Connection to Norway honoured

GRAVENHURST - Muskoka’s historical connection to Norway has been etched in bronze.
With Norwegian officials and top brass on hand May 31, the Muskoka Airport’s Little Norway memorial display got a little larger with the unveiling of a series of wall plaques, honouring Norway’s air force casualties from 1940 to 1945.
Organized by Norway’s officials and spearheaded by Norwegian Consul General Eivind Hoff, it was a ceremony of pride that honoured those men and women of the wing and prop and how the small Ontario region of Muskoka came to the aid of a country under invasion from German forces.
Lt. Gen. Wilhelm Mohr, 95, a Norwegian air force veteran who trained in Canada, explained some of the history and the bonds formed between the two countries in the early years of the war. Being on hand for the ceremony was an honour and yet another historical connection, he said.
“Looking back and coming here, I can only give all the credit that’s at all possible to the Canadian people, the air force and to the local people of this area for the contribution and the help we got when we most needed it,” Mohr said.
He said it was in the early years of the Second World War when German forces invaded Norway. Mohr explained he trained at the first Little Norway, established at the lakefront on Toronto in 1940 before woodlands and an airfield at the current Muskoka Airport were secured in 1942. New barracks and air force training facilities were built here, officially opening in early May 1942, eventually seeing to the training of more than 3,000 Norwegian air force personnel by the close of the war.
“I still remember those days when I first came here; that memory remains quite strongly,” Mohr said, explaining for many Norwegian military personnel, it was a difficult trip to comprehend at the time. “We weren’t all happy going to Canada at the time.”
He said after the invasion of Norway, the government of the day wanted to find new training grounds and airbases off their mainland and out of reach of opposition forces. The military personnel were more keen to be in their homeland and defending it rather than across the ocean and removed from the theatre of war. He added, however, that the Canadian people and fellow military personnel accepted the Norwegians with open arms and understanding.
“The support, it was amazing, amazing, amazing,” Mohr said. “We were made to feel that we weren’t that far from home.”
Norwegian Ambassador Else Berit Eikeland gave her thanks to the Canadian people, who came to Norway’s aid and helped forge a friendship that no expanse of the Atlantic could hinder. She said the exhibit and display is one more link in that friendship that will remind future generations of the sacrifices made and why they can never be forgotten.
“We have a tendency in Canada and Norway to take democracy, to take peace and to take our freedom for granted,” she said. “You will always have a special place in Norway; we will never forget Muskoka and I hope you will never forget us either.”
“The relationship between Canada and Norway is not only between dignitaries and governments, it’s very much among people,” Eikeland added.
District Chair John Klinck welcomed the dignitaries to the ceremony that also included local mayors, past and present, district councillors and even a few Canadian military veterans joining their Norwegian peers. He said since the exhibit opened about five years ago thousands of tourists have taken in the display from across the globe and the new memorial plaques will be a far more fitting tribute to those who lost their lives in the ultimate sacrifice.
“These exhibits, first and foremost are a reminder of the sacrifices made by those who trained here at Little Norway during the Second World War,” he said. “This display has become a symbol of the affinity that Canadians in general, and Muskokans in particular, feel for our dear friends from Norway.”

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