CANADIAN GOOSE STEPPER IS NO SAINT

Ham Radio has a Patron Saint!

I wonder how many of us are aware we indeed seem to have a Patron Saint?

During the WW2 German occupation of Poland, a Ham radio Priest, Maximilian Kolbe, SP3RN, was arrested by the Germans.

The Germans believed his amateur radio activities were somehow involved in espionage, and Kolbe was transferred to Auschwitz on May 28, 1941.

After some prisoners escaped in 1941, the Germans ordered that 10 prisoners be killed in retribution.

Father Kolbe was martyred when he volunteered to take the place of one of the condemned men.

On October 10, 1982, Kolbe was canonized by Pope John Paul II as Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Apostle of Consecration to Mary, and declared a Martyr of charity.

Kolbe is now considered the Patron saint of Amateur radio operators.

So, while some Poles became martyrs, others sold their souls to the Nazis, and then emigrated to Canada after the war.

You can hear their offspring to this day. Just tune in to 14.275 and point your antenna toward an island on the west coast of Canada, just north of Seattle.

Listen for an obscene fellow named Karol. If you pay attention, it's easy too hear him goose-stepping around in his little attic shack, not very far from the offices of Industry Canada.

Dan/W4NTI