Thursday, February 3, 2011

Military Humour of the Week

During World War Two, Canadian soldiers, who were often more Canadian than they were soldiers, citizens putting up with hardship and absurdity to do a necessary and unpleasant job, laughed at the cartoon character Herbie, who embodied all their trials and indignities. Herbie was the creation of a Canadian sergeant, William Garnet "Bing" Coughlin, whose cartoons appeared starting midwar in The Maple Leaf.

I was browsing through a collection of Herbie cartoons in a now out-of-print collection (Thomas Nelson, 1959, though I think reprinted in 2008) and found this depiction of a Canadian army padre. It's a clever piece. The padre's question - "Maintenance, I presume?" - could be sheer cluelessness (something we are famous for) or he could be gently letting the would-be distillers know that he is turning a blind eye to their still. Which do you think it is?

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Mad Padre

Mad Padre
Opinions expressed within are in no way the responsibility of anyone's employers or facilitating agencies and should by rights be taken as nothing more than one person's notional musings, attempted witticisms, and prayerful posturings.

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