Rear Admiral (Ret'd) William Moss Landymore died last week in Halifax.
RAdm. Landymore fought Paul Hellyer on unification of the Canadian Forces and it ultimately cost him his job. His sailors were clearly on Landymore's side.
In the summer of 1966, Admiral Landymore was not the only senior officer deeply upset by the Minister's unification juggernaut, and the impact it was having on both the traditions they cherished and the operational effectiveness of the forces themselves. When a committee of senior officers, struck to report on the viability of unification reported in the early of summer of 1966 that it would not work, Hellyer remained steadfast in his commitment. On 4 July 1966 , it was announced that the Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Miller, the Vice-Chief, Lieutenant-General R.W. Moncel, the Chief of Personnel, Vice-Admiral Dyer, and the Comptroller-General, Lieutenant-General F. Fleury, would all retire early.
Hellyer then summoned Landymore to a meeting in Ottawa on 12 July 1966 . Landymore raised the matter of naval identity, but Hellyer offered no concessions. Landymore asked that anyone who could not serve under the new arrangements be allowed to resign without penalty. Hellyer asked Landymore for his resignation. When Landymore refused, Hellyer informed him that he would be retired. As Landymore left the Minister's office, he met Rear-Admiral Mickey Sterling, who had come from Esquimalt . He had come to tender his resignation as Flag Officer of Pacific Coast. Landymore went directly to his old navy colleague, David Groos, Chairman of the Parliamentary Defence Committee, and together they visited the Prime Minister's office. When they explained to Pearson that the armed forces were losing their most senior and experienced people to Hellyer's intransigence, Pearson phoned the Minister himself. According to Landymore, after the Prime Minister had finished talking to Hellyer, Pearson said, “I give you my personal assurance that the traditions of the Royal Canadian Navy will not be altered”. Landymore later regretted that he did not get that promise in writing.
In 1966, as Chairman of the Canadian Defence Committee, when David Groos decided to go with Admiral Landymore to see the Prime Minister, there can be no doubt where his sympathies lay. To what extent he may have agreed with Admiral Landymore's assessment of the Prime Minster's honesty and sincerity, I do not know. I have no doubt of his own integrity, nor that of Admiral Landymore. Perhaps because of Landymore's direct appeal to the Prime Minister, Hellyer moved to remove Landymore promptly. He was relieved of command on 16 July 1966 . On the 19 th , he was given a hero's send-off by Maritime Command: the streets of the dockyard were lined with personnel from all three services and civilian dockyard employees, and every ship in the harbour flew “Bravo-Zulu (well done) Landymore” from its signal halyard.
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