As the years pass, I find myself comparing Sir Arthur Currie to Sir Winston Churchill. Not in all ways, but militarily and definitely intellectually.
They had tough decisions to make and both had some pretty awful opinions. Churchill loved his drink and loathed anyone who wasn’t “white”. But, he was brilliant, as was Currie, and both men’s intellectual gift for strategic planning in battle did much to contribute to Allied victory in both world wars.
It’s important that we remember that the personal habits, racial opinions and decisions made were a reflection of what was collectively and socially acceptable at that time. Before we blame or criticize these Commanders for their (now shocking) decisions, let’s reflect on what social opinions and expectations were in 1915, 1944, and all the way up to 1970.
I was born in 1974, (vive le Generation X!), and I can tell you that A LOT has changed since I was a kid, in terms of what is socially acceptable and what is not.
From The Times Colonist; Opinion, 14 December 2025:
Comment: Yes, Arthur Currie deserves the honour
Currie was an imperfect man; however, he was also an outstanding leader.
Eunice ter MorsDec 11, 2025 5:30 AM
Listen to this article00:03:17
A commentary by a Saanich resident.
I have read with interest the recent letters from those who praised Sir Arthur Currie and others critical of him.
The recent feature about Currie and Pierre Berton’s book Vimy are both excellent references detailing the facts of the controversies surrounding his life and his career.
Currie was an imperfect man; however, he was also an outstanding leader.
I am reminded of another imperfect man: Sir Winston Churchill.
I was 10 years old in 1965, when I watched Churchill’s state funeral on a small black and white TV with my maternal grandfather, Albert E. Smith.
Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he was no doubt recalling the Great War in which he had served, just as Churchill had served.
Churchill was greatly criticized for his failed leadership in the First World War, but as prime minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War, his leadership was outstanding.
My grandpa arrived in Victoria from Yorkshire, England, in the early 1900s with his family. His father, Thomas, established the family foundry, Smith and Sons, on Pembroke Street.
Grandpa’s war records note he signed up in February 1916 in Edmonton. His two older brothers joined the war effort at other times.
Grandpa stormed Vimy Ridge in April 1917 and suffered lifelong wounds during that mighty battle.
All the details of the mustard gas poisonings and multiple gunshot wounds; the ambulance trips from the battlefields to the field hospitals, then back to the various fronts, are all carefully recorded.
What he endured is unimaginable.
A few years ago, my husband and I visited Vimy Ridge. It is a breathtaking site of great beauty and solemnity.
The first person we spoke to there was a visitor from Germany, and I told him that my father’s family had arrived in Canada from Germany.
This conversation was a startling reminder of all who had fought on Vimy Ridge.
The Smith foundry was commissioned after the Great War and the Second World War to cast the plaques, listing the names of the residents who died, for the Esquimalt War Memorial.
Other memorial plaques were added over the years. My father was a prairie boy who had fought in the Second World War and stormed Juno Beach. He suffered wounds he held for a lifetime.
After his return home to Esquimalt, he also worked at the family foundry. It is humbling and remarkable that the foundry did not have to cast the name of any of their own family members onto a war memorial plaque.
Currie and my grandpa both spent their formative years in Victoria, and I wondered if they had spent any time, perhaps in the trenches on the battlefields, discussing their lives back home.
What they and their fellow soldiers accomplished was an incredible military feat. They were two young men from Victoria who bravely fought together and survived.
If he had heard that the armoury was to be renamed in Currie’s honour, I am certain that my grandpa would have said: “Currie is deserving of the honour.”
