Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 4, 2000, Winnipeg, Manitoba Sun Day Mau a in focus Winnipeg free press do sunday june 4. 2000 by unknown Soldier returned Home memorial a Symbol for Many to focus on watching the moving Ottawa ceremony for the unknown Soldier last sunday i was taken Back to the grounds of Gordon Bell High school at Woles Ley and Maryland watching As my big brother and three of his pals stood astride their bicycles excited and laughing. It was 1943. They had just joined the air Force. They were tanned healthy and looking Forward to their adventure fully aware after almost four years of bloody War what they faced. Already the Wall in the main Hall of the High school was covered with pictures of boys who had been killed. Bobby my brother his nose and Cheeks freckled was 17 years old. It Wasny to just the Appeal of wearing a uniform air cadets had been compulsory for years and he was used to the Blue uniform the insignia and badges. No these boys were following example when you got to this Ripe age you volunteered to serve your country Canada. Soon there were letters coming every few Days often with snapshots of the exciting times and eventually from several different parts of the country during escalating stages of his flying training As an air gunner. He was 18 when he graduated rated with Jim Shilliday an expert in the use of a machine gun mounted on a bomber. He was posted overseas to Britain. Home on embarkation leave he waited for a taxi at our Oxford Street Home to take him to the car station at main and Broadway. The taxi Hadnot shown up. Panic. Our dad a locomotive Engineer called the station master and i heard him shout As though he owned the Canadian National railway a hold number 218 my boys going overseas and he has to catch it a then we ran Down Oxford to Academy Road caught the Streetcar transferred at Broadway and they had actually held the train. Bobby was stationed at Worksop a bomber station near Lincoln. He was a flight sergeant now and mid upper gunner on a mighty Lancaster bomber. He still wrote a couple of letters a week still included snapshots but he looked Pale bags under his eyes. He was under Strain. He never mentioned the flights Over occupied Europe he talked about Good times we had had. He talked about Good times we would have fishing and particularly Hunting now that he was an expert with guns. He told me i be playing a a High school football i was too slight. On his 12th Mission in january 1945 a a Large bombing raid on an Oil installation near Zeitz South of Berlin a his bomber failed to return. I got Home one evening and met a Telegraph boy at the door. He handed me the message that my brother was missing. After awhile we received official notice that is Robert Charles Shilliday r263945, was presumed dead just a few months before the War ended. He was 19 years old. Bob had left some clothes at Home a couple of sports jackets shirts ties. I started wearing them to school. I had the feeling that if i wore his clothes something of him was still alive. My Mother received five medals her son had earned and a special Silver Star which meant she now was a Silver Star Mother. But that was it. We did no to know what had happened where it had happened where his remains were. There a a terrible vacuum in those circumstances a void that must have been intolerable for sentries stand guard Over the casket mothers to Bear. Then in the Early 1970s, a wonderful thing happened. We discovered that some years earlier a Manitoba Lake had been named after my brother by the Canadian permanent committee on geographical names. Shilliday Lake stocked with Rainbow Trout was in Duck Mountain provincial Park just South of East Blue Lake and easily accessible on a Good Road. Now there was something to fasten on to a permanent memorial to a dead son and brother. Of the unknown Soldier in Ottawa. But last sunday in Ottawa a National memorial Long overdue and something thousands will be Able to focus upon was installed. It was a touching ceremony and the thousands of canadians gathered there showed that without any doubt Many of this country a citizens want and need such symbols and have respect for our country a history. Slice of life is a weekly column featuring Manitoba writers. Jim Shilliday is a retired writer and editor. Letters to the editor the free press welcomes letters from readers. They must include the author s name address and Telephone number. Letters May be edited. Letters to the editor 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg r2x 3b6. Fax 697-7412. Email . Car Bike Ballet can be Safe dance your Assumption boarders rights free press May 27 that cyclists would Welcome a Law allowing them to ride on City sidewalks is a dubious one. Let me assure you Only an inexperienced cyclist would want to take this much More dangerous route. Note that Small wheeled children a bikes Are already allowed on our sidewalks in general when cyclists and motorists both follow the rules of the Road a a peaceful coexistence As you put it can be obtained. However More education is needed on both sides As to the subtleties of the car Bike Ballet. For instance the Motorist must learn that there Are legitimate safety reasons for a bicycle to sometimes command an entire Lane just As the cyclist must learn the appropriate time to take it. Finally the Comfort level on our streets for both Motorist and cyclist could be increased considerably if the City adhered to a Standard curb Lane Width of at least 14 feet. That Way cars could pass bicycles at a Safe distance without having to change lanes. Gord Mcgonigal vice president recreation and transportation Manitoba cycling association Winnipeg Post manners list on fridge i really enjoyed the article mind your manners free press May 29. Its Nice to know that businessmen Are concerned about the proper Way to hold a knife and Fork and not just the proper Way to hold a Golf club. This article is also of Benefit to most teenagers i see today. I think they eat too often at Mcdonald a where a knife and Fork Are unheard of. They hold a knife like they Are going to Stab their food and the Fork with the handle straight up. Its funny i still Haven to mastered talking without opening my Mouth though. I think the writer meant eating with your Mouth open. I guess i should take the advice and say nothing a of Well. Also when not talking keep your Mouth closed otherwise you look dumbfounded somewhat stupid. In a also thrown off by someone who swears excessively or in some cases swears at All. Some believe there is a time and a place a the dinner table is not one of them. We live in a society that has comfortably gone casual. Some have taken this to the limit and have forgotten their manners and proper etiquette. This was a Well written article and should be Cut out and posted on the fridge. Who knows maybe it will help some ids for their future employ ment. If not at least they will look like someone cared to show them what Fork to use. Mrs. G. Wilson Winnipeg Oleson not using head Tom Oleson a column everybody Back on their Heads free press May 27 paints a fanciful depiction of the afterlife. According to or. Oleson those who voted nip in the Manitoba election Are doomed to spend eternity in hell. That will certainly include me. According to or. Oleson there Are three choices of hell. The first is being roasted for eternity. Very Little Appeal in that one the second involves listening to Margaret Atwoods novels being read aloud. Sounds delightful to me but alas there Are Only seven or eight and after that who knows with my Luck Danielle Steele perhaps the third Choice Oleson offers is drinking lattes while standing Waist deep in excrement. Sounds dismal especially while standing on ones head most of the Day. And yet there is a simple solution to this. Why not just plug up the holes in the ceiling from which the excrement drips from the chamber of heaven where the conservatives congregate. Or is that merely horse manure he Mem. Let me see. What a wrong with this picture in heaven those who support erosion of health care feeding Slop to the sick and elderly and winning elections by any Means. And Down in hell those who want to end child poverty believe in fair wages and the end of hallway Medicine. Tom Oleson May not be standing on his head but he certainly is not using it As god intended. Pat Nairne Winnipeg internet danger More immediate Tom Oleson a defence of free speech on the internet locks done to belong on ideas free press May 20 overlooks one Basic fact there a a world of difference Between books and the world wide web. Recent articles in the free press highlighted a threat not in the information or images available on the net but Phil Hossack i Winnipeg free press automobiles and bicycles can co exist on City streets if the operators of both practise safety. In the fact its interactive Anonymous and so easy to use. What a most dangerous to children is not that they May stumble across dirty pictures or unpopular ideas. Rather its that paedophiles and other contemptible adults Are out there ready to use kids vulnerability and naivete to entice them into intimate on line conversations and actual meetings. Whether or. Oleson would keep his kids from Reading certain books is not a fair analogy. A better one is whether he would worry if his to or 12-year-old was wandering the streets alone or receiving personal letters from an unknown grownup. Or. Oleson can take heart from one thing though. The chances of seriously a restricting what can be done on the internet a As he puts it Are pretty slim. As usual if parents want to protect the physical and emotional Well being of our children we be got to do it ourselves in our Homes setting our own rules. Ted Wakefield Winnipeg fill 30 minutes with More news i was pleased to learn that the Powers at Csc have decided to Cut 24 hours Down to 30 minutes. I am an old Man who will be 98 in a few months and have watched Csc for a very Long time. I would like to suggest that the new 30-minute broadcast be limited to local news. I would also propose that weather be completely eliminated. If anyone needs a weather report they can Call up Channel 51 or 52. Perhaps too sports should be dropped. Sports is Well covered by others and by Csc dropping sports during their new time of 30 minutes we could be Given More news and broader coverage. Logan Ayre Winnipeg True Friendship sullied by Story i cannot express to you the sorrow that i Felt Reading Anne wanted women prof free press May 31. Is there no such thing As True Friendship anymore this world is sick. You cannot have a a bosom Friend in this world for fear that someone will gossip about you and say you Are a lesbian or Are sleeping with someone. Everything revolves around sex. Is this right no i remember being a Young teenager an Only girl among three Brothers i kno a Many women and girls can relate to this and longing for a close Friend a sister who i could share my deepest darkest secrets with. It had absolutely nothing to do with sexual desire. Anne was my Favourite heroine because of her transparent and faithful Friendship a a True Friend. Laura Robinson has tried to taint a wonderful Story with lust and sex instead of leaving it As it is a Beautiful journey of lifelong friends that is beloved by millions of women and Little girls the world Over. What this world is missing is More friends like Anne and Diana. Staci Gabrielle Winnipeg Stop sprawl save inner City Stop the City centres decay by stopping Urban sprawl in its tracks. I shake my head when hearing so called Urban experts about How the downtown Core can be saved. The architectural wonder of downtown Winnipeg is a legacy to preserve and promote not to bulldoze. Refer to Portland Oregon for the solution. Legislation should be immediately introduced to Stop Urban sprawl and Force new developers to use vacant abandoned inner Urban lands and or renovate present structures before any new lands be allocated for residential or commercial construction. Should lot sizes be adjusted certainly Are tax credits a necessity to accomplish this absolutely the time for discussion is Over. Its time to turn up the lights downtown before they Are turned off for Good. Robert Nolette Vancouver Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 128 n0172 a 2000 Winnipeg free press a division of f p. Newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue. Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 a member of the Manitoba press Council Rudy redek0p/publisher email Rudy Redekop free press. My. Ca Nicholas Hirst editor Patrick Flynn / Deputy editor s ;