[BCMA] Canadian General Crerar's 1944-45 Caravan & truck

Tue Dec 18 16:20:10 PST 2012

BCMA;  please forward to Colin as I don't have his current Email co-ords.

Jim & Dean,

    For each of your own purposes you likely will find the following account both significant and interesting.

    Suggest you add it to your research files.

Dan G.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. 
  To: bcma at lists.vvv.com 
  Sent: Monday, December 17, 2012 10:42 PM
  Subject: Re: [BCMA] CMA Clipping Service: Dec 17 - Canadian General Crerar's 1944-45 Caravan & truck

  Ah, one of my areas of expertise! ;-)

  This is a story of national honour, national disgrace and now a potential redemption.

  CMA CLipping - 
  "One man's truck is another museum's treasure
  Record Gazette Share/Partager
  Historian Will Lash recognized the significance of a truck when its former owner was driving it around using it for personal business. "I don't think he had any idea what it was he had," Lash recalls, and offered to buy
  it for an undisclosed price. The rare 1940 Diamond T, missing its original wrecker body, would have been used during World War ..."

  The lorry is a Diamond T, made in the United States. In World War II Canada bought lorries that were larger than 3-ton as we did not make the larger sizes at that time, nor the larger engines for them. Instead Canada concentrated on building almost a million military vehicles and supplied most of the vehicles to the Commonwealth Allies fighting in North Africa, and reequipping the British Army after its disastrous losses in the 1940 Battle of France etc. That is another story of Canadian history that is almost unknown in Canada.

  General Crerar was the General Officer Commanding the First Canadian Army in 1944-1945 and this army was responsible for capturing Juno Beach on D-Day, then liberating much of the coast of France, Belgium, most of the Netherlands and capturing part of Germany. It was perhaps the largest single army among the Allies, because the Canadians could get along with so many countries. The Free Dutch, Polish, Czech, some British formations and some American formations (including the  US 82nd All-American and 101st Screaming Eagles Airborne Divisions (including the now famous"Band of Brothers") were placed under First Canadian Army alongside the five Canadian Divisions etc. The caravan was the General's sleeping quarters and it was mounted on the back of a Diamond T lorry. Crerar also had an office trailer and a captured German trailer that he called the Viper's Den. He entertained such guests as as King George VI and Winston Churchill. 

  After the war, General Crerar had shipped his command vehicle and trailer to Canada from Europe. Knowing his importance as the top Canadian General and the Canadian who commanded the largest Canadian fighting force, he naturally assumed the country would want to preserve it. His counterparts: Field Marshall Montgomery shipped his tree caravans back to the UK, kept them on his farm and later donated them to the Imperial War Museum which displays them now at Duxford. General Eisenhower's caravan was returned to the U.S.A. 

  Sending these back to North America was against government orders as big US built trucks were to be left overseas to avoid flooding the market and putting the truck manufacturers like White and Diamond T etc. out of business. 

  The Canadian War Museum, run by Lee Murray at the time, and ex-Royal Canadian Navy chap, was in a very small building in Ottawa (this was before they moved into the old Mint) and DECLINED to accept the Crerar Caravan on its truck and its office trailer. Crerar, family and friends lobbied hard and CWM relented. They went to London Ontario to the Crown Assets yard to collect it, only to find that it had been sold off surplus! The trailer was still there, and the CWM obtained that and has it on display, albeit with incorrect markings. 

  My friend, Canadian military vehicle historian, author and collector, the late Dr. William (Bill) Gregg in Ontario, found that a tobacco farmer in Ontario had bought the caravan (but not the lorry) for $75 surplus to use as a cabin for itinerant tobacco workers. Glory is fleeting to be sure!  Luckily it was never used but simply sat in the farmer's field rotting until Bill found it. He purchased it for $1,000 as I recall him saying. While hauling it home, part of the rotted roof collapsed. It was a time warp except for the decay. Bill brought in Crerar's Batman who had packed up the trailer to ship it home. The shower curtain was still where he had packed it. The rope covered steps, the desk inside, the picture frames on the walls and even the sink and special mirror. The mirror has a clear round spot in the middle and there is a light bulb inside the medicine cabinet. The light shines out onto his face and he can see himself in the rest of the mirror!  The rotted mattress that General Crerar had slept on was still on the bed! Bill was planning to dispose of it, so with Bill's permission, I took a small sample of the mattress stuffing, which was due to be discarded anyways and I have a photo of me sitting at Crerar's desk. 

  Due to a break-in wherein a civilian car in Bill's collection, painted up as a staff car, was stolen and crashed, Bill Gregg had offered the Gregg Canadian Collection to the Canadian War Museum but they DECLINED, asking him to store it for 5-years. As he could not protect the collection, Bill wanted it to go to a museum right away. The Royal Canadian Artillery Museum ar CFB Shilo in Manitoba accepted the donation. I was one of the appraisers.

  The RCA Museum later stripped the complete original wrecking gear off a very rare restored Canadian Army version 4-ton "Wrecker" (i.e. tow-truck) from the Gregg Collection. I was told they they put the Crerar caravan on it, but it was the wrong model (open cab, not closed cab) and dumped the rare tow-truck gear in their yard. 

  Years ago I visited with Finlay Morrison, who had been General Crerar's Aide de Camp. He showed me his scrap book with messages from the General, allowed me to copy his photos (including photos of the caravan and its lorry) and he gave me General Crerar's personal jeep flag as GOC First Canadian Army and a vehicle decal of the same symbol. The office trailer in the CWM was Finlay's. Every morning Finlay had to brief the General in this trailer. Finlay gave me a box containing two full sets of maps from D-Day beaches to Holland, a set that Finlay obtained while at the General's advanced headquarters. I offered them to the Canadian War Museum as they had the original trailer office, but they DECLINED saying that although I obtained them from Crerar's ADC who use maps at advanced HQ to brief General Crerar in this trailer and who obtained them in c. 8 May 1945 at Cerear's advanced headquarters, I could not prove that Crerar had actually used them! In my opinion, next to getting them from General Crerar himself, it does not get much better than this! The RCA Museum did accept the maps. 

  I do give credit now to the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum for chasing after a correct model Diamond T lorry to properly mount  the Crerar caravan on and I wish them well in their endeavour. I am sure that it does not hurt that Crerar was an artilleryman! 

  We need to pay proper respect to this very significant Canadian General. He is our equivalent of Monty, Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Rommel, Che Guevara and Mao Tse-Tung.

  If you want to see the lasting results of Crerar's time as General, visit Holland and wear a Canadian flag. The Dutch people remember. 

  Colin MacGregor Stevens, CD
  Richmond, BC

  Museum Manager & Curator (Retired) 
  The 2012 recipient of the British Columbia Museums Association Annual "Distinguished Service Award"

  Served as a Captain in the Canadian Army
  Researcher, collector & author
  Writing a biographical book on Smokey Smith, V.C.

  Collector specializing in WWII Canadian special units such as:
  1 Canadian Parachute Battalion; 1st Special Service Force ("Devil's Brigade"); British Security Co-ordination; Canadian SAS Company; and Canadians on special service in S.O.,E. (including Force 136); SRU; MI-9; Commandos; airborne units such as the Parachute Regiment etc. 
  604-341-1917      seaforth72 at gmail.com      http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net

  * Author of "The Ferret Scout Car in Canadian Service" by Service Publications (Dec. 2009) 
  * eBay identity: seaforth_highlander 

  * Member (Associate),  # 472, Bornewest CAFA Branch #8
  * Member, British Columbia Museums Association
  * Member, Canadian Museums Association
  * Member, Military Vehicle Preservation Association, Member # 954 (since 1977)
  * Member, Western Command Military Vehicle Historical Society
  * Member, Historical Arms Collectors of B.C.

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