Remembering The Joe Turners

Today is Remembrance Day, and although I do have to get to work, I at least feel somewhat less guilty about blogging during office hours in this instance. Especially since I’m going to talk about a related subject – how World War II affected the AHL, NHL – and more importantly the players of the day – when Hitler crashed the boards in the early 1940’s. I am taking my cue from this article which focuses on a goaltender named Joe Turner, who played around the AHL and eventually became a Detroit Red Wing in 1943. More information on Joe from LegendsOfHockey.net:

"Turner, who was born in Windsor, Ontario, spent three of his first four seasons playing in his hometown then began a nomadic stretch that saw him guard the crease for seven different clubs over the next five campaigns which led to his NHL debut."

Joe, a Canadian, finished off his debut season and then joined the U.S. Army and eventually lost his life at the Battle of Hurtgen Forest in Germany when he was only 25 years old. This struck a chord with me, as my great, great, great grandfather was a Canadian who went down to fight for the Yankees in the American Civil War. And on both counts I find the deed remarkable.

The current overseas conflict is the first in almost a hundred years that Canada has not participated alongside the Americans – and I don’t want to get in to how I feel about the seated government here on GB. But I guess I sorta just did. On this November 11th, a heartfelt thanks to Joe Turner, Red Garrett, Les Douglas, Moe Roberts, Norm Burns, Augie Herchenratter, Murdo MacKay and all the other players of the era who stepped up and served their country – some never to return. And of course, a bigger thank you to them all, regardless of the occupation they left to heed the call.