Warrior Chiefs

Perspectives on Senior Canadian Military Leaders

Bernd Horn, Stephen Harris, Bernd Horn, Stephen Harris

• Publisher: Dundurn Press
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN:
  9781550023510
• eBook ISBN:
  9781554880379
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

They were the men who led our nation in war and peace. In world wars, they were the steady hands guiding our forces to victory; in peacekeeping, they helped to establish and preserve order. Over the years they have helped the Canadian Forces to become one of the proudest militaries in the world.

Warrior Chiefs: Perspectives on Senior Canadian Military Leaders is the first book of a two-part series that examines the unique Canadian experience and outlook in regard to Generalship and the Art of the Admiral. This first volume is a compendium of biographies of the nation's most notable military leaders from Confederation to the post-Cold War era. Personalities include: Sir William Otter, Sir Sam Hughes, E.L.M. Burns, G.G. Simonds, Charles Foulkes, Andy McNaughton, J.V. Allard, and J. Dextraze, to name only a few.

THE POST-WAR
WORLD

National Archives of Canada / PA 704

General Sir Sam Hughes stepping off a torpedo boat on the coast of France on his way to visit the Front, August 1916.

National Archives of Canada / PA 2497

General Sir Arthur Currie (left) with Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, February 1918.

Laurie A. Audrain, National Archives of Canada / PA 167577

Inspection of an anti-aircraft gun of the Royal Canadian Artillery by General A.G.L. McNaugton, Colchester, England, 9 July 1941.

National Archives of Canada / PA 129788

General A.G.L. McNaugton addressing personnel of the Royal Canadian Scottish Regiment, Sicily, August 1943.

National Archives of Canada / PA 170725

General H.D.G. Crerar, 1943.

Canadian Forces Photographic Unit, Central Negative Library / ZK704

General H.D.G. Crerar (left) and Lieutenant-General E.L.M. Burns in Italy, 1944.

Donald I. Grant, National Archives of Canada / PA 129125

General Sir Bernard Montgomery imparts final words to Lieutenant-General G.G. Simonds (standing beside jeep) prior to leaving 2nd Canadian Corps Headquarters, France, 24 July 1944.

Harold G. Aikman, National Archives of Canada / PA 116585

Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds observes the Canadian Grenadier Guards crossing the Seine River, Elboeuf, France, 28 August 1944.

Barney J. Gloster, National Archives of Canada / PA 153193

Field Marshall Montgomery (left) with General Crerar, Cleve, Germany, 23 February 1945.

Photo Credit: Barney J. Gloster, National Archives of Canada / 143952

Winston Churchill overlooking the Rhine Crossing, vicinity of Krannenburg, Germany, 4 March 1944. He is accompanied by (left to right) General Crerar, Lieutenant-General Simonds, Field Marshall Alan Brooke, and Field Marshall Montgomery.

Donald I. Grant, National Archives of Canada / PA 151922

General Foulkes (right) and Lieutenant-General Murchie near the tail of a German submarine, Ljmuiden, Netherlands, 25 May 1945.

National Archives of Canada / PA 037456

Rear-Admiral L.W. Murray (extreme left) presenting awards to crew members of H.M.C.S. St. Croix, which sank the German submarine U-90, 24 July 1942, St. John’s Newfoundland.

Douglas S. Howes, National Archives of Canada / PA 139977

Vice-Admiral H.T.W. Grant (left) handing over the post of Chief of the Naval Staff to Vice-Admiral E.R. Mainguy, Ottawa, Ontario, 1 December 1951.

Canadian Forces Central Negative Library / PL50385

Air Marshall Wilfred Curtis, Chief of Air Staff, climbing out of an F82 aircraft during Exercise Sweetbriar, 23 February 1950.

Thibault, Canadian Forces Central Negative Library / PL100969

Air Marshall Roy Slemon, Chief of Air Staff, being checked out on a CF-100 aircraft at RCAF Station Uplands.

Paul E. Tomelin, National Archives of Canada / PA 128847

Lieutenant-Colonel J.A. Dextraze, Commanding Officer, 2nd Battalion Royal 22e Regiment, Korea, 9 November 1951.

R. Hawryluk, Canadian Forces Central Negative Library / CF66-328-2

Lieutenant-General Allard, Commander Force Mobile Command, inspects a guard of honour composed of men of 4 RCHA on his arrival at Camp Petawawa, Ontario, to formally accept its inclusion into Mobile Command, 14 March 1966.

Canadian Forces Photographic Unit, Central Negative Library / ISC92-4014 (2A)

Brigadier-General Lewis MacKenzie (second from left) at the Sarajevo Airport, 1992.

DND file photograph

Brigadier-General Romeo Dallaire (left) and Argentinean Major Miguel Martin (Desk Officer in New York) in discussion with members of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) observer group and a rebel brigade commander (camouflage jacket), Rwanda, August 1994.

Corporal Bergeron, Canadian Forces Photographic Unit, Central Negative Library / REC95-028 (29)

General John de Chastelain, Chief of the Defence Staff, in Visoko, Bosnia Hercegovina, December 1994.

CHAPTER 9

VICE-ADMIRAL HAROLD GRANT:
FATHER OF THE POST-WAR ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY

Captain (N) Wilfred G.D. Lund

VICE-ADMIRAL Harold Taylor Wood Grant, CBE, DSO, CD, took command of the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) as the fifth Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) on 1 September 1947 when it was at its lowest ebb of the post-war period. His predecessor, Vice-Admiral Howard Emerson (“Rastus”) Reid, had essentially been given a caretaker appointment. Reid had never aspired to be CNS and accepted the office reluctantly upon the sudden death in 1946 of the incumbent, Vice-Admiral G.C. Jones. He had agreed to stay on only until the end of the transitional period of the “interim force.” This was a period of drift characterized by an ill-defined defence policy and financial stringency. Grant was the natural successor to Jones, and his appointment brought renewed energy, confidence, and a presence to the office. Most importantly, he brought strong leadership, decisiveness, and a sense of direction.¹ In the eyes of the pre-war RCN cohort he was a hero. To junior staff officers at Naval Service Headquarters (NSHQ) Vice-Admiral Grant was “a gentleman, considerate, a cheerful presence with soft manner of speaking and understanding of junior officers.”² He was looked up to and respected by all who served under him.

Grant faced the daunting task of rebuilding the peacetime Canadian Navy into an effective force with recruits from a society and for a nation that had both been transformed substantially by the Second World War. During his four year tenure, he would adopt Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) as the Navy’s primary role and inaugurate the construction of a new fleet of Canadian designed destroyer escorts. These decisions set the course for a rapid expansion of the Navy to meet the challenges of the Cold War and large commitments to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Grant also had to overcome severe personnel problems and reorient the administrative and cultural structure of the Navy to meet the demand for change. With these accomplishments, Vice-Admiral Harold Grant became the father of the modern post-war Royal Canadian Navy.

Harold Grant was born in Halifax in 1899, the youngest of six children. His father, the Honourable MacCallum Grant, owned a thriving fishing and shipping business and was a powerful force in the Halifax business community and society. Young Harold was brought up in the conservative Scots-Presbyterian tradition of loyalty, hard work, and self-reliance and, as in many Nova Scotia families, a strong affection for the British connection.³ The Grants were members of the Halifax aristocracy, and their stately residence, “Armdale,” possessed spacious gardens and a sweeping view of the Northwest Arm, which was their playground. The Grant boys learned to love the sea and became accomplished sailors. MacCallum Grant, a great admirer of the German system of education, took the entire family to Germany for two years where the boys studied at Heidelberg College.⁴ The family returned to Halifax in 1911. Canada had established the Canadian Naval Service in 1910, and Harold’s elder brother, John, joined the first term of cadets at the new Royal Naval College of Canada (RNCC), located in the Halifax dockyard. Harold Grant joined the fourth term at RNCC in 1914, the same year that his father was appointed to be the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia.⁵

Harold became imbued, as was Leonard Murray and all who attended the RNCC, with the traditions of the Royal Navy (RN) and its credo of service above personal consideration. He came under the influence of the remarkable mentor, Commander Nixon, who encouraged a strong sense of camaraderie in the cadets. As a result, an enduring loyalty to graduates of the RNCC would be a notable characteristic throughout Grant’s career. Grant, small and frail as a boy, was often ill as a cadet but bright, quick-witted, and determined. The RNCC journal, Sea Breezes, reported that Grant was “perhaps the finest example of what grit and will can do.”⁶ “Character and determination” appear frequently in performance reports by his commanding officers.⁷He passed out of the RNCC with a first-class certificate in 1917 and continued his training as a midshipman in RN “big ships” until the end of World War I. He saw no action.

Between the wars, Harold Grant’s career followed the standard pattern for RCN officers. He took his specialist navigation and staff training with the Royal Navy. Sea experience was obtained in both RCN and RN ships, which included four years in British battleships.⁸ He also served in staff positions at Naval Service Headquarters (NSHQ) as Director of Plans and, later, the Naval Reserves. With the RN, he gained valuable experience in charge of ships’ movements on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Atlantic Fleet. While Grant impressed the Royal Navy as a determined, hard-working and loyal officer, he was rated only as an above average performer. However, in his own navy, both Leonard Murray and G.C. Jones considered Grant worthy of accelerated promotion and he made Commander in 1935, ahead of some of his seniors.⁹

By this time his leadership ability and confidence were well developed. Harold Grant had acquired a reputation as a solid professional officer and a gentleman of modesty and humour. Physically, he developed into a strong man who excelled in sports. He handled both officers and men easily and was very popular socially. His connections as one of the Haligonian aristocracy enabled him to move in the right social circles wherever he served. Grant enjoyed a fun time, a good party, and could be counted on to lead the “run ashore.” Some stories became legend, such as receiving the “Displeasure of the Department” as a reprimand for harassing a honeymooning couple at a hotel in Chester, Nova Scotia.¹⁰ The new bride turned out to be the secretary to the Deputy Minister of Defence. This incident merely added to his growing reputation. Grant married Christine Mitchell of Halifax who became a universal favourite with both his contemporaries and juniors as an elegant and charming hostess and lady.¹¹ However, Grant’s decisiveness could be over-bearing and on one occasion earned him a caution from the Chief of Naval Staff, Percy Nelles, who thought his rapid promotion may have gone to his head.¹² That notwithstanding, Nelles sent him in command of HMCS Skeena in 1938. He was appointed ashore as the Chief of Staff to Captain Reid, Commanding Officer Atlantic Coast, shortly after war was declared.

Grant served with exceptional distinction during the war and emerged as one of Canada’s most decorated naval officers.¹³ He was promoted to Captain in 1940 and appointed to NSHQ in the critical position of Director of Naval Personnel, where he supervised the initial rapid wartime expansion of the Navy. In 1942, his was the cautionary voice that recommended checking growth in order to consolidate training. He was overruled, owing to the critical need for escorts.¹⁴ Grant was Captain (D) in St. John’s, Newfoundland, for barely six months when appointed to command the older Royal Navy cruiser HMS Diomede in March 1943. This appointment had been arranged with the British Admiralty by the CNS, Vice-Admiral Nelles, who wa...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Beginnings: Confederation to the End of World War I
• Forged in Fire: The World War II Experience
• The Post-War World
• Contributors
• Index