My Dad at the 1948 London Olympics - Blog Day 7

Here are more of my Dad's photos taken of the Canadian Olympic Team as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean together to get to the 1948 Olympic Games in London.   Any captions shown in quotation marks are taken from my father's writing on the back of the photos.

Dad is hamming it up for the camera with a team mate.

Dad at Sunset on the High Seas

Rowers Training on ship

"Fencers Training on Ship"

Dad's caption reads:  "B.B. Players Training on Ship"

Caption:  "Wrestler ...F. Payette

Weightlifter  J. Sklar in air

on ship"

"Wrestlers:  M. Plumb, M. Vachon on ship"

"Bill Larochelle Track 440 Hurdles on ship"

"Diana Foster, Track, on ship"

"On Board Aquitania"

"Rough Water"

""Sunset on the Sea"

My Dad at the 1948 London Olympics - Blog Day 6

The entire Canadian Olympic Team traveled by ship from Canada to England to get to the London Olympics in 1948.

Here are more photos reflecting the on-board ship life of these young Canadian athletes.

Dad (left) is looking very happy to be Olympic-bound

Boxers:   Armand Savoie (Men's Featherweight)

              Cliff Blackburn (Men's Welterweight)

              Adam Faul (Men's Heavyweight) 

              Ed Haddad (Men's Lightweight)

This photo does not have a caption written on the back.

Adam Faul, Boxer

Gord Grayston, Haddad's Trainer

on ship.

Barbara and Shirley on Aquitania

Jack Keenan  (Men's Middleweight Boxer)

Armand Savoie (Men's Featherweight Boxer)

Fern Payette - Wrestler

on ship

Barbara McCullay on ship

I found this on a negative strip - photos of the Aquitania in Halifax prior to the Canadian Olympic Team's departure.

My Dad at the 1948 London Olympics - Blog Day 5

The Canadian Olympic Team spent seven days on board the R.M.S. Aquitania sailing across, what at times were, the rough Atlantic Seas to get from Halifax to Southampton; on their journey to the London Olympics in 1948.  Dad said that their accommodation was great, considering it was a ship.  He said the Boxing team would get up each morning and do their training by sparring; running; skipping, etc. Then, as you can see by the photos, they enjoyed the company of their team mates on the Aquitania.

Here are a selection of my Dad's photos taken of the Canadian Olympic Team on the ship headed for the London Olympics in 1948.

This photo is not captioned but I can see that Dad is enjoying playing shuffleboard on board!

The caption on the back of this photo says:   "Joyce Court Swimmer on Ship"

Shuffleboard seems to be a popular past time.

This photo is captioned:   

Swimmers:

P. Mingie

A. Gilchrist

I. Strong

P. Salmon

V. King

Boxers:   

A. Savoie

J. Keenan

On Ship

"Vivian King  and Kay McNamee on Ship"

'

This photo as well as the next photo are not captioned.  Apparently sunbathing was also
a popular past time on board the ship.

My Dad at the 1948 London Olympics - Blog Day 4

The Canadian Olympic Team traveled by ship from Halifax to Southampton, England, spending seven days on the R.M.S. Aquitania ship together to get to London to compete in the 1948 Olympic Games.  The next few days will cover an assortment of photos taken on the ship.

The caption on the back says:  "Freddie and Barbara on Ship".

This photo says:  Swimmer V. King, I Strong

Jim O'Brien, Track on Ship.

"Swimmers training on ship".

"Barbara and Roni on Ship"

"Lorne Atkinson Cyclist on board Aquitania"

This photo isn't captioned.

R.M.S. Aquitania

My Dad at the 1948 London Olympics - Blog Day 3

The Canadian Olympic Team traveled to the London Olympics in 1948 by ship from Halifax.  These photos were all taken in Halifax in July 1948.

This is one of the professionally taken photographs; taken at the train station in Halifax.  The marking on the back of the photo is stamped:    "PHOTOGRAPH     Canadian Pacific Railway Company    Printed in Canada"

Knowing my Dad, it is no surprise that there seems to be tremendous focus on the next group of photos ...... the Olympic ladies!

Dad's caption on the back simply says:  "Canadian Olympic Team 1948"  The photo is numbered 291 on the front and that number is also written in pencil on the back.

This photo has the same caption handwritten on the back, "Canadian Olympic Team 1948" with the number 292 on the front and the same number in pencil on the back.

This photo also has the same caption on the back:  "Canadian Olympic Team 1948" with the number 294 on the front and the back.


I love seeing the fashions of the day; clothing and accessories!  I am also amused by the above three photos. If you look really closely, there is a pin hole at the top of each of these three photos ---- they likely had a place of honour on a wall at some point; some where.

The handwriting on the back of this photo says:  "CAN Olympic girls at Halifax".   I see that some (or perhaps all of this group) have been given Halifax banners .... more obvious with the two people standing on the highest steps.

There were 118 Canadian Athletes at the 1948 London Olympics; 100 men and 18 women.

My Dad at the 1948 London Olympics - Blog Day 2

This is a photo of my Dad training for the London Olympics in 1948.

The long journey to the London Olympics in 1948 commences .....

The Canadian Olympic Team traveled by train from across the country to Halifax.  They sailed from Halifax to Southampton in England together to go to the London Olympics.

Dad wrote on the back of this photo:   "Fred and Marilyn  July 14, 1948  C.N.R. Station"
Dad's Sweetheart came to see him off from Montreal.  Judging by the look of this photo (above) and how it was folded, it looks like it was the photo he carried around with him in his wallet.... and pulled out, a lot!

This photo again is captioned on the back, "Fred and Marilyn July 14, 1948 C.N.R. Station"

Dad's handwritten caption on the back of this photo says "Olympic Wrestlers C.N.R. Sta" (taken outside the C.N.R. Station).

Dad wrote on the back of many of his photos and unfortunately in this one, the ink has soaked through.  This photo is of Bill Hamilton who is an Olympic Cyclist; taken on the train.

My Dad at the 1948 London Olympics - Blog Day 1

My Dad, Frederick William Daigle, was a Canadian Olympian in the 1948 Summer Olympics that took place in London, England.  The games were officially known as the Games of the XIV Olympiad.  Sixty-four years later, and on the day of the official opening of the Games of the XXX Olympiad also taking place in London, England, I thought I would share some memories from my Dad's photo collection taken from the former Summer London Olympics in 1948.   A few of the photos were professionally taken and I will provide photo credits where given, but most are from Dad's own camera.  Dad, now 81, is not on a computer so would not have this ability to share these photographic memories.  They are, particularly relevant now with the Olympics taking place once more in London.

Dad is and always has been very humble and extremely shy.  While he was known to be an exceptional Boxer in his day, and was a Canadian Golden Gloves Champion, he downplays his Olympic "athletic" experience.  This outlet will thus serve to share some of the photographs taken during the 1948 Olympic Games which are entirely focused on the athletes themselves, rather than their competitions.  For those who believe that "a picture is worth a thousand words", and even moreso ... "the eyes are but a window to the soul", you will see, as I do, the true spirit these young athletes had through this photograph collection.  They had the opportunity to cross the Atlantic together as one team by ship; sharing their collective dream of representing Canada to the world at the Olympic Games.

"The Montreal Daily Star", Thursday, July 18, 1948

Dad will undoubtedly be glued to his television from today through August 12th in his home in Montreal along with my step-Mom, Betty. The 1948 Olympics were the first Olympic games televised (in black and white, of course).

Opening Ceremonies at London's Wembley Stadium
PHOTO CREDIT:   Graphic Photo Union, Gray's Inn Road, London

The London Olympics were the first Olympic games held right after World War II. Because of the War, there were no games held in either 1940 or 1944. The City of London had very little time to prepare to host these games, and no doubt the 59 participating countries had the same challenges in preparing their respective Olympic teams.

PHOTO CREDIT:   Lew McAllister Photo

The Canadian Olympic Team - London Olympics, 1948

Canadian Olympic Association Handbook & Olympic ID Card

"Let the Games Begin!"