Collingwood’s Major-General Richard Rohmer, D-Day veteran, prolific author and lawyer, celebrates a landmark birthday.
By Dianne Rinehart // Photography by Paul Alexander, Zoomer Magazine
Not many people in the world, never mind in Collingwood, can say they fought on D-day.
But among the few thousand estimated to still be alive is Collingwood’s Major-General Richard Rohmer, Canada’s most decorated citizen, who turned 100 this past January.
At age five, Rohmer already knew he wanted to fly. On his 18th birthday he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in London, Ontario, and went on to fly critical reconnaissance missions in Europe.
Most famously, he provided vital information on the Nazi’s positions from the air in his P-51 Mustang on D-Day, the largest seaborne invasion and the greatest military operation in history, involving 11,000 Allied aircraft, 7,000 ships and boats, and thousands of other vehicles.
Indeed, he played a pivotal role in the success of that invasion when he radioed the group control centre on July 17, 1944, after he spotted the motorcade of Germany’s most successful commander, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
With that intelligence, two Spitfires were sent to carry out the attack. They didn’t kill Rommel, but they severely injured him, successfully taking him out of the field of battle.
Rohmer is the senior surviving Canadian veteran of D-Day, as well as the battles of Normandy, Belgium and Holland. And, he says he is the only living person to have ever met both U.S. General George Patton—the man he says the Germans regarded as the best among the Allies—and Rommel, the man the Allies regarded as the best commander among the Germans.
He had a conversation with Patton. But how did he meet Rommel? He reflects on that day he flew over Rommel’s motorcade: “I could see him, and he could see me, so we had a meeting—and he lost!”
Was it dangerous to fly reconnaissance missions? Hell, yes!
“I never fired my guns in my Mustang fighter in anger,” he says now. “But I got shot at every time I did one of my 135 missions.”
Rohmer is also a prolific author of more than 30 books (which he refers to as something he did “on the side”) and a well-regarded historian. Among his best-known thrillers are Ultimatum, Separation and Ultimatum 2. His memoir is titled Generally Speaking: The Memoirs of Major-General Richard Rohmer.
He also still holds “not practising law” status in Ontario. He says he is the province’s fourth oldest lawyer, but last year on his 99th birthday he said he feels like the youngest.
Did we mention he also found time for politics? He is a former North York township councillor and served as a senior advisor and legal counsel to the late premier, John Robarts, for three years.
He moved up to Collingwood in 1983.
Happy 100th, General. We salute you!
