A Shared History of Valour
It should be noted, however, that grassroots Canucks and Yankees have a history of coming together in defence of liberty. When American General George C. Marshall visited London in the dark spring of 1942, the chief of the British Combined Operations Command, Lord Louis Mountbatten, introduced him to a maverick strategist by the name of Geoffrey N. Pyke.
Pyke had a plan to train a special force that would be equipped to attack vital hydroelectric plants in Nazi-occupied Norway. Winston Churchill insisted it should be a combined force of Americans and Canadians.
When the Can-Am Special Service Force finally mustered at Fort William Henry Harrison, the commander was 35-year-old West Point graduate Lt. Col. Robert Tryon Frederick. His Canadian regimental commander was 34-year-old Lt. Col. Jack F.R. Akehurst, a former miner from Southern Ontario.
Canada had been in the war since 1939, so Canadian soldiers were drawn from standing regiments like the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. American recruits came from an assortment of lumberjacks, miners, trappers, farmers, game wardens, and other working-class occupations. Most of the men from both countries were hard-driving, blue-collar types, very much like the truckers who recently took their rigs to Ottawa.
The original plan for Norway fell through, but the 1st Special Service Force (SSF) went on to become one of the fiercest fighting units in World War II. First nicknamed “The Thugs,” “Freddy’s Freighters,” and “The North Americans,” the force finally became known by the German troops who faced it as the “Devil’s Brigade.” The SSF troops traversed from their original training camp in Montana to the Aleutian Islands, the Italian campaign, the Battle of Monte Cassino, Anzio, and the liberation of Rome.
Throughout it all, the Devil’s Brigade was reported to have captured the imagination of the entire Fifth Army, and to have won legendary acclaim on battlefields where heroism was commonplace. Once, during the fight at Anzio, the brigade was ordered to take up a defensive position. One soldier’s sentiment summed up the entire brigade’s defiant attitude. “Defend?” he protested. “Hell, let the goddamned Nazis do the defending!” Such is the posture of courageous men when the liberty of their nation is at stake.
A New Kind of Resistance
Members of the Freedom Convoy risk job loss, financial bankruptcy, possible arrest, and even detention. We all saw the scenario that played out after the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal Rally” in the USA. The appearance in Ottawa of a mysterious masked man carrying a Confederate flag who had to be called out by legitimate protesters should be a poignant reminder of the false flag tactics that woke activists are capable of.
PM Justin Trudeau could defuse the situation in Ottawa by opening a dialogue with the truckers. So far he has chosen not to do so. Instead, on Feb. 1, he painted the protesters as being antisemitic, Islamophobic, anti-black racists, and transphobic and called on MPs to unanimously condemn them.
Although the PM has said that military intervention is “not in the cards right now,” one can’t help suspecting he might relish a heroic 1970 moment like his late father’s, who in the wake of two FLQ kidnappings invoked the War Measures Act.
When a Parliament Hill reporter confronted Pierre Elliot Trudeau with the question, “What is it with all these men and guns around here?” and asked how far the prime minister will extend law and order, he answered, “Just watch me.” This response garnered the admiration of some 85 percent of Canadians for his “decisive” action.
Should the CBC’s constant demonization of the truckers continue apace, one can’t help thinking that something similar might be “in the cards.”
Need for a Can-Am Alliance in Defence of Liberty
It has been gratifying to watch American media outlets give freedom-loving Canadians more attention than they could ever expect from the present cultural establishment in their own country.
In a September 2021 Epoch Times column, I asked, “Can Truckers, Trumpers, and Radio Hosts Help Rescue America?” I argued that the progressive agenda put forward by the “crème de la crème” of a globalist intelligentsia is stealing the hopes and dreams of ordinary North Americans. “Sans frontières” prep school Marxists from both sides of the 49th parallel are always on guard to protect woke orthodoxy and put down dissidents.
Many children and grandchildren of World War II veterans didn’t feel compelled to attend university. They entered trades, started small businesses, or took promising positions in private industry and gradually rose through company ranks. Some of my own friends and family members made a decent living in the trucking business.
Since the late 1960s, all of our institutions of learning and influence have become occupied by tyrannous domestic revolutionary movements reminiscent of those that the forgotten men of the Devil’s Brigade risked their lives to resist.
Ordinary Canadians and Americans want their jobs and businesses back and a fair share of their hard-earned dollars. They want their private lives back, the right to dissent returned, and the restoration of their dignity and the freedom to choose what medical precautions are best for themselves.
If common citizens, like truckers and others from both sides of the border, are willing to stand up for our liberty, we should, once again, endeavour to stand with them.
