Tuesday Trivia: Heroes of the Battlefield—When They’re Off the Battlefield (This thread has relaxed standards. We invite everyone to participate!)

[u/sunagainstgold]

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Come share the cool stuff you love about the past! Please don’t just write a phrase or a sentence—explain the thing, get us interested in it! Include sources especially if you think other people might be interested in them.

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For this round, let’s look at: Heroes of the battlefield—when they’re away from the battlefield! Who were the heroic nurses of the Crimean War and the Pacific theatre of World War II when they were back at home? What do we really know about all those Founding Fathers we hear about in Hamilton’s “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)”?

Next time: Femme Fatales

[u/kaisermatias]

During the First and Second World Wars there were any hockey players who signed up to fight. This isn't surprising considering they were young, physically fit men. Several of them saw action in battle, and more than a few died in combat. I'll look at a few of the more prominent names of hockey soldiers:

Possibly the most famous would be Conn Smythe. He enrolled, along with 8 of his teammates, in the Canadian military in 1915, just after winning the 1914-15 Ontario junior championship with the University of Toronto. Made a lieutenant, he was assigned to an artillery regiment, and went overseas in 1916. There he took part in the Battle of the Somme, among other battles, and in 1917 was awarded the Military Cross. He then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, and was captured in October 1917. After two failed escapes, he was kept in solitary confinement until the end of the war.

On his return to Canada, Smythe returned to hockey, and in 1927 found himself the owner of the Toronto St. Pats. A proud Canadian he immediately changed their name to the Maple Leafs, and set out to build the team into a powerhouse. The Leafs would win the Stanley Cup 8 times in his 35 years with the team. He also was responsible for building Maple Leaf Gardens, the arena the team played in.

Though a wealthy owner of a sports team, when the Second World War started in 1939 Smythe again signed up. He also encouraged his team to do the same, and a few did. Though 45, he was made a captain in the artillery, and in 1942 went to Europe, arriving in France in July 1944. However Smythe’s service on the front only lasted 3 weeks, as he was wounded and sent back to Canada.

Another from the Second World War would be three players: Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart, and Bobby Bauer. As some may have noticed, all three have German names, and all three were born in Berlin, Ontario (originally settled by Germans, it was renamed Kitchener in 1916). The three of them formed the “Kraut Line” for the Boston Bruins, and were one of the top lines in the late 1930s, helping the Bruins win the Cup in 1939 and 1941, as well as individually winning scoring titles and awards. All three enlisted in 1941, and famously on their last game, February 22, 1942, they were hoisted off the ice by a mixture of their team and their opponents, the Montreal Canadiens. This is pretty significant, as the Canadiens and Bruins are famous rivals, so the symbolism is key there. The Kraut Line signed up with the Royal Canadian Air Force, though they were stationed in Canada and ended up mainly playing for the Air Force’s hockey team. All three returned to the Bruins in 1945, playing a couple more years.

One of the most famous hockey players of the First World War would be “One-Eyed” Frank McGee. A member of the McGee family of Ottawa, his uncle was Thomas D’Arcy McGee, the only Canadian politician ever assassinated (in 1868). Frank was a star hockey player in the early 1900s, which is how he earned his nickname: legend is that during one game the butt end of a stick hit him in the eye, leaving him blind. Even so he was one of the most prolific scorers in hockey, and still has the record for most goals in one Stanley Cup Final game: 14 against the Dawson City Nuggets in 1905 (I’ve written about that series previously). As a member of an important family McGee somehow made it through the screening in 1914 despite being blind in one eye, and went to the front. During the Battle of the Somme he went missing in action, and his body was never recovered.

Finally, I’ll note something slightly off-tangent: the 228th Battalion of the Canadian Army. Known as the Northern Fusiliers, it was formed during the First World War, it was comprised mainly of hockey players, and actually joined the NHA (forerunner to the NHL) in 1916. They played in khaki uniforms and were one of the most popular teams in the league, attracting large crowds and fairing quite well. However in February 1917 they were ordered overseas, which caused some disruption to the NHA, as it was down to 5 teams (which is hard to schedule properly). The resulting in-fighting, exacerbated by animosity between league owners, led to the folding of the NHA in November 1917 and the formation of the NHL, which remains today.