The Unknown Heroes

I write quite a lot about heroes on the my web site.  They include a teenage girl who fought off a cougar to save her brother, a dog that helped save 92 persons in a shipwreck and Canadian Victoria Cross recipients, amongst others  What I do not write often enough about is the persons around the heroes who were heroes in their own right... just not lauded publicly.

Sgt. Navigator James Scott was one such unknown hero.

James Scott was a Canadian navigator/pilot on a Beaufort torpedo bomber flying with the RAF in WW2.  One of the first graduates of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), Scott had been flying since 1940.  In 1941, he was merely 19 years old.


On April 5, 1941, Scott's plane, commanded by Pilot Officer Kenneth Campbell, was ordered into the skies over the the fiords of Norway in search of the German battleship Gneisenau. They found it and attacked with their unguided torpedoes.  In order to ensure the torpedoes ran straight and true, Campbell made his run approximately 50 feet above the fiord.  I am sure that Campbell had a discussion with his crew, including Scott, explaining to them that the attack he proposed could be their last.  Any number of issues could arise that could doom the plane and its crew.  They all agreed that the risk to their lives was outweighed by the benefits to the war effort.  Indeed, to that point, the Gneisenau had sunk thousands of tons of allied merchant and military shipping and caused the death of thousands of allied sailors.

You can read about the fated raid that won Kenneth Campbell the Victoria Cross and put the Gneisenau out of action for a portion of the war, on my web site.  Suffice to say that you will not find the name of nineteen year old James Scott or any of his comrades in the records.  For the record the other crew members were Sgt. William Mulliss and Fl Sgt. Ralph Hillman.

They, unlike Campbell, were the unknown heroes.

It's a local story but it is an example of larger problems.

The Strandherd-Armstrong bridge is being built in suburban Ottawa.  It links the southern neighbourhoods of Barrhaven and Riverside South across the Rideau River.  About four years ago, I sat on a citizens committee that reviewed the bridge designs.  At the end of the session, we were asked which design we preferred.  The choices were a plain-jane six-driving-lane- (plus bike and walking) flat slab or a fancy six-lane (with bike and walking) slab with arches attached to it to make it look good.

The committee was almost unanimous for the fancy arches; only one person dissented... that would be me.

I argued against the arches for two reasons.  In a climate of ice and snow for many months of the year, accumulation on the arches could fall on vehicles or pedestrians, which would not be a good thing.   My second objection was the cost and time it would require to build the arches.

Hate to say I told you so, but the bridge which was to be open in early 2013... then delayed to fall 2013... is now delayed to fall 2014.  Why the latest delay?  Welds on the arches.   The slab is finished... in fact it has been for almost 6 months.  The crossing could be finished by now.  It is the arches that are causing the delay.

Even our exalted local Con MP, Pierre Poilievre, is not talking about the bridge anymore.  He was a big booster of it, going as far as to claim that, without him, the project would have be dead.

When desire triumphs over practicality, whether it be a bridge or a stealth fighter, citizens are not well served.