Newspaper aimed to boost soldiers’ morale
In a small blue case, is a collection of tokens preserved more than 70 years – coins, watches and Nazi pins taken from enemy soldiers by Ed Rigney, now in the care of his son, James Rigney. Also in his possession are a few copies of The Spur, the weekly newspaper of the Fifth Canadian Armoured Division, carefully shielded from sunlight.
Cpl. Ed Rigney worked for the military newspaper from 1943 to 1946, throughout his years of service during the Second World War.
Upon enlisting, Rigney Sr. was transported by ship from Halifax to Naples, Italy. Rigney said the troops arrived to an air strike by the Germans who were attacking from above, in an attempt to sink the ships.
In the spring of 1944 the Fifth Canadian Armoured Division was part of the Battle of Monte Cassino. Ed Rigney was not fighting on the front lines but went into the combat zone weekly to deliver copies of the newspaper by Jeep.
As the army advanced, they would take over a school and set up a press, which they used to print the newspaper.
Although his father didn’t like to talk too much about the war, James Rigney said his father told one story of being on a delivery to the front line when he looked up and saw an airplane coming down on him. He thought it was coming after him but it bombed the bridge in front of him. It turned out to be an American plane and his father was almost a victim of friendly fire.
The newspaper was a communication tool meant to improve the soldiers’ morale. Ed Rigney wrote a column for the newspaper called Back Home, which was a roundup of news from Canada and sometimes elsewhere in the world.
A university graduate, Rigney would also conduct artillery training, teaching math to the soldiers to improve shell trajectory.
He had attended university in Saskatchewan, where he lived. His younger brother had already enlisted and was helping with the development of radar in England. So Ed Rigney decided he should join the cause but he wasn’t keen on his time with the army.
“He said it was a complete waste of his time,” said his son.
When he returned home in 1946, Ed Rigney decided he had had enough of out west, having lived through the Great Depression and the Prairie dust bowl, he packed up his family and moved east. He worked at a Ford plant in Windsor for a short time before moving to Glen Huron. It was two days before Christmas 1946 and James remembers moving in a massive snowstorm, to a house lacking in the comforts to which they were accustomed. James’ mother went to Creemore to buy Christmas presents and the family had a great Christmas in their new home. They later moved to Rockside before settling in Singhampton, where James still lives with his wife Georgina, his four grown children nearby.
The truth is James never got along very well with his father and at age 15 he lied his way into the merchant marines “to get out of his father’s reach”.
