Canada’s most decorated veteran issued a stark warning to the world’s leaders following a ceremony held in his honour in Barrie on Tuesday.
“The opportunity for [global] conflict is certainly with us right now,” Maj. Gen. Richard Rohmer, an author, aviator and historian said during an interview with the Barrie Compass. “Leaders are shouting at each other, making all kinds of commitments and demands. There’s a lot of tension in the air between the big nations.”
The centenarian, who turns 101 in January, added that the current geopolitical climate is eerily similar to the one that preceded the Second World War — a conflict in which he flew 135 missions as a fighter and reconnaissance pilot.
“We now have a lot of countries where the leader is just one person who doesn’t really respond to the advice of others — and that’s where the danger is greatest,” he says. “There’s a lot of hatred — particularly in Europe, so that hasn’t changed at all. We’re in a very dangerous time, I think.”
The comments came after an event to name a roundabout at Georgian College in Barrie after the war hero. Located in the centre of the 45-acre campus, the ring-shaped roadway encircles the military-connected college’s cenotaph.
The event included a ceremonial colour guard drawn from members of the local wing of the RCAF Association, Huronia. The six-member volunteer force was commanded by retired Major Murray Conley, who served between 1956 and 1993.
Among his many military achievements, Rohmer is best known for his role in knocking Nazi Germany’s most feared general out of the fight. In July 1944, the 19-year-old Mustang pilot caught sight of a German staff car racing its way through Normandy. After reporting it to RCAF brass, the vehicle was strafed by another pilot. Two years later, he would learn the identity of one of the passengers — Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. While the desert fox survived the attack, it left him out of commission during the following months.
Eighty years on and Rohmer says he has a degree of respect for the vanquished enemy commander. “I admire him as a general — he was superb. He had great victories against us in North Africa and was in command of the German forces against us in France.”
Several months after the attack, Rommel, who never joined the Nazi party, did face a grim end — though not at Allied hands. Suspicious of the Field Marshall’s closeness to men involved in a failed assassination against Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer blackmailed him into committing suicide in order to save his family.
Rohmer, who now lives in Collingwood, adds that he’s glad Rommel’s ultimate fate did not come as a result of his actions. “I admired him as a general and was also pleased to have not contributed to any direct injury to him.”
The war hero, who still holds a private pilot’s license, lamented that Canada had allowed its strength in the sky to wane over the past few decades. “Right now, our Air Force is not strong, but it is going to get stronger. It has to because the Americans are going to make it so.”
The old soldier, who says he is enjoying his second century of life, added that young Canadians interested in rewarding careers should consider testing their mettle in the Royal Canadian Air Force. “I started off on my 18th birthday. . . and I’m still in it. I’m serving as the Honorary Lieutenant General of the Canadian Forces, a very highly paid position. Zero [dollars] but a great deal of prestige.”
A member of the colour guard, retired Chief Warrant Officer Walter Capsticks who served between 1963 and 1994, agreed. “Right now, we’re also facing a shortage of people in the skilled trades. That’s why we’re glad to see this event taking place at Georgian College, which has a long history of working with the Canadian Forces.”
