Burma Star Association - B.C. Chapter
Johnny Haddock's
speech
at the Duncan Cross of Remembrance
on August 17, 2004
My first thoughts, especially in the hometown of Duncan, are for my Great Aunt Mary, who lived here for so many years, but not with her sons, who both gave their lives in the short space of five months in 1944.
This year is the sixtieth anniversary of those days, when Charles and Trevor Hoey never came home. I think of all the mothers and sisters and brothers, whose boys never came home, and that makes it a very special community.
I also think of my Uncle Jamie, who passed away 11 years ago, who landed at D-Day with the Royal Engineers and advanced through Germany, until he was badly wounded in the action, for which he was awarded the Military Cross in March 1945. He did so in the knowledge that he had lost both his cousins, Charles and Trevor. He would be so proud of you all being here today.
Finally my thoughts of Charles can be summarised in this extract taken from a letter written by Miss Denny, one of the co-founders of Queen Margaret’s School, where Charles Hoey was one of her first pupils. “I have a very clear memory of Charlie as he was then, with his high forehead and his wide open eyes, full of intense interest and enthusiasm. Even as a little boy he was tremendously keen on all the works of nature and all through his life he kept that up. But it is not for his fame as a collector or for his magnificent record as a soldier that Charlie’s friends will remember him; but for himself, for his innate modesty, his splendid integrity, his enthusiasm and his joy of living. Let us determine afresh that those boys should not have died in vain. Let us put our whole hearts and minds to the task of making this a better world in which wars shall cease and other children may have the opportunity of developing into splendid men and women. Our love and sympathy goes out to Charlie's family, his mother and father and sister Priscilla and his fiancée in England.”
Thank you all for your kindness and hospitality on this special day, and for all the work over the years to keep alive the memory of Charles Hoey, his brother Trevor and all those who never came back, for I believe their spirit lives on within you.
Finally I would like to end with the inscription on Charles Hoey's grave in Taukkyan Cemetery outside Rangoon: "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you."
Return
to Arakan Park Tributes, 2004
Johnny Haddock's
speech
at the Duncan Cross of Remembrance
on August 16, 2005
As
we stand here to remember your comrades, who paid the ultimate sacrifice in
the Burma Campaign, I wanted to understand how they came to achieve victory
against overwhelming odds.
There is a passage in the book on the battle of Kohima, which goes as follows:
“In the heat of the battle, the care of the wounded was paramount. Young
and his surgeons worked tirelessly. The patient’s morale was remarkable.
Everyone helped his neighbour. Major Bobby Shaw ceaselessly set an example of
cheerful calm and courage. And among the fighting men, the fate of their colleagues
in the dressing station was an additional motive, rooting their determination
never to allow the enemy to get their hands on the wounded. Humour and confidence,
despite everything were still there.”The
title of the book is fittingly, Not Ordinary Men.
The essence of those who fought in Burma is highlighted here – cheerful, calm, courage, humour, confidence and determination. These are the qualities shown by Charles and Trevor Hoey, as I turn to a report I recently received of Major Hoey’s last words, from his Sergeant in his final attack on February 16 th 1944. I saw Major Hoey, he was carrying a Bren gun, he had a wound in the leg, also one in the head and his face was covered in blood. He said to the small group of men near him “It is of vital importance to us we capture the objective and we will do so whatever the cost.”
His younger brother, Trevor, was killed in action five months later on the 21 st July 1944. But as I learnt last year my Great Aunt, Mary Hoey tracked down the nurse who tended Trevor after he was brought in to the field station, having been severely wounded in the battle for Caen, which followed him landing with the Canadian Scottish Regiment at D-Day. He survived for 24 hours before his death, but during that time the nurse said he was calm, never cried out, never complained. Cheerful, calm, courage, humour, confidence, determination.
These are the finest components of the spirit, which was demanded of you all to bring to a close the war 60 years ago. But they are not forgotten, because even today they are in demand, for after the attacks on London last month, I can verify that Londoners have looked back to you all for the inspiration to endure in a time of great sadness in our city.
So I would like to thank you all for welcoming me here again, to have the opportunity to remember your comrades, who gave their all for freedom.
I would like to finish with a poem written by my Great Aunt, Mary Hoey, and think of her sons Charles and Trevor, who along with all those on this cross, never came home.
Peace
With
peace will come not forgetting
But acceptance of what has been,
So proudly, instead of regretting,
We will keep their memory green.
And God will ease our sorrow
He will wipe our tears away
So the light, in the skies of tomorrow
Will shine in our eyes today.
Johnny with Mayor Coleman of Duncan
P.S.
The curator of the small Duncan museum contacted Johnny to see if he still copies of his speeches for their archives. After much searching he found them and sent copies to both the curator and myself. I consider his two speeches deserve prominence on our web site. I wish you could have been there in person to absorb the full ambience them.
Joe Arblaster, Webmaster