[Lemmy]

After 81 years of obscurity, Canada's most decorated hero finally gets eternal recognition.

Quote:

On Thursday afternoon, a memorial at Mount Pleasant Cemetery will be unveiled, identifying Barker as the “most decorated war hero in the history of Canada, the British Empire, and the Commonwealth of Nations.” During the ceremony, there will be a flypast of vintage World War I planes. Barker’s grandsons will also be there.

[DanSC]

50 kills is pretty impressive. It's almost double American Edward Rickenbacker's 26, but pales in comparison to Manfred von Richthofen's, a.k.a the Red Baron's, 80, or even Canadian Billy Bishop's 72.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/by_nation.php

[bootlegga]

I'd heard of him, but when I think of aces from WW1, I naturally think of the top three (Bishop, Collishaw, & MacLaren). Still, it's good to hear he's getting recognized.

[Shadow_Flanker]

I just wonder how many more military heroes this country has in obscurity.

[Wada]

They were all heros in my book.

[martin14]

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

I just wonder how many more military heroes this country has in obscurity.

71 Canadian VCs in WW1..

But Wada is right.. all 600,000 of them.

[Regina]

Never? Of course I've heard of him. His biography has been on the shelf for years and I think I have a copy as well. There was also a documentary ‘The Hero’s Hero: The Forgotten Life of William Barker’ which was first broadcast on History television in March, 2003. It’s based on Wayne Ralph’s Barker VC - The Life, Death and Legend of Canada’s Most Decorated War Hero.

[SprCForr]

That was a good book. I read it few years ago. I finished one a while back that listed the story of every VC awarded to airmen For Valour: The Air VC's. The stories are very interesting.

[eureka]

Interestingly, there were two British Aces whose names I have forgotten and, it seems, hardly anyone knows. Both began with M but that is all I recall about name.

Both had Red Baron type numbers of kills and both achieved it in a much shorter time. Neither was ever shot down but both died, I think, in accidents.

Their stories are interesting but it is a long time since I read them.

[SprCForr]

I'm guessing it would be Mannock (KIA) and McCudden (died, flying accident) that you're thinking of.

[eureka]

You are right.

[ShepherdsDog]

bootlegga wrote:

I'd heard of him, but when I think of aces from WW1, I naturally think of the top three (Bishop, Collishaw, & MacLaren). Still, it's good to hear he's getting recognized.

Funny how no one mentions Lt. Col William 'Billy' Barker. I have a personsal and familial connection with him and his legacy. I was a member of No. 50 Lt Col Barker VC Air Cadet Sqdn. for five years, and he was the first cousin of my maternal grandmother. His younger brother Orville used to attend many of our functions. Interesting enough, Wilfrid Reid "Wop" May was also a cousin of my grandmother.

[Shadow_Flanker]

martin14 wrote:

[71 Canadian VCs in WW1..

It's too bad Canadian history classes don't teach those facts.

[Mustang1]

Shadow_Flanker wrote:

martin14 wrote:

[71 Canadian VCs in WW1..

It's too bad Canadian history classes don't teach those facts.

It does.

[ShepherdsDog]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/ ... ument.html

Quote:

A bronze propeller rises from atop the monument, which features a picture of Barker and a plaque that reads: "most decorated war hero in the history of Canada, the British empire and the Commonwealth of nations."

Not one pilot under Barker's command nor one plane under his escort was lost to the enemy, the plaque notes.

Barker was the man that Bishop considered the greatest fighter pilot of the time. this is a well deserved honour for a man who when he died, had a 2000 man military honour guard for his funeral and 50 000 people lined the streets to bid him farewell