Lest We Forget
- Comments: 7
- Posted on: November 10th, 2008
THE VETERAN ON CANADA’s TEN DOLLAR BILL
If you look at the back right-hand side of a Canadian $10 bill, you will see an old veteran standing at attention near the Ottawa war memorial. His name is Robert Metcalfe and he died last month at the age of 90.
That he managed to live to that age is rather remarkable, given what happened in the Second World War. Born in England, he was one of the 400,000 members of the British Expeditionary Force sent to the mainland where they found themselves facing the new German warfare technique – the Blitzkrieg.
He was treating a wounded comrade when he was hit in the legs by shrapnel. En route to hospital, his ambulance came under fire from a German tank, which then miraculously ceased fire. Evacuated from Dunkirk on HMS Grenade, two of the sister ships with them were sunk.
Recovered, he was sent to allied campaigns in North Africa and Italy. En route his ship was chased by the German battleship Bismarck
In North Africa he served under General Montgomery against the Desert Fox, Rommel. Sent into the Italian campaign, he met his future wife, a lieutenant and physiotherapist in a Canadian hospital. They were married in the morning by the mayor of the Italian town, and again in the afternoon by a British padre.
After the war they settled in Chatham, Ontario where he went into politics and became the warden (chairman) of the county and on his retirement he and his wife moved to Ottawa. At the age of 80 he wrote a book about his experiences.
One day out of the blue he received a call from a government official asking him to go downtown for a photo op. He wasn’t told what the photo was for or why they chose him. ‘He had no idea he would be on the bill,’ his daughter said.
And now you know the story of the old veteran on the $10 bill.
That is a great story! We owe so much to people like him and it is nice that the Canadian government wanted to recognise his service to the country.
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Reply@Mark (7 comments.): Testing.
ReplyThat is an awesome story. It is nice that he is honored that way.
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ReplyVery touching story, thank you for sharing it!
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ReplyWhat a neat story Heather! Your money is sure prettier than ours.
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ReplyI got here via Stumble Upon and then realized it was your blog after reading the story…loved it! Really neat bit of history.
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ReplyWhat a touching way to memorialize someone.
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