa Citizen, the Ottawa Journal, the Montreal Gazette, and the Winnipeg Tribune.
I leaned on Marion Gruner’s excellent research and interviews with Professor Jonathan Vance for detailed information about Canadian airmen and their contributions to and losses in World War II. Marion’s facts were derived from her talks with Professor Vance and from writings found in his many books: A History of Canadian Culture (Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2009), High Flight: Aviation and the Canadian Imagination (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2002), and Maple Leaf Empire: Canada, Britain and Two World Wars (Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2012).
Biographical information about Dr. Sandy Watson and Frank Boucher came from talks with Sandy’s son, Dr. John Watson, and Frank’s daughter, Diane Boyce. I also drew on information found in Pat MacAdam’s book Gold Medal “Misfits.”
Chapter 2: The Games
Background material regarding the early days in the formation of the team was primarily drawn from my interviews with family members and the remaining players. Again, I drew from newspaper articles written by Jack Koffman and George Forster that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen over the first couple of weeks of October 1947.
Details about the Games of Renewal and the preparations that were under way in St. Moritz were pulled from a variety of sources. A great deal of information can be found by trolling through the International Olympic Committee’s official website, olympic.org. The site contains a wealth of information about specific Olympic events and participants, as well as pictures.
Ralf Brooks has also pulled together a mass of information about the V Olympic Winter Games and presented it on his website, hubertbrooks.com. The official Rapport Général sur les Ves Jeux Olympiques d’Hiver, St. Moritz 1948 can be found there. The hubertbrooks.com website also contains pictures, postcards, and official paraphernalia that Hubert collected when he was playing overseas.
Details about the British team that won gold at the 1936 Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen came from interviews I conducted. Pat MacAdam’s Gold Medal “Misfits” was also referenced for information.
Ottawa Citizen reporter Frank Swanson was another journalist who wrote extensively about the early formation of the team and its tryouts. Buck Boucher’s and Brooke Claxton’s comments about the team in the making, as well as various discussion points about the calibre of players available through the RCAF ranks, were drawn from details presented in Mr. Swanson’s many articles. Those articles appeared in the newspaper on October 18, 20, 21, and 22.
Information about Buck’s practice sessions came from my discussions with the players. Again, Reg Schroeter’s extensive collection of Ottawa-area newspaper clippings throughout the month of October also helped me paint a picture of the tryouts and gather additional details about the number of men coming and going through the revolving door at the Ottawa Auditorium.
Biographical details of Hubert Brooks’s early days and family history were given to me by Ralf Brooks in interviews and through information he provided via his excellent website, hubertbrooks.com.
Chapter 3: The Boys in Blue
The lion’s share of information relating to each player’s early life came from interviews conducted with family members, such as Patsy Guzzo’s daughter Mary Rose and Orval Gravelle’s wife, Phyllis.
Details about the games played in late October and early November were gleaned from interviews with players like Roy Forbes and from newspaper articles that appeared in the various Ottawa papers.
Roy Forbes relayed much of the information about his early life to me over our many discussions. I also picked up extra bits of information from my talks with his two sons, Gary and Brian.
Buck Boucher’s announcement regarding the team’s selection appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on November 20. It is also mentioned in the Montreal Gazette on November 21.
Chapter 4: Olympic Night
Weather details were pulled from newspaper reports for the day and from information available through Environment Canada’s historical data files, recorded at local weather stations.
Olympic Night was extensively covered in the Ottawa-area newspapers in the run-up to and the days following the big event. Tommy Shields, Jack Koffman, and Bob Abra filed numerous articles in the Ottawa Citizen from December 10 through December 16, 1947. Roy Forbes also provided me with first-hand impressions and details of the event. In addition, Roy still had a weathered hard copy of the official program and some of newspaper clippings relating to the big night.
For those interested in seeing some of the brochures and advertisements, as well as the official program, Ralf Brooks has some of the material available on hubertbrooks.com. Interviewees like Tom Schroeter also contributed fantastic insights into the extravaganza.
Details concerning the army-versus-Flyers match were pulled from interviews with Roy Forbes and various family members. I also leaned on the extensive coverage provided by reporters and columnists that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, the Ottawa Journal, and the Montreal Gazette on December 15, 16, and 17.
Facts about the new men brought in from the New Edinburgh Burghs and background on Louis Lecompte and Andy Gilpin were largely derived from interviews with family members. Tommy Shields’s column in the Ottawa Citizen, combined with articles that appeared in the newspaper on December 17, 18, and 19, also provided additional details and perspective.
Biographical details about Frank Dunster, aka the Blue Line Masher, were provided to me through interviews with his sons as well as his official RCAF records.
Chapter 5: Calling in the Big Guns
Interviews with family members like Diane Boyce, Tom Schroeter, and Ralf Brooks provided perspective on the call out to the big guns to bring in some top new amateur talent. This was also well covered in the Ottawa newspapers over the last week of December.
Many of the details of Wally Halder’s and George Mara’s inclusion on the Flyers were derived from interviews with their family members. In his book Gold Medal “Misfits,” Pat MacAdam also relates elements of both Wally’s and George’s early days in hockey and in the war. Diary entries from Hubert Brooks as well as interviews with other family members helped give me a picture of the three newcomers’ acceptance onto the team.
Interviews with André Laperrière and his sister, Renée, Thomson supplied me with all the details regarding André’s early upbringing and inclusion on the team.
Sandy’s typed list of supplies that the men were to pack for their trip overseas was provided to me by Ralf Brooks and Tom Schroeter.
I turned to Jack Koffman’s and Tommy Shields’s newspaper articles and columns in the Ottawa Citizen on December 31 for some of the specifics regarding Dick Ball’s sudden departure from the roster. My interviews with Murray Dowey provided me with details regarding his relationship with Sandy Watson and that bizarre late-night phone call where Sandy told him about Dick’s condition and invited Murray to join the Flyers.
Hubert Brooks’s diary entries, in combination with interviews with family members, were my principal source of information relating to the team’s send-off. My descriptions of the men’s appearance were derived from photographs. Again, this team event was well covered by Tommy Shields and
Jack Koffman in the pages of the Ottawa Citizen on January 8, 1948, and also in the Montreal Gazette. Reporter Norm Altstedter also wrote about the Flyers’ trip overseas in the Ottawa Citizen on January 9, 1948.
The biographical material on Murray Dowey was drawn from my interviews and conversations with Murray. Biographical material concerning Frank Dunster was courtesy of my interviews with his sons.
Chapter 6: Europe Bound
Many of the details of the train ride from Ottawa and the team’s arrival in New York were from Patsy Guzzo’s diary, My Trip . . . Journey of an Olympic Gold Win, and from Murray Dowey’s recollections.
My interviews with Roy Forbes and André Laperrière in concert with Hubert Brooks’s writings provided many of the details about their time in New York and their experiences on the Queen Elizabeth. Interviews with family members and Patsy Guzzo’s wonderful, candid diary entries helped fill in some of the gaps and provide additional colourful anecdotes.
Many of the guys remembered that bus crash with the tram just after they arrived in the U.K. The Canadian Press carried a brief description of the event on January 15. I also leaned on Reg Schroeter’s personal photographs of the scene to help describe the damage.
Chapter 7: Into the Fire
Much of the details, emotions, feelings, and actions of Hubert Brooks were pulled from his writings, which can be found on the website hubertbrooks.com. I acquired additional information through my interviews with his son, Ralf Brooks. Hubert also authored a few wonderful magazine articles that chronicled his exploits. The articles were published in Weekend Magazine, volume 7, number 40 (October 5, 1957), and in volume 7, number 41 (October 12, 1957).
Ralf generously gave me access to his father’s operational records books, telegrams that were sent home to his family, Hubert’s POW identification cards, and personal correspondence and letters within the Brooks family’s possession relating to Hubert’s ordeal.
Descriptions and Hubert’s impressions of Stalag VIII-B and the Lamsdorf prison camp were derived from his own writings, as previously noted. The websites stalag-viiib.com and lamsdorf.com also served as gateways to numerous sources of maps, documents, photos, and information pertaining to the POW camps.
The particulars of Hubert’s multiple escape attempts were pulled from his many writings, which Ralf made available to me.
Chapter 8: Freedom Fighters
Details of Hubert Brooks’s and John Duncan’s time with the Polish Underground movement and the Armia Krajowa were drawn primarily from Hubert’s account, found on hubertbrooks.com. As mentioned earlier, Hubert also published some information covering this chapter of his life in an article he wrote for Weekend Magazine, volume 7, number 41 (October 12, 1957).
Details about the Wilk unit and the AK were largely drawn from Hubert’s recollections, available on his website. Interviews with Ralf Brooks also helped provide perspective. Some of the materials gathered by Ralf Brooks at hubertbrooks.com include wonderful pictures from the estate of Jozef Weglarz as well as material from the memoirs of Jozef Weglarz. There are also photos from the Instytut Pamięci Narodowej and the Institute of National Remembrance Archive in Krakow, Poland, and materials from Dr. Jerzy Krzewicki, son of Major Julian Krzewicki. I leaned on some of these materials in my descriptions of the battles Hubert engaged in.
Chapter 9: Ramping Up in Exhibition
Patsy Guzzo’s diary, My Trip . . . Journey of an Olympic Gold Win, provided me with much of the wonderful colour about the Crofton Hotel. Interviews with the players as well as Hubert Brooks’s writings fleshed out many of the details of their lodgings and the exhibition matches the boys played in.
Background information on Bunny Ahearne came to me through interviews with family members. Additional facts pertaining to Bunny’s background were drawn from Pat MacAdam’s Gold Medal “Misfits.”
I pulled many of the details of the exhibition games from my talks with Murray Dowey, Roy Forbes, and André Laperrière and the diary writings of Hubert Brooks and Patsy Guzzo. Additional facts were drawn from numerous Canadian Press newspaper articles that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen between January 16 and January 23, 1948.
My discussion of sport in the military is based on research Marion Gruner obtained from former Hamilton Warplane Museum archivist David Pridham’s graduate paper, “‘A Natural Resource’: Watching, Using and Playing Sports in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during World War II.” Interviews with historian Dr. Jonathan Vance also provided information on the topic.
Descriptions of the lavish Wembley Arena and the boys’ flight to Paris were drawn from interviews with the players and from the diaries of Patsy Guzzo and Hubert Brooks. Information and details relating to the game against Le Club Racing de Paris were also pulled from interviews and from Canadian Press newspaper coverage that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen and the Montreal Gazette on January 22, 1948.
Chapter 10: On the Run
Roy Forbes’s operational records, in concert with interviews I conducted with Roy, provided much of the material relating to his fall from the sky and his time on the run in France. I also consulted Roy’s official evasion report. Secondary interviews with his two sons, Brian and Gary, provided additional details and perspective.
Chapter 11: Tuning Up in Europe
I leaned on Patsy Guzzo’s diary, My Trip . . . Journey of an Olympic Gold Win, combined with interviews with the players as well as Hubert Brooks’s writings, to describe the boys’ flight from France to Switzerland.
Roy Forbes, Murray Dowey, and André Laperrière had vivid memories and recollections of their time on the road together in Europe and those exhibition games in Switzerland. I gleaned additional details about the games and the weather conditions from the Canadian Press news coverage that appeared in the Montreal Gazette and the Ottawa Citizen between January 23 and January 26, 1948.
Interviews with family members and the diaries of Patsy Guzzo and Hubert Brooks were consulted to help me set the scene in St. Moritz.
Pat MacAdam’s Gold Medal “Misfits” was a resource I looked to regarding Frank Boucher’s final team selection. Interviews with his family members and players also provided me with perspective on Frank’s decisions.
Personal photographs from the collections of Hubert Brooks and Reg Schroeter helped me gain a picture of the heady, beautiful atmospheres on display in the mountain towns.
Interviews that Marion Gruner conducted with Professor Jonathan Vance provided clarity regarding survival rates in Bomber Command as well as details relating to the RCAF and the air war. Frank Dunster’s biographical information and specifics concerning his wartime experiences were relayed to me in interviews with his family members. Additionally, I consulted Frank Dunster’s service records, his operational airman’s records sheets, his recommendations for honours and awards, and detail sheets of sorties carried out. I also looked to Spencer Dunmore’s excellent Above and Beyond: The Canadians’ War in the Air, 1939-45 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2006) for information about Bomber Command and the attacks on Nuremberg.
Chapter 12: Let the Games Begin
The furor over the two competing American teams was well covered in the press. I consulted articles touching on the controversy that appeared in the Ottawa Citizen, Winnipeg Tribune, and Montreal Gazette between September 4, 1947, and February 7, 1948. Articles by sports editor Jack Ellis in the Stars and Stripes, volume 2, number 55 (Thursday, January 29, 1948), also provided helpful details. Interviews with players Murray Dowey, André Laperrière, and Roy Forbes in combination with reflections found in the diaries of Patsy Guzzo and Hubert Brooks offered additional perspective and details on how things played out regarding the two American teams in St. Moritz.
My description of the opening parade of ceremonies was based largely on the diary reflections of Patsy Guzzo and Hubert Brooks in combination with personal photos as well as official Olympic photos of the procession of athletes. Canadian Press newspaper descriptions of the event along with info
rmation presented on the official IOC website, olympic.org, were also consulted. My descriptions of the two American teams’ marching attire in the parade was derived from period photos, Patsy’s diary reflections, and information found in Pat MacAdam’s Gold Medal “Misfits.”
I relied on a number of sources to pull together my account of the first game against Sweden. Interviews with Murray Dowey, André Laperrière, and Roy Forbes provided the backbone. Patsy Guzzo’s and Hubert Brooks’s journal reflections supplied me with further details, as did interviews with family members like Renée Thomson, Diane Boyce, and Tom Schroeter. I also leaned on CP reporter Jack Sullivan’s article in the Ottawa Citizen along with Tommy Shields’s commentary in his column Round and About.
My descriptions of the cafes and atmosphere the boys waded into in St. Moritz were derived from interviews with the players in combination with the diary writings of Patsy Guzzo and Hubert Brooks. I also drew from personal photos that Tom Schroeter and Ralf Brooks made available to me.
For my account of the Flyers’ second match against Britain, I relied on many of the same sources. Interviews with family members and players in combination with the diaries of Patsy Guzzo and Hubert Brooks provided the foundation. I gleaned additional details from Jack Sullivan’s February 1, 1948, article “Flyers Blank Britain in Storm,” which appeared in the Ottawa Citizen.
Chapter 13: In the Thick of It
My descriptions of the weather in St. Moritz were derived from Patsy Guzzo’s diary account and backed up by data provided in the “Bulletin Meteorologique” section of the official Rapport Général sur les Ves Jeux Olympiques D’Hiver, St. Moritz 1948.