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From: "Elizabeth Angela Guyver" <>
Subject: Re: [WarBrides] Tobruk the Cat????
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2005 18:51:00 +0100
References: <001301c59c44$9ebfb440$0aa2c2cf@1wy6801> <7DB8C0F6-0841-11DA-A545-000D9331D9F2@telus.net> <002f01c59c65$424e8800$5da2c2cf@1wy6801>


Sorry it was the 8th Army - English soldiers that called themselves desert
rats - my cousin was one and that that is what he always refers to himself
as.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joan Reichardt" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 11:04 PM
Subject: Re: [WarBrides] Tobruk the Cat????


> There may have been some RCAF personel there, attached to RAF, but not
> Canadian Army. For some reason the powers that be decided that the
> Canadians would only fight as a group, so saw no action until Dieppe. The
> Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, and others, including Free
> Pole, Free Czechs and Free French were all part of the Brithish 8th Army,
> but it was the Aussies at Tobruk who called themselves the Desert Rats and
> who were the biggest single group there. Unless my latest history read
> 'The
> end of the Beginning' by Tim Clayton and Phil Craig, is incorrect.
> Apparently 260 Squadron did have Canadians so this may be where your dad
> was, Debbie, and of course, the Canadians were in the air force squadrons
> at
> Malta - including Buzz Beurling.
> In my home town of Richmond, we had our very own RAF hero during the
> battle
> of Britain. His name was Paddy (Brendan) Finucane and he had shot down 21
> Germans before his 21st birthday, and been promoted to Squadron Leader.
> Sadly he did not live to see his 22nd. He had a younger brother, Raymond,
> also in the RAF, a gunner, I don't know if he survived, and another
> brother, Kevin who was my age and went to the Catholic Boys School close
> to
> the girls school I attended. They carefully managed school hours so that
> we
> did not 'mingle' but of course we did, and anyway there was a huge
> mulberry
> tree in the front of the boys school where I picked leaves to feed my
> silkworms. I was disappointed on a recent visit to the museum in Richmond
> to find no mention of Paddy in the war section. I remember we raised
> money
> to buy a Spitfire for Paddy. Joan Reichardt
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Debbie" <>
> To: <>
> Sent: Monday, August 08, 2005 12:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [WarBrides] Tobruk the Cat????
>
>
>> Hi Joan,
>>
>> Although not a warbride myself I believe Canadians were in fact ,
>> involved at Tobruk. Letters and even flight logs were censored so RCAF
>> logs may not show activity. My Dad was a fighter pilot and he was
>> involved in the Tobruk battles early on. He continued flying in the
>> desert until Rommel was defeated.
>> Perhaps others have similar experiences.
>> Debbie McCLoy
>>
>> On 8-Aug-05, at 10:27 AM, Joan Reichardt wrote:
>>
>> > Good morning, time for a memory test! There was an old movie on
>> > History channel yesterday called Tobruk. I did not watch it as it had
>> > American actor (Rock Hudson) as the hero. The US was not in the war
>> > then, so Rock was a Canadian - presumably because he could not manage
>> > an Aussie accent - and regardless of the fact that there were no
>> > Canadians there either. In other words, it was complete fiction!
>> > Tobruk was a back and forth battle for months between (mostly)
>> > Australian troops and the Germans and Italians, which ended when
>> > Rommel eventually took the place. We had a map of the middle east on
>> > the dining room wall and followed the back and forth progress the
>> > whole time. It is funny how a place name takes us back to another
>> > time and how familiar those places were to us I have a vague
>> > recollection of a comic strip in the Daily Express with Tobruk the cat
>> > as the main character. Does anyone else remember this - or did I
>> > dream it?
>> > Joan Reichardt
>> >
>> >
>> >
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>>
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