Celebrating the birthday of a true local hero: 103 years young!

Last Friday I was both honoured and delighted to attend a small but heartwarming celebration to honour local hero and veteran Douglas Ross Rickard as he marked the occasion of his 103rd birthday!Doug was born in Toronto on June 25, 1918 just before the last German offensive at the battle of Amiens in the First World War. The deadly Spanish flu that killed 55,000 Canadians was still raging.As Bob Ankrett of Legion Branch 60 shared with me, Doug has experienced a lot of what life has to offer. Things most of us read about in the history of Canada in the past century, Doug has lived through.Recently, in a small ceremony at Branch 60, Doug was presented with the French Legion of Honour medal, Chevalier or Knight degree. The award was presented by Col. Roger Vandomme, Deputy Defence Attache with the French Embassy in Canada. In Col. Vandomme’s words, “ Mr. Douglas Rickard, on those dark days of 1942 many young Canadians crossed the Atlantic and landed in France to defend our common values in a sacrifice mission whose invaluable lessons contributed to shape future Victory. For what you did and the sacrifices you made, the people of France will be forever grateful.”What did Mr. Rickard do to deserve such an award? Like many Canadians, Doug enlisted in 1939 and as his father before him, joined The Royal Canadian Corps of Signals. He drilled and trained with a commando unit in Scotland for an important mission. Just before first light on August 19th, 1942 Doug arrived at the coastal town of Dieppe in France. He and other members of his unit were aboard a tank landing craft (TLC) containing three tanks. His station was in the stern of the TLC with an officer in an armoured cabin. Doug’s job was to act as a signaler relaying messages from three other signalers that landed with the South Saskatchewan Regiment, the Essex Scottish and the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry.After some hours of battle, he was knocked unconscious by a shell blast but was revived by an officer. Refusing to leave his post under fire, he continued to receive and transmit messages until further damage to the vessel knocked out an engine and forced them to leave. With only one propeller working, they slowly tried to return to Britain. They were set upon by enemy fighters off the coast of England and to avoid injury Corporal Rickard was forced overboard. He was able to remove his heavy boots and swim over a kilometer back to an English beach and safety.At this Royal Canadian Legion event, Don Cranston, Honourary Colonel for the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Wentworth Regiment, presented information on the Dieppe Raid that highlighted the logistics, cost in lives and the lessons learned to help us prepare for D-Day. Branch 60 member Bob Ankrett presented information on the importance of the success of D-Day to the free world and background material previously mentioned about Doug in this article.Doug Rickard returned to Canada with his wife Jean after the war and went on to be a very accomplished artist, inventor, businessman and father of two girls. Men like Doug not only fought for our freedom but did something more. They came home to that freedom and helped build the country that we enjoy today.As we celebrated his 103rd birthday, it was apparent how beloved and respected he is in our community. Local D-Day veteran and Key to the City recipient, Gordon Schottlander, now 96 years young, was also on hand to wish him well.Doug is one of the people who makes our city and our country one that we can be proud of. I hope to help him celebrate many more birthdays in the years to come and given how absolutely full of life and positive energy he is, I'm sure that will be the case.