Canada's Love Affair With Bombing Other Countries

Category: Canada
Last article published: 29 January 2019
This is the 62nd post under this label

Doesn't sound like us, does it? But when you look at our Golden Age comics, the so-called Canadian Whites, you'll find that we were just as war bond-happy as our American cousins, and further, that we were calling for the bombing of SPECIFIC cities. Sorry, Tokyo, that's just how it's gotta be. I really need to brush up on my military history because I never thought of the Pacific Theater being all that important to the Canadian war experience... Okay, I brushed up a little... Seems Canada was in the Pacific long before Pearl Harbor because Japan had attacked British colonies like Hong Kong and Malaya (now Malaysia). The Royal Canadian Air Force was involved from the beginning, often mixed in with British forces defending Java (now Indonesia), India, Singapore and the aforementioned colonies. An RCAF squadron became known as "the Saviours of Ceylon" (now Sri Lanka) when, despite being shot down, killed or captured, it was able to get a crucial warning out about a sneak attack and essentially locked Japan out of that part of the world for the remainder of the war. I also didn't know Japan managed to shell Vancouver Island! It's no surprise then that Canada committed men to the invasion of Japan, but plans were halted when the U.S. dropped their atomic bombs and Japan surrendered. More than 10,000 Canadians served in the Far East, some 3100 from the RCAF.

The ad above is from Better Comics #7, the home of Brock Windsor. The following is from Triumph Comics #10 (the home of Nelvana of the Northern Lights):

Yes, a dogfighting game you can cut out of your comic. What would be on the pages you destroy? Well, on one side the end of an illustrated prose story about combat pilots, and on the other, an order form for a model:

A divebomber no less. My grandfather would have loved this as he was a plane mechanic during the war. I kind of wish I'd found these before he passed.