The Icelandic connection - 01.06.2014, Page 28

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ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 66 #4
The Veterans
by Bill Redekop
Winnipeg has Valour Road, where
three men earned Victoria Crosses
for separate acts of bravery in the First
World War.
Selkirk has Dufferin Avenue, where
29 men from a single residential block
were enlisted in the Canadian Forces at
the same time. Local people believe that’s
a record until proven otherwise.
And it’s a short block. There are just
20 houses. Almost as amazing is that the
sacrifice of those men is little recognized
The veterans
List of the 29 men from a single block
on Dufferin Avenue who fought in the
Second World War.
Gordon Courts Bill McLean
Lawson Dillabough Eric McLean
Rod Fidler Jack Norquay
Raymond Fidler Tom Norquay
Charlie Griffiths Siggi Goodbrandson
Dan Griffiths Harry Scramstad
Harold Henrikson Bob Scramstad
Paul Henrikson Otto Scramstad
Dick Johnstone Allan Sinclair
Jack Laye Jack Sinclair
Jim Laye Harold Starr
Harold Little Stefan Stephanson
Bill Little Charles Tetroe
Dune McLean John McLean Frank Tetroe
outside of Selkirk. People here have always
known their city had a high concentration
of enlistees in the Second World War.
And many people know about the
Dufferin Gang, as they are nicknamed
locally. But few people know of the
Dufferin Gang outside Selkirk.
“Dad always spoke about it. ‘How
come nobody knows about it?’ All us kids
knew,” said Gulewich, who still lives on
Dufferin.
Ted Barris, author of 17 books on
the military, and the son of famous CBC
broadcaster Alex Barris, broke the story in
his book, Juno: Canadians at War June 6,
1944, published in 2004.
But Barris made only passing reference
to the feat. In a telephone interview from
Toronto, Barris said he doesn’t know if it’s
a record but he’s never heard of anything
surpassing it. The one factor working
against it is it’s a small block.
The Canadian military practice of
putting friends, neighbours and family
in the same unit helped that kind of
neighbourhood recruitment back then,
Barris said. It was different in the United
States, where military brass tended to
separate enlistees for fear an entire family
or neighbourhood could be wiped out in a
single battle. Even so, the Dufferin Gang
was split up into various divisions: sailors,
airmen, soldiers and armoured personnel.
In Selkirk, Blaine McVety of Blaine’s
Books, and Dr. Lome Canvin, a podiatrist
at Allan Foot Service, and a military history
buff, are trying to have the Dufferin Gang