Pole Vaunting

Wandering around Toronto is an education that takes one from utter bewilderment to near enlightenment. That's not to say that Toronto is a city of extremes, as most things fall somewhere in the middle. That would be the case for every city, with the two possible exceptions of Las Vegas and Oromocto.

Ah...Oromocto. A military town like none other. Feel free to interpret that as you will.

I never think of Toronto as a military town though it undoubtedly sent a great many of its boys and girls to war. It must have its war memorials, statues of war heroes, and run down legions though I'm not sure where any of them are located.

I do know where the Polish Combatants Association Branch 20 is located, just on the lower flank of the UofT campus. I'll confess that I was surprised to see a building in Toronto dedicated to Polish Combatants, not that there has ever been any question that the Poles needed to defend themselves against oppression. I was just surprised to see that building here. What was even more surprising was that this was Branch 20, suggesting that there are at least 19 elsewhere.

I decided to do some research. The Polish Combatants Association (Canada) was formed by Polish WW2 veterans living in Canada. I suspect it functioned in a similar vein as the Canadian Legion, but with better perogies. I discovered that Branch 2 is in London (ON) and Branch 8 is in Ottawa. There's a web site dedicated to Polish Combatants: http://www.spkottawa.ca/english/spk_history.html#short. I'm not suggesting that you go there, but know that it exists if you want to know more.

Sadly, the Polish Combatants Association building in Toronto is now used for business receptions, wedding reception and techno dance parties. Just a hint of Vegas in that statement. Or is it sad? On the upside, if we're not creating sufficient numbers of Polish combatants to sustain Branch 20, then that's a bloody good endorsement that the war has been won.

In a similar vein, if we can't sustain the membership of the various Royal Canadian Legions around the country, then perhaps their demise is a sign of our success.