The MC for this event was the lovely and multi-talented Noreitta Adelyn Ramocan, stage name Prestige Ignites: a model, singer, songwriter, spoken word artist, poet, motivational speaker, and a spiritual consultant. Prestige reported that while growing up, she listened to her mother singing reggae songs. She is from a line of musicians in her family, as both parents and an uncle were singers. Despite a faulty microphone, Prestige allowed vendors to talk briefly on/about their businesses. ​

Lydia Della Rocca was the first vendor to speak. She is a fifth generation Canadian of Italian heritage who is an Independent Travel Agent with Fareconnct Travel who cited the popular destinations for 2022. With the pandemic over two years, Lydia reported that the travel industry was hit hard. But now people are wanting to travel. She also reported of the Ontario Staycation Tax Credit which encourages Ontarians to travel the province to help with tourism and hospitality sectors. Ontario residents can claim up to 20% of accommodations expenses in 2022.

Marjorie Curet, Principal Consultant from Silver Peak Immigration, cited some statistics about immigration. She reported that small businesses are more likely to employ immigrants then large businesses and how immigrants are more likely to open business. Other statis include:

• One of three dentists are immigrants,
• 32% of software publishers are immigrants,
• 50% of restaurants are immigrants.

 
Marjorie also reported that “immigrants are hard working, optimist and open-minded people who are the backbone of this county.” Aside from the believe that immigrants take jobs away from residents, immigrants are the source of job creation for they are most likely to open small business that employ residents. 

Other activities at the Oxford Diversity Vendor Show Ingersoll included, Hanna painting, music, Magic Express children's cho cho train rides and food. A fun time for the whole family. 

Happy Spring!

​Both Horace and Wallace were WW1 veterans, and both also served in the Second World War where Horace was a Sergeant-Major in the Canadian Machine Gun Training Centre. Arthur Marshall was a Quartermaster Sergeant with the Frist Battalion of the Irish Regiment of Canada in the Second World War. 

​In 1959, Phyllis performed on BBC Television in England in her own show “The Phyllis Marshall Special”. In 1964 she recorded the Juno Award winning album That Girl with two American jazz stars Buck Clayton and Buddy Tate. Phyllis’s second career as an actress began in 1956 at the Crest Theatre in Toronto. She took on both dramatic and musical roles stage, radio and TV productions such as the revue Cindy-Ella in 1964; “Paul Bernard, Psychiatrist” in 1971; “Voice of the Fugitive” in 1978 and in the CBS-CTV's Night Heat during the mid-1980s.

One of Phyllis’ last performances was for Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday Tribute at the Freedom Fest in Harbourfront in 1988. Phyllis Marshall died in Toronto on February 2, 1996. She is remembered as one of Canada’s pioneer Black television super star. 

​The first major wave of fugitive slaves to Canada occurred between 1817 to 1820 and the choice of refuge was Essex County as it was the easiest and fastest to reach from the United States.  About 20 terminals were set up in Ontario dotting along the shores of Lake Erie and the Niagara River, as well as Amhertsburg, Sandwich, Windsor, Owen Sound, Hamilton, St Catharine's, Toronto, Kingston, Brantford, Collingwood and Prescott. Many Great Lakes ships would carry runaways without charge and drop them on Canadian soil. Ships such as Bay City, United States, Arrow, Mayflower, Forest Queen, May Queen, Morning Star, and Phoebus. Areas in Oxford County that both escaped slaves and free Blacks settled included, Ingersoll, Woodstock, Blenheim, Norwich, Summerville and Otterville.  

​Over two thousand years ago, according to the New Testament, Wise Men followed the North Star to find the Saviour’s birthplace.  Two thousand years later, fugitive slaves escaping bondage in the United States would also follow the North Star to lead them to freedom in Canada.
 
The North Star or Polaris is the first and one of the brightest stars to appear in the night sky. It is the only star in the constellation that does not move across the sky or change position with the seasons; it always points to the north. Polaris is easily identified by first finding the Big Dipper or the Drinking Gourd. The Big Dipper is made up of seven bright stars in the shape of a ladle with a curved handle. Away from the handle is the side of the bowl that forms the pouring edge. The two stars making up the Big Dipper’s pouring edge points to the North Star.

​Fugitives would follow Polaris to guide them northward toward the free states of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, or to Canada. While on clear nights the North Star can easily be seen, on cloudy nights or when running through forests, swamps or bayous, runaway slaves would rely on tree moss to guide them. Moss grows on the cooler north side of tree trunks. As well as following the North Star, fugitives relied on the Underground Railroad to help them arrive safely at their destination --freedom.
 
The term “Underground Railroad” was first used in 1831. A Kentucky slave named Tice Davids fled his plantation with his master in hot pursuit. Tice jumped into the Ohio River determined to swim to Ripley, Ohio, on the other shore. Pursued by his master in a boat, Tice made it to shore. When his master reached the shore, however, Tice was nowhere to be found. The frustrated slave-owner declared that Tice had vanished before his very eyes disappearing on some kind of Underground Railroad.
 
The Underground Railroad (also called the Liberty Line) was not underground nor did it have tracks. Rather it was a movement begun by Quakers, as early as 1676, (due to George Fox the founder of Society of Friends also known as the Father of Quakerism) to help slaves escape their bondage in the United States to freedom in the free northern states and later to Canada by following the North Star. Acting as “conductors,” Quakers, Free Blacks, Whites, Native Americans, German farmers and other slaves helped fugitive slaves to escape. Although the Underground Railroad was formally developed until the early 19th century, slaves had been using the same routes to escape slavery for decades.  
 
In the United States the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1793 which protected the rights of slave owners for retrieving their property - runaway slaves. This act allowed slave hunters to capture an escaped slave only to confirm orally before a state or federal judge that the slave was a runaway. Slaves were not entitled to a trial by jury and a person hiding an escaped slave could be fined $500.00 and/or be imprisoned.
 
Southerners were outraged that escaping slaves received assistance from so many sources and that they lived and worked in the free Northern States and in Canada. As a result, a much stronger act was implemented, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This new Fugitive Slave Act made it both possible and profitable to hire slave catchers to find and arrest runaways. Slave owners could choose to have slaves returned or killed outright. Slaves were considered property, not people, and thus had no rights to life or liberty.
 
Furthermore, those aiding a fugitive were at risk of imprisonment as well as a $1,000 fine. This was a disaster for the free Black communities of the North, especially since the slave catchers often kidnapped legally-freed Blacks as well as fugitives. But these seizures and kidnappings brought the brutality of slavery into the North and persuaded many more people to assist fugitives. As a result, slaves used whatever means necessary to try even harder to escape their bondage. 

​After the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, many escaped slaves that had made their homes in northern states abandoned their homes for Canada which had abolished slavery on August 1, 1834. This became the new destination for those escaping slavery and the “stations” or “safe houses” of the Underground Railroad provided stops all the way to Canada.
During the 1830s and 1840s, about 20 terminals were set up in Canada dotted along the shores of Lake Erie. 

​With the advent of the steam railway, terms like the Underground Railroad were used as code words. The “train” would occasionally be nicknamed the “Gospel Train.”  Other code words used for the Underground Railroad included the following: “cargo” (one or more fugitives or runaway slaves); “conductor (a person who guided slaves on their journey to freedom); “heaven” (Canada); “Moses” (Harriet Tubman); “promised land” (Canada or the North); “station” (a safe hiding place for fugitives along the way);  and “terminal” (a stop like a town or city on the Underground Railroad).

​The President of the Underground Railroad was a Quaker named Levi Coffin. His home in Newport, Indiana (and later in Cincinnati, Ohio) was known as the “Grand Central Station”. Through their work in the anti-slavery movement, Levi and his wife Catharine helped thousands of runaway slaves. During a visit to Canada in 1844, Levi visited many people whom he had helped escape slavery. 

​Slaves passed information about escape routes by singing spirituals with hidden messages. “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” this song suggests escaping in the spring as the days get longer. It also refers to quails which start calling each other in April. The drinking gourd is a water dipper which is a code name for the Big Dipper which points to the Pole Star towards the north.
 
“Steal Away to Jesus,” this song communicates that the person singing is planning to escape.
 
“Wade in the Water, Children,” Tubman used this song to tell slaves to get into the water to avoid being tracked. This is an example of a map song, where directions are coded into the lyrics. 

“Sweet Chariot,” a slave hearing this song knew to be ready to escape, a band of angels are coming to take him to freedom. The Underground Railroad (sweet chariot) is coming south (swing low) to take the slave to the north or freedom (carry me home). This was one of Tubman’s favorite slave spirituals.
 
A legendary conductor on the Underground Railroad was Harriet Ross Tubman. Known as the “Black Moses” of her people, Tubman was born into slavery around 1820 in Maryland. She made about 19 trips from Pennsylvania to free northern states and into Canada, leading 300 slaves to freedom. As a signal to the slaves that she was about to make a trip, Tubman would sing “Up with Moses” the day before she left. While hiding out along the route, Tubman would signal whether it was safe or not by singing - a sad song meant the escapees had to hide, a happy song that they were safe.
 
Tubman lived in St. Catharines, Ontario for about eight years. This remarkable woman also fought for women’s rights, the elderly. Tubman returned to the United States to serve as scout, spy and nurse in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Tubman is the first and only woman to have led American troops in war. She died in 1913 at the age of 93.
 
The Underground Railroad had three main routes. One ran from the eastern Upper South through Philadelphia and New York State into Canada. The other route involved stowing fugitives on ships leaving the southern East Coast towns like Charlestown, South Carolina, Portsmouth, Virginia and heading north. The ships would dock in a northern city like New York City or New Bedford, Massachusetts and the runaway slaves would then travel through New England and into Canada. The western Underground Railroad route had fugitives leaving Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and even the Deep South via the Mississippi River. Runaway slaves would cross into the Free states then journey to Canada by crossing the Great Lakes. Fugitives, who crossed over land, would stop at various terminals situated in Detroit, Michigan.

(Interactive map)

Around 1850, it is estimated that about 100,000 blacks escaped slavery via The Underground Railroad. During its 20 year peak between 1840 and 1860, it is reported about 30,000 slaves escaped the south via the secret routes of the Underground Railroad. Escaping slaves who escaped to Canada mostly settled in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. The Underground Railroad continued throughout the Civil War until the passing of the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery in the Unites States in 1865.

For many escaped slaves, Canada represented a dream of freedom where slave catchers and lynch mobs could not hurt and/or kill them. Escaping slaves on the Underground Railroad endured months and even years living like fugitives, while bounty hunters and racist government policies were always trying to impede their flight to freedom.

Once in Canada, life was not without difficulties. Just like their American cousins, many white Canadians held severely racist views of their new black neighbours. While most people were generous and helped the new settlers, some Canadians turned a blind eye to their struggles and in some cases assaults and murders against black immigrants were recorded. However, these were in the minority.

Although free, escaped slaves did not enjoy equal privileges and opportunities as their white neighbors. Finding work as a black man or woman was a difficult task and opportunities for education were slim. Blacks were forced to build their own churches, schools, and community centers because they were not welcomed in white communities. As a result, many escaped slaves lived in tight knit black communities where poor living conditions and sanitation led to disease and eventually death.

Black Canadians were part of the growth of Canada, particularly in the key boom years of the 1870’s, following the American Civil War, when Canada aggressively expanded to the west. Many blacks, tired of the racism of the east, joined the wave of European settlers moving to the prairies and were key components in establishing today’s thriving cities of Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver.

​Black Canadians have since become a part of Canada’s history. The descendants of the runaway slaves who escaped bondage to freedom by following the North Star, have fought in Canada’s wars - William Hall V.C. (1825-19040), have become hockey stars - Willie Eldon O'Ree (born October 15, 1935 - Present), have contributed to the arts and culture - Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (1925-2007), have shared in building great centers of research and innovation - Elijah McCoy
(1844–1929), and have even served in the highest offices of the federal government - Lincoln MacCauley Alexander (1922-2012). 

​The contributions of the descendants of the runaway slaves to Canada’s identity, even existence, will be remembered for as long as this country exists. 

In October 2017, WWII Veteran, Harry M. Sanders, received a letter from France informing him that he was honoured Knight of the French National Order of The Legion of Honour medal insignia. Despite over 70 years after the war, France personally thanked Harry for his part in liberating their country during WWII.
​
The Legion of Honour, full name National Order of the Legion of Honour, is the highest French order of merit for military and civil worthiness that was established on May 19, 1802, by First Consul and one of the worlds’ most military geniuses: Napoleon Bonaparte. ​

he local Tillsonburg native was surprised but pleased to be honoured with such an award. Harry Sanders served as a First Radio Officer in the British Merchant Navy from 1942 to 1946. Harry was formally recognized on December 14, 2017 during the Town of Tillsonburg’s Volunteer Appreciation Night. Tillsonburg Mayor, Stephen Molner, arranged for Marc Trouyet, Consul General from the Consultant General de France in Toronto to present the award to Harry. But like any great story, there is a beginning.

In his memoir entitled, WWII War at Sea: A Personal Narrative, Harry wrote a chronological narrative of the war. He stated that “the events are factual, the dates at times a bit iffy. Seventy-three years is a long time to remember every detail. I kept no war diary….I am not a writer, only an old sailor with my story to tell.”

And what a story he told indeed. I had the pleasure of interviewing Harry Sanders at his beautiful home in Tillsonburg. Harry explained how he attended a private school in England. At eighteen he would have been conscripted to either fly a plane or drive a tank and he didn’t want to do either. With his love for water, Harry had to be at sea.

In war, all merchant ships had to maintain a 24 hour radio watch, requiring three radio operators (during peace time only one radio operator was needed). Harry took a six-month radio course where he graduated from the Maritime School of Wireless, South-Shields England as a Third Class Radio Officer.  The course was intensive and included dismantling a transistor radio and taking and receiving Morse code at 125 letters per minute; equivalent to typing 65 words a minute.

Three days after passing his exam, Harry was called to the Merconi Company office where he was assigned to the S.S. Barrgrove. The merchant ship was already out in the harbour. Once aboard, Harry reported to the Captain. The ship set sail the following day. During war time, Captains did not know their destinations until they were at sea. The S.S. Barrgrove was one of a 45 ship convoy traveling in six columns, seven ships deep along with two Canadian Corvettes (anti-submarine convoy escorts) travelling at five knots. On the second night a ship was blown up by a sea mine.

Once the S.S. Barrgrove arrived in Lisbon to pick up a supply of ore; used to make helmets; it headed to Gibraltar to meet another convoy of 84 ships. In this convoy seven ships were torpedoed and German planes attacked the rest. Three ships went down one just in front of the S.S. Barrgrove. The sea around the ships was engulfed in a fiery ball. Ships leaving the area could not stop to rescue survivors in the water as they too would become victims of the next attack. The S.S. Barrgrove eventually returned to England.

At eighteen, Harry had his first experience of the horrors of war.  However, it would become much worse. The second ship Harry was assigned to was the S.S. Domine; an old ship that should have been in the salvage yard. However, during the war, anything that floated and had an engine was fit for duty. The S.S. Domine left with a convoy of 52 ships, two corvettes heading for the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. But with a speed of 4 knots, the S.S. Domine fell far behind the convoy by the time they reached Bay of Biscay, between France and Spain. Three days later the engine died and the ship drifted alone all day. Since radio communications could not be used, they were not able to contact another ship.

Harry recalled that at 1:21 a.m. there was a tremendous explosion and he was thrown outside his cabin. The S.S. Domine was struck by a torpedo. Harry crawled in the control room to ty to send an SOS but the transmission was damaged. He then grabbed the Admiralty codebooks, dumped them into a metal box and threw it into the Atlantic Ocean with himself in tow. Swimming from the sinking ship to be away from the gravitational pull, Harry reached a floating raft and hung on while watching the ship sink beneath the waters along with twenty officers and crew.

Harry and nine others were the sole survivors who all clung to the raft. Harry reported that when a ship is torpedoed, few lifeboats survive. As a result, rafts are fitted on the main and aft masts to float free when released. These rafts had scanty survival kits.
The dishevelled group with varying degrees of injuries all fell into the water at first light, when the German U boat that had torpedoed their ship the night before, surfaced 100 feet from the raft. Despite the captain’s questions left unanswered, he told the group they were close to the coast of Serra Leone, wished them well and sunk silently beneath the surface of the water. Harry was very grateful to that German Captain who showed mercy to the survivors and provided them with hope.

Due to little food, rationing of the limited water supply, no shelter from the cold nights and the scorching sun during the day. Two or three men died during the night and one man threw himself overboard knowing it would be hard to survive with his injuries. There were now only two survivors left on the raft, Harry being one of them; he thought it was the end.

Nevertheless, Harry woke up in a hospital bed. He had a dislocated shoulder and third degree burns on his face, hands and lips but he was alive. He does not remember what happened to the other man on the raft. He was the sole survivor found washed up on a Freetown beach off the coast of Sierra Leone by a local fisherman. After spending fifteen days in hospital, Harry returned to England. Five days later he was deployed to another ship.

In total, Harry Sunders was a Radio Control Officer on eleven ships. In 1944, he attended the Royal Navy Training School where he was trained to liaison with aircrew using wireless telephone. After passing his second F.C.C. certification of proficiency in radiotelegraphy, Harry became a First Class Radio Officer. It was onboard the M.V. Monowie ship that would earn Harry the Legion of Honour Award.

In its former life, before the war, the M.V. Monowie was an 18,000 ton New Zealand luxury liner. Now stripped of her luxury, landing crafts replaced lifeboats and it became a troopship during WWII that delivered American soldiers to Omaha Beach. From his book WWII at Sea, Harry wrote that after a six-week boot camp G.I.’s arrived to board the ship. They were placed below deck, officers and female personnel on the boat deck and Negro soldiers were separated on the lower deck as well as in the dining room despite fighting the same war Harry cited. These men, who three months ago probably milked cows, “were about to face a well-trained seasoned German Army at war for three years. God help them.”
​
Harry recalled that on June 6, 1944 at 5:30 a.m., landing nets were dropped over the sides of the M.V. Monowie to land G.I.’s on Omaha Beach. While standing on the bridge, Harry witnessed the carnage that would become the largest amphibious attack in history.
The Battle of Normandy ran from June 1944 to August 1944, codenamed Operation Overload. The battle began on June 6, 1944. Known as D-Day, or Deployment Day, 156,000 American, British and Canadians troops landed on five beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword which ran along a 50-mile stretch of heavily fortified beach in France’s Normandy region.

Of the five beaches, Omaha Beach was the largest at six miles long in which the most intense fighting occurred on D-Day. That was because cliffs overlooked Omaha Beach which made attacking the area very difficult. In his words, Harry described Omah Beach’s on D-Day:

     Germany took 4 years to build their Atlantic Wall. They sowed impregnable
​     belts of beach obstructions designed to prevent any landing craft from reaching
     shore. They build indestructible pillboxes, meters cement think. Positioned them
​     on  the cliff covering the beach so machine gunners could fire lengthwise down
     the beach, the killing ground. They were also able to drop a continues barrage
     of bursting artillery above the enemy huddled below at the face of the cliff.
     This was Omaha Beach! (From WWII at Sea)

On August 25, 1944, the Allies liberated France which helped paved the way for allied victory in Europe. On September 2, 1945, WWII finally ended.

In his memoir, Harry reported the astonishing figures of destruction: “At war-end, we learned that 3500 of all U-boat sinking had taken place in the North Atlantic. It had become the graveyard of both men and ships. The battle of the Atlantic ended with 15 million tons of shipping lost. 4,500 allied ships sunk 75,000 merchant Navy Officers and men dead or missing-in-action.” Listening to Harry Saunders recount his experiences during WWII and of the many men who lost their lives at sea, I came across a website with the following poem: 

Post by Administrator on May 24, 2013 at 10:53 am
Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten.”
No crosses mark the ocean waves;
No monuments of stone.
No roses grow on sailor's graves,
The Sailor rests alone
His tributes are the sea gulls' sweeps,
Forever wild and free . . .
And teardrops that his sweetheart weeps
To mingle with the sea
Anon
Many remain without commemoration.
 (From Message Board: Her Name WasTregenna)

While writing this blog I once again visited this website and found that there is a campaign by the Battle of Atlantic Memorial to build a national memorial to commemorate the 100,000 people who died in the Battle of the Atlantic as well as those who served and survived.  According to the feed, the 91 feet monument is expected to be placed on the Pier Head in Liverpool and is designed by sculptor Paul Day, who also created the Battle of Britain monument in London. The goal is to unveil the monument in 2019 which will mark the 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Atlantic and the beginning of World War Two.

Sadly, WWII did not end all wars. WWI was supposed to be the Great War to do that. Today, many lives continue to be lost to and for wars.

 Quote: “The Battle of the Atlantic was the dominating factor all through the war.  Never for one moment could we forget that everything happening elsewhere, on land at sea or in the air, depended ultimately on its outcome.” ~ Winston Churchill

Pictures of Harry Sanders and his medals at his home in Tillsonburg