Tears in the Garden: Alberta Ukrainians During the Second World War
Peter Melnycky
Reprinted with permission of the author and publisher of For King and Country: Alberta in the Second World War;)
The servicemen's home communities in Alberta did not forget them during their festive gathering. Anna Pidruchney wrote from Smoky Lake and forwarded a list of prospective recruits for the association, which she thought would "go down in Canadian history and the history of the Ukrainian-Canadians as a most necessary and welcome institution". A parcel arrived from Vegreville MP Anthony Hlynka, while the Ladies Society of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Edmonton advised that a shipment of 1000 cigarettes was on its way.49 An evocative plea from Innisfree widower Olexa Kuzyk asked that members attend to the grave of his only son, RCAF F/Sgt. Eugene Kuzyk, killed in action on 22 September 1942 and buried at Dishforth, Yorkshire:
On the occasion of your Easter festival, I ask you, his brothersin-arms, to remember and to pay tribute to him and to all Ukrainian-Canadians who have laid down their lives in this war for the cause of freedom and democracy. 1 humbly ask you to be so good and kind as to care for my son's grave; and on the first possible occasion, please lay a wreath on it.50
During 1943 the UCSA sought to acquire permanent quarters in London and appealed to Ukrainian-Canadians for support through one of its prominent Alberta members. Volodymyr H. Kupchenko taught at various schools near Radway between 1936 and 1942, before enlisting with the Canadian Army. Upon completion of his training in Victoria, with the rank of 2nd Lieutenant, he joined the Sherbrooke Fusiliers Regiment [Armoured Division], attaining the rank of Captain. He was wounded in Antwerp and again at Caen on D-Day. In addition to stressing the need for a hostel in London, Kupchenko complained of the absence of Ukrainian chaplains among active service troops at the front, a problem which “cried to heaven for attention”.51
For two and three years we have not heard the Divine Liturgy in our language, despite the fact that death is buzzing above our heads. We plead, we demand from you at least two chaplains of the Greek Catholic and Greek Orthodox faiths, or do you expect us to fight a war and die without even a word of comfort?52
The UCSA was to organize a total of eleven "get-togethers" during the course of its existence. The association newsletter published casualty lists, honour ro11s and decoration dispatches. In August 1944, a service club and hostel were opened in London at 218 Sussex Gardens, Paddington. The association attained a membership of 1500, and a nominal ro11 of 3000 Ukrainians in the A11ied Forces who were accepted as associates.53
After the Allied landing at Normandy in 1944, Ukrainian-Canadian servicemen gathering at the UCSA club related stories of encountering the more than one million Ukrainian refugees swept up in the conflict; among Ostarbeiters [forced labourers from eastern Europe] working in German factories and as farm labourers, among the inmates of German concentration camps, among the mass of refugees on the continent and among captured enemy personnel. Touched by these encounters, they committed themselves to helping these people by establishing the Central Ukrainian Relief Bureau [CURB], and later the Ukrainian Canadian Relief Fund and the Canadian Relief Mission for Ukrainian Refugees [and War Victims]. Ukrainian-Canadian servicemen acted as couriers, delivering mail from the refugees to the Americas, and aiding the flow of food, clothing and medicine into the refugee camps. A census was initiated to collect accurate data on all Ukrainian refugees, while Ukrainian-Canadian military dentists and doctors provided services and supplies to refugees on the camps. Furthermore, when it became apparent that some refugees were in danger of forced repatriation to the Soviet Union, the UCSA and CURB defended them before British liaison officers attached to Soviet Repatriation Commissions.54
Upon the conclusion of hostilities in Europe, servicemen stationed in Europe disbanded UCSA and reconstituted themselves within Canada, in close cooperation with the Canadian Legion, as the Ukrainian Canadian Servicemen Veterans Association. Separate branches of the Royal Canadian Legion which united veterans of Ukrainian descent were established in Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton. In Edmonton No. 178 Norwood Branch was formed in 1946. Membership quickly grew to over one thousand, and the branch commenced its proud and varied record of community service, including support for the Ukrainian Canadian Committee, the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, and the promotion of Ukrainian studies within the schools of the province and at the University of Alberta. Another continuing commitment is support of the Ukrainian Canadian Museum and Archives in Edmonton, where a special collection has been established to commemorate the military service of Canadians of Ukrainian descent.55
Notes
49. Panchuk, Memorial Souvenir Book., pp. 40-46.
50. Ibid., p. 43; Ukrainskyi holos, 14 October 1942, petro Zvarych “Na vichnyi spomyn Ukrainskykh Voiakiv”; Ukrainski visti, 17 October 1942, “Svizha mohyla ukrainskoho letuna na Angliiskii zemli”.
51. Ukrainskyi holos, 21 October 1942, Isidore Gorsesky et al., Ukrainians in Alberta: Volume Two, [Edmonton: Ukrainian Pioneers' Association of Alberta, 1981], pp. 176-177; In Search of Greener Pastures., pp. 1094-1097.
52. Ukrainskyi holos, 1 September 1943, “Lyst vid voiakiv zza moria do batkiv u Kanadi”.
53. George Lupul et al., op. cit., p. 34.
54. Stanley Frolick, Between Two Worlds: The Memoirs of Stanley Frolick, [Lubomyr Y. Luciuk and Marco Carynnyk, eds.][Toronto: The Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1990], pp. 122-130.
55. George Lupul et al., op. cit; John Sorochan, “Royal Canadian Legion, Norwood Branch 178, Edmonton, Branch”, in Chomlak, Ukrainians in Alberta., pp. 225-227.