1967 Fredericton Convocation
Burns, Eedson Louis Millard
Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.)
Orator: Cattley, Robert E.D.
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Citation:
CONVOCATION, OCTOBER, 1967
EEDSON LOUIS MILLARD BURNS
to be Doctor of Civil Law
When good generals write good literature, the discerning will vouch for a certain greatness of character. Like Viscount Wavell of Cyrenaica, General "Elmer" "Tommy" Burns (to give him his camp nicknames) is an authority in prose and a lover of poetry -- which illuminates a far from flashy but invaluable career.
By earliest choice a professional soldier, he won in the first world war the M.C., between wars the O.B.E., and in the second war the D.S.O. Last summer he was among the distinguished Canadians on whom the Prime Minister bestowed the new Companion of Canada award. He began in the Engineers, specialized in air-photographic survey, and ended by commanding the 1st Canadian Corps in its drive on Rimini. Transferred at war's end to Veterans' Affairs, he was sought out in 1954 to be Chief of the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine, as a Canadian general officer with experience on the battlefield and a capacity for negotiation.
For this powder-keg of a task Burns proved an ideal choice, as Arabs, Israelis, and the U.N. severally found out. But impartiality not negotiation was his forte. Bitterly criticized by both warring parties, he won the respect of each and -- an even greater tribute -- the admiration of Dag Hammarskjold, who extended his appointment.
This stocky, taciturn, trouble-shooting soldier, with his penchant for flowers and verse, foretold no rapid solution to the quarrels of that tortured land. And when the war he could not prevent, and the Suez crisis, were over, he was made Commander of the U.N. Emergency Force, to keep the inflamed belligerents apart.
Apart he kept them, until in 1959 his Prime Minister elevated him to the hazards of world disarmament. In 1960 he led the Canadian delegation in the 10-nation Disarmament Conference and to its expanded version in 1962.
He is still leading it. And if his optimism at a draft non-proliferation treaty appears guarded, read the sombre reasons in his latest book, Megamurder.
We regret that his vital duties prevent him being present to-day to receive from U.N.B. what is his first honorary degree from any university. Let us, however, bolster our pride with the consolation that the world is safer for one afternoon with General Burns in Geneva than Doctor Burns in Fredericton.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
EEDSON LOUIS MILLARD BURNS
to be Doctor of Civil Law
When good generals write good literature, the discerning will vouch for a certain greatness of character. Like Viscount Wavell of Cyrenaica, General "Elmer" "Tommy" Burns (to give him his camp nicknames) is an authority in prose and a lover of poetry -- which illuminates a far from flashy but invaluable career.
By earliest choice a professional soldier, he won in the first world war the M.C., between wars the O.B.E., and in the second war the D.S.O. Last summer he was among the distinguished Canadians on whom the Prime Minister bestowed the new Companion of Canada award. He began in the Engineers, specialized in air-photographic survey, and ended by commanding the 1st Canadian Corps in its drive on Rimini. Transferred at war's end to Veterans' Affairs, he was sought out in 1954 to be Chief of the U.N. Truce Supervision Organization in Palestine, as a Canadian general officer with experience on the battlefield and a capacity for negotiation.
For this powder-keg of a task Burns proved an ideal choice, as Arabs, Israelis, and the U.N. severally found out. But impartiality not negotiation was his forte. Bitterly criticized by both warring parties, he won the respect of each and -- an even greater tribute -- the admiration of Dag Hammarskjold, who extended his appointment.
This stocky, taciturn, trouble-shooting soldier, with his penchant for flowers and verse, foretold no rapid solution to the quarrels of that tortured land. And when the war he could not prevent, and the Suez crisis, were over, he was made Commander of the U.N. Emergency Force, to keep the inflamed belligerents apart.
Apart he kept them, until in 1959 his Prime Minister elevated him to the hazards of world disarmament. In 1960 he led the Canadian delegation in the 10-nation Disarmament Conference and to its expanded version in 1962.
He is still leading it. And if his optimism at a draft non-proliferation treaty appears guarded, read the sombre reasons in his latest book, Megamurder.
We regret that his vital duties prevent him being present to-day to receive from U.N.B. what is his first honorary degree from any university. Let us, however, bolster our pride with the consolation that the world is safer for one afternoon with General Burns in Geneva than Doctor Burns in Fredericton.
From:
Cattley, Robert E.D. Honoris causa: the effervescences of a university orator. Fredericton: UNB Associated Alumnae, 1968.
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