May 24, 2002 Little Norway Remembered in Royal Visit

Restored Fairchild Cornell Trainer used at Little Norway in the 1940s. Brad Hammond Vintage Muskoka photo.

When the Germans overran Norway in 1940 at the start of WWII many Norwegian young people escaped, and many were away on the high seas at the time and wanted a way to fight back. The Norwegian government fled to London, England and oversaw the training and deployment of their people. The Norwegian merchant marine was the third largest in the world and helped finance their war effort, making a significant contribution to the movement of people and supplies. Canada played a major role in helping train their people for war.

The Norwegian whaling fleet took refuge in Halifax, where it was converted to anti-submarine corvettes, which fought in the Battle of the Atlantic. Thousands attended a major naval and military training base was established at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. By the end of the war, 4,000 Norwegians had died in combat, and 570 of their ships were lost.

The Norwegians come to Ontario

In 1940, the Royal Norwegian Airforce (RNA) needed a place to train flyers, ground crew, and mechanics. Arrangements were made through the British Commonwealth Air Training Program to use Toronto Island as a training centre. By 1942 the RNA needed more space and came briefly to the Emsdale airport near Burk’s Falls, and soon established a large new training centre called Little Norway near Gravenhurst. The location is now the Federal Beaver Correctional Camp.

By the end of the war 3,000 men had been trained. This included 600 pilots, of whom only 270 survived. Some 400 of the men who trained here married Canadian women, and many returned here to live. Norwegian fighter squadrons helped support the Canadian landing at Dieppe in 1942 and at Normandy in 1944, and supported convoys on the North Atlantic throughout the war. The have a record of destroying 252 enemy aircraft and five submarines.

The Norwegian King and Queen bring thanks

King Harald V and Queen Sonja made a state visit to Canada between May 6 - 11^th, and visited Little Norway while they were here. Hundreds of Norwegians were invited to a grand dinner at the Royal York and to a gala event at the Muskoka airport on May 8^th, the fifty-seventh anniversary of Norwegian Liberation Day. Many federal and provincial dignitaries attended, including Lt. Gov. James Bartleman who grew up n the area.

Former Norwegian Airforce and Canadian-Norwegian Airforce veterans, or widows, at their former retreat near Huntsville (South River’s Rolf Haugen behind man with black hat and sunglasses, front right).

South River Couple Attend

Norwegian veteran Rolf Haugen and Lettie Peever, from Machar Township, received an invitation from the Norwegian Embassy (www.emb-norway.ca) to attend, and spent two days in Muskoka. In a recent conversation with them, Rolf (now in his mid-eighties) told stories that could fill a book about his experiences as a merchant seaman, travelling the world before and in the early days of the war. Because of his experience as a mechanic he was chosen to go to the Toronto Island training centre to help with the Fairchild Cornell planes used there to train the pilots. With some sharp police work on the side, he was chosen for the new camp police force and spent the rest of the war providing this service in Toronto and Muskoka. He recalls keeping an eye on the current King when he came to Little Norway at age five to unveil the new Fairchild fighter planes. One of those planes , lovingly restored and located as a part of the collection at the War Plane Heritage Museum in Port Hope, was flown to the event at Little Norway for a second unveiling, showing its "Spirit of Little Norway" insignia.

Many Norwegian veterans, or their widows, were flown in from Norway a couple of days early for a visit to the area while the royal family carried out other duties. Widow Pat Heglund, the daughter of a former Midland mayor, married a Norwegian pilot she met at Toronto Island. He became Norway’s top scoring fighter ace in the war. Rolf Haugen and Lettie, among other events, attended dinners at the Bracebridge and Huntsville Legions, where they were able to renew acquaintances. During the war the Norwegians had a 430 acre recreational retreat east of Huntsville, and the photo shows some of the Norwegian and Canadian-Norwegian veterans at that camp (now the Olympia Athletic Camp at Limberlost in Interlaken).

Rolf Haugen at his home in Machar Township, with duffel bag used at Little Norway in the 1940s. Doug Mackey photo.

Log Museum Plan

The Royal Canadian Legion is sponsoring the building of a Little Norway log museum to be built at the Muskoka airport to recognize those war years and the ongoing mutual respect between the two countries. Rolf and many other Canadian-Norwegians have made significant contributions to this project. The cornerstone was laid by the King, MP Andy Mitchell, and Royal Canadian Legion Regional Chairman Gord Adams.

Sundridge Resident Guest at Muskoka Event

Another interested guest at the Muskoka Royal visit was Joanne Schmidt, retired Almaguin Highlands Secondary School teacher, whose grandparents came from Norway. She is leaving for a visit to Norway later this month and will visit a museum that has a section on Little Norway in it, recognizing the Canadian connection. Joanne told me about the event, and introduced me to Rolf Haugen, mentioned above. Joanne, as a history teacher, had her students carry out various local history projects. One student, Camille Dzewursky, did a project on the Norwegians brief stay at Emsdale, where she now lives. Camille directed me to Muriel Thorne of North Bay, whose husband was the Emsdale Airport Manager for twenty seven years, including the Norwegian period. She told me that the Norwegian officers shared the other half of their duplex there, while other men rented a farmhouse nearby and others lived in tents.

This space only allows for a brief look at this interesting piece of history. The exciting and well organized visit and the future Muskoka museum will preserve this unique relationship. My thanks to reporter Brad Hammond from the Muskoka Times newspaper, and the creator of the wonderful history magazine, Vintage Muskoka , for his stories and photo shown here.