Mr. Speaker, first I would like to offer my congratulations to the hon. member for Dauphin—Swan River for his initiative with respect to Lieutenant Colonel William Barker. I think he has certainly done a service to Canadian history and Canadian heritage by moving this motion.
The House may be interested to know that I have a very similar motion on the Order Paper. Whereas the motion of the member for Dauphin—Swan River talks about a memorial, my motion talks specifically about commemorating a statue to Lieutenant Colonel William Barker.
It is worth mentioning that the hon. member was instrumental in getting Dauphin airport renamed as Lieutenant Colonel William Barker airport. Again, for that, I think the member deserves congratulations.
The history of the first world war has many heroes and many villains, but from a Canadian standpoint I think that William Barker's name stands out as being one of Canada's pre-eminent heroes.
I became interested in Lieutenant Colonel William Barker's story as a young boy growing up in Nepean when I read a popular history book called Knights of the Air which talked about the great first world war aces like Bishop and Barker. It was not until just last fall that I saw a book by an author named Wayne Ralph who lives in B.C. who had done what I considered to be probably the most definitive history on Lieutenant Colonel Barker.
The book struck me as portraying a very sad story. Barker was well known to the Commonwealth and well known to the Canadian people during the first world war because of his exploits. However, tragically, after the war he ended up having some personal problems. Lieutenant Colonel Barker managed to get himself back on his feet again, but on March 12, 1930 he was killed in a very unfortunate air crash on the Ottawa River just a few miles from these parliament buildings at the Rockcliffe airbase where he was test flying a plane for the Fairchild company.
At his funeral in Toronto there were apparently 2,000 soldiers who served as an honour guard. There were 50,000 spectators at his funeral. Today Barker's name has been all but forgotten in the annals of Canadian history.
I find that very unfortunate because I think a country certainly needs its heroes and Barker was clearly one of ours. The Americans have popularized their heroes over the years. Hollywood has done a tremendous job of instilling patriotism in the hearts and minds of many Americans based on the exploits of people such as Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, John Paul Jones and many other famous American heroes. We do not have that in Canada. We have not had the glorification of our heroes to the extent that the Americans have.
What was Lieutenant Colonel Barker's record during the first world war? As the hon. member for Dauphin—Swan River has mentioned, he was credited with quite a number of air victories. The hon. member mentioned 58. I believe his record was 50, according to Mr. Ralph's biography.
Perhaps Lieutenant Colonel Barker's most famous action occurred within two weeks of the war's end. If I could, I would like to refer directly to the Victory Cross citation that William Barker received. I would like to refer to it specifically because I think it outlines why Barker had the reputation that he did during the first world war.
The citation reads: “His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to confer the Victoria Cross on the undermentioned officer of the Royal Air Force in recognition of bravery of the highest possible order: Captain, Acting Major, William George Barker, DSO, MC, No. 201 Squadron, Royal Air Force”.
On the morning of October 27, 1918 this officer observed an enemy two-seater over the forêt de Mormal. He attacked this machine and after a short burst it broke up in the air. At the same time, a Fokker biplane attacked him and he was wounded in the right thigh but managed, despite this, to shoot down the enemy airplane in flames.
He then found himself in the middle of a large formation of Fokkers which attacked him from all directions. He was again wounded in the left thigh but succeeded in driving down two of the enemy in a spin. He lost consciousness after this and his machine fell out of control. On recovery, he found himself again being attacked by a large formation and, singling out one machine, he deliberately charged and drove it down in flames.
During this fight his left elbow was shattered and he again fainted and, on regaining consciousness, he found himself still being attacked but, notwithstanding that he was now severely wounded in both legs and his left arm shattered, he dove on the nearest machine and shot it down in flames.
Being greatly exhausted, he dove out of the fight to regain our lines but was met by another formation which attacked and endeavoured to cut him off. But after a hard fight he succeeded in breaking up this formation and reached our lines where he crashed on landing.
This combat in which Major General Barker destroyed four enemy machines, three of them in flames, brought his total successes up to 50 enemy planes destroyed and is a notable example of the exceptional bravery and disregarded danger which this very gallant officer always displayed throughout his distinguished career.
Major Barker was awarded the Military Cross on January 10, 1917, the first bar on July 18, 1917, which means he won that award twice, the Distinguished Service Order on February 18, 1918, the second bar to the Military Cross on September 16, 1918, and a bar to Distinguished Service Order on November 2, 1918.
I think members can certainly grasp from the account of that particular action that Barker today would be referred to as a super hero. However, he has been all but forgotten.
At the end of the first world war he was definitely Canada's most decorated war hero. He held the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order and bar, the Military Cross and two bars, the French Croix de Guerre, two Italian silver medals for valour and three mentions in dispatches.
It is also worth mentioning that in terms of his later career, as the hon. member for Dauphin—Swan River has already mentioned, he was appointed as the first acting director of the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1924. He was, as was mentioned, the first president of the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club in 1927-28.
Interestingly enough, his name was so well known that he was used as a character in one of Hemingway's books, in his famous short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro .
Canada has a forgotten hero and his name is Lieutenant Colonel William Barker. I think this nation must in some manner commemorate his name. He is buried in Mount Pleasant cemetery in Toronto in a crypt that bears the Smith family name. Something must be done to ensure that the name of Lieutenant Colonel William Barker lives on and that his exploits and daring are understood by future generations of Canadians.
