The late Mary Stewart, a beloved Cornwall Collegiate history teacher, called it the saddest time of her long teaching career.
During the Second World War, the names of former CCVS students killed, missing in action or taken prisoner, were read out at weekly assemblies, followed by a minute of silence.
At one assembly, Henry “Harry” Cleary, whom Stewart had taught, was on the list of killed in action.
Two weeks later, a letter addressed to her arrived at the school. It was post-marked, “Somewhere in England”.
It was from her former student, Harry Cleary. He just wanted to tell her all was well and thanked her for being such a good teacher. He said he hoped to see her when the war was over and he returned to Cornwall. It was written two days before his final mission.
“It was touching,” Stewart recalled years later. “He was such a good student, and so young. I never forgot him.”
Like hundreds of other young men from Cornwall and the United Counties, he volunteered for military service shortly after Canada entered the war. On July 6, 1940 he became a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force and started training as a pilot.
The recruiter who interviewed the CCVS grad, who worked in the Standard-Freeholder circulation department and had considered the priesthood, noted, “Good type. Frank. Clear eyed. Steady nerves. Intelligent. Will make a good pilot.”
In June 1941, Cleary, who had just turned 21, bid farewell to his friends and family. He was off to England to join the war effort.
In England, he began flying the famous Spitfire that played such an important role in winning the Battle of Britain, albeit at a high cost in lives lost.
On June 6, 1944, Cleary set off on a recon mission to provide cover for the Allied invasion.
“They (fighter pilots) went looking for trouble,” recalled one veteran pilot.
Cleary did not return to base.
He found trouble.
With his Spitfire crippled by enemy fire when he attacked an enemy convoy at tree-level altitude, the young Cornwall pilot sent out a mayday and bailed out. Soon after touching down in a field, he was taken in and hidden by a group of French resistance fighters. He was one of four pilots shot down that day and rounded up by resistance fighters.
Freedom was short-lived.
On July 8, the Gestapo, acting on a tip from an informant, surrounded a farm house 30 miles southeast of Caen. Cleary and another pilot were killed in a shoot-out. One RAF pilot escaped, another was wounded and taken prisoner.
He was probably just days from being rescued by the rapidly advancing Allied invaders.
Cleary is buried in Bretteville military cemetery, along with 2,957 other Canadians, most of them killed during or shortly after D-Day.
BACK IN 1970: The 517 teachers with the SD and G County Board of Education had a new one-year contract with salaries that ranged from $7,100 to $15,050. The average salary was $10,818. The range for principals was $18,000 to $21,500. … Allan J. McDonald Ltd. was given a five-year contract to operate the city’s transit system. Cost to the city for the first year was $10,000. … The 10-member civic task force recommended that the harbour and canal lands be developed with federal and provincial funding. It also recommended a manpower retraining centre be established at St. Lawrence College to help lower the city’s 17% unemployment rate. … The Canadian branch of the United Auto Workers union was seeking wage parity with its American counterparts. The union had been on strike against General Motors for 11 weeks. … Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau told a group of Quebec journalists that his government supported social reforms that would take more money from the wealthy and gave it to the poor. … Hockey legend Edouard ‘Newsy’ Lalonde, who was born and raised in Cornwall, died in a Montreal nursing home. He was 82. He was buried at St. Columban’s Cemetery in Cornwall. … Norm Baril stepped down as general manager of the struggling Cornwall Royals. Coach Jim Larin took over the job. Ralph Hurley was hired as coach. Two nights later, Larin was named winner of the Jacques Richard Memorial Trophy. … Rookie quarterback Terry Bradshaw told the Pittsburgh Steelers that if he continued to play behind starter Terry Hanratty, he would ask to be traded. … Cornwall native Dr. O. A. Battista, an assistant research director at FMC Corporation in New Jersey, developed a new form of nylon. It was patented by the company.
TRIVIA: This international company with its head office based in San Francisco first set up shop in the cotton mills in 1972 before building a plant in the Industrial Park two years later. It employed 400 people.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Former Royals defenceman Jim Kyte was named to the Order of Canada earlier this year. The only legally deaf person to play in the National Hockey League, Kyte, dean of Algonquin College, has been an advocate for persons with disabilities. He was drafted in the first round in three leagues: Central Junior (Hawkesbury), Ontario Hockey League(Cornwall) and NHL (Winnipeg).
QUOTED “The real reason you can’t have the Ten Commandments in a court house – ‘Thou shalt not steal,’ ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery,’ and ‘Thou shalt not lie’ – is that in a building full of judges, lawyers and politicians, they would create a hostile work environment.” – Comedian George Carlin
FINAL THINGERS: If Trump wins (this is being written before Nov. 5), get ready for a rush of illegal immigrants (aka asylum seekers) to the Canadian border. Trump has promised to round-up and deport millions. … Trump in the White House is less dangerous than some of the lunatics (Kennedy Jr. among them) he will appoint. … The biggest collection of “prostitutes” in the U.S. contains all those faith leaders who sans shame bow down at the Trump/MAGA altar. … World Series MVP Freddie Freeman has strong ties to Canada. His father is from Windsor and his mother is from Peterborough.
