Richard Rohmer

Major-General (Ret'd) Richard Heath Rohmer (born in 1924) OC, CMM, DFC, KStJ, O.Ont, CD, Officer of the Order of Leopold [OfL] Belg., Chevalier of the Legion of Honor (France) QC, LL.B, Doctor of Laws [LLD] .Honorary Aide de Camp to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario . Canada's most decorated citizen, is an aviator, a senior lawyer specializing in aviation law, adviser to corporate titans and the Government of Ontario. He is a prolific fiction and non-fiction writer as the bibliography below shows. Rohmer was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and grew up in Hamilton, Pasadena, Windsor and Fort Erie. He was an unexceptional student in high school and worked briefly at Fleet Aerospace before joining, at 18, the RCAF early in World War II. He flew P-51 Mustang fighters; was over the beaches of Normandy on D-Day; was at the Battle of Normandy as a fighter reconnaissance pilot when he spotted Rommel and aided in taking him out of the war on 17 July 1944. Rohmer was not permitted to attack the staff car but by radio reported its location to Group Control Centre who sent in two Spitfires that did the attack . 412 Squadron, of which Charlie Fox was a member, was not airborne at the time of the successful attack on Rommel. Rohmer took part in the liberation of France, Belgium and Holland. After the war, thanks to the advice of a priest at Assumption College in Windsor, he found his way into the practice of law where he continues to distinguish himself. He continued with the Air Force, attaining the rank of Major-General, Chief of Reserves of the Canadian Armed Forces. He is active in a range of legal, corporate and military activities. He was chairman of the 60th Anniversary of D-Day celebrations which took place in the presence of the Queen (whom he escorted) at Juno Beach in Normandy on 6 June 2004. He chaired the Ontario Advisory Committee that created the Veterans' Memorial, unveiled on 17 September 2006 in front of the Provincial Legislature at Queen's Park, Toronto.

His next novel Ultimatum 2 was published in early 2007. It is a confrontation between the US/Russia against Canada over the building of an international high level nuclear waste disposal site in Arctic Canada with intrigue, sex, violence, and the only way out of Iraq for the US.

General Rohmer is Honorary Deputy Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police, Honorary Chief of Toronto Emergency Medical Services, Patron of the Toronto St. John Ambulance, Honorary Fire Chief of Collingwood, Honorary Detective of the Toronto Police Service and Honorary Commanding Officer of the 707 Major-General Richard Rohmer Air Cadet Squadron of Etobicoke, Toronto. He was twice Chancellor of the University of Windsor, serving a total of 13 years. In 1978 he negotiated the donation of Conrad Black's collection of original Duplessis papers in exchange for an honorary degree.

He lives with his wife [Mary-O] in Collingwood and practices aviation litigation. He has two daughters, Ann Rohmer a TV personality and Catherine, a lawyer. He is a licenced pilot.

Bibliography

* "The Green North: Mid-Canada" (1970)
* "The Arctic Imperative" (1973)
* "Ultimatum" (1974)
* "Exxoneration" (1974)
* "Exodus UK" (1975)
* "Separation" (1976)
* "Balls!" (1980)
* "Periscope Red" (1980)
* "Separation two" (1981)
* "Pattons Gap" (1981)
* "Triad" (1982)
* "Retaliation" (1982)
* "Massacre 747" (1984)
* "Rommel and Patton" (1986)
* "Starmageddon" (1986)
* "Hour of the Fox" (1988)
* "John A.'s Crusade" (1995)
* "Death by Deficit" (1996)
* "Caged Eagle" (2002)
* "Raleigh on the Rocks" (2002)
* Ultimatum 2 (2007)
* Generally Speaking (autobiography, 2004)
* The Royal Commission on Book Publishing (Chair, 1972)
* Poems by Arthur Henry Ward (1980)
* Practice and Procedure Before the Highway Transport Board (1965)

Honours

* Officer of the Order of Canada (1990)
* Commander of the Order of Military Merit
* Distinguished Flying Cross (UK)
* Order of Ontario (1997)
* Knight of the Order of St. John
* Canadian Forces Decoration
* Queen's Counsel (1960)
* Officer of the Order of Leopold
* Chevalier of the Legion of Honour
* Jubilee Medal
* Centennial Medal
* Confederation Medal
* Golden Jubilee Medal
* Second World War Medals

External links

*" [http://www.empireclubfoundation.com/details.asp?SpeechID=2028&FT=yes The Runaway Growth of Bureaucracy] ", an Address by Colonel Richard Rohmer.