Aid to Allies

Canada Post Corporation's tribute to the Canadian war effort continues with four stamps issued on November 8, 1993 to mark the 50th anniversary of the tide turning in the Allies favour. Canadian war aid to the Allies was forthcoming in various forms including cash, food, raw materials, munitions, tanks, trucks, armoured cars, artillery, aircraft, ships, and a wide range of war-related products and services. By 1943, Canada presented $1 billion to the British and a further $1 billion to the United Kingdom and other countries to provide for goods for the winning of the War. The British Eight Army in North Africa used 90,000 Canadian trucks. Canada manufactured 1/6 of the artillery pieces produced in the Commonwealth and provided 67% of this production to the UK allied navies and air forces. Allied navies and air forces also utilized Canadian production, from mine sweepers and corvettes to combat and light transport planes. Canada established training bases for foreign servicemen. In addition to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan was the Royal Norwegian Air Force Training Centre known as "Little Norway". Granted use of the Toronto Island airport and adjacent territory from 1940 to 1943, the group moved to the Muskokas, only to return to Toronto in May 1945. One Canadian contributions to the War Effort was non-military but important none the less. The Dutch Royal Family were guests of Canada while awaiting liberation of their country. A room at the Civic Hospital was declared Dutch Territory so that Princess Margriet could be born a full-fledged Dutch citizen. In gratitude, the Dutch continue to send a gift of tulip bulbs to Ottawa every spring, a reminder of when the tide was beginning to turn. The Italian Campaign shows an infantry assault through a village, while a surfaced U-boat appears on the foreground of the Battle of the Atlantic stamp. The night scene background depicts an Allied convoy under attack as a Canadian corvette has opened fire on the sub. The Bomber Forces stamps illustrates a "bombing up" - the groundcrew loading bombs on a Halifax heavy bomber, while stevedores load supplies for Russia on the Aid to Allies stamp.