George Porteous
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George Porteous, CM, MBE (1903-1977) was Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, Canada from 1976 to 1977.
George Porteous worked for the YMCA and became an Army physical education instructor. At the outbreak of World War II he went with the 1st Canadian Division to England as a YMCA Auxiliary Service officer, returning later on to Canada to train others.
In 1941 Porteous was sent with the Winnipeg Grenadiers to Hong Kong, to reinforce the British garrison there. They arrived just in time to be overwhelmed by invading Japanese forces, and Porteous was to spend a total of 44 months in one of their notorious prisoner of war camps. In due course he was awarded the distinction MBE, Member of the British Empire.
He was also awarded the Order of Canada in 1974 for dedication to community affairs, and appointed to be Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan, the Queen’s representative, in February 1976, thus becoming that Province’s 14th Lieutenant Governor.
An interesting insight into his experience is that from 1960 until his death in 1977 Porteous was an enthusiastic advocate of niacin. Dr. Abram Hoffer had approached him to request that he recommend it to the senior citizens in the social housing development which Porteous administered. Hoffer believed large doses of niacin, up to six grams a day, could retard the development and even reverse senility, as it dilates the blood vessels, thus improving circulation. Porteous insisted he would not recommend anything to anyone which he had not first tried himself. For six months, he took the six grams a day and then recommended it to the senior citizens without reservation. As he told the Department of Veteran's Affairs doctor on his next annual visit (he was on a 100% disability pension) that he had not felt as well since before the war; he could even touch his hands together above his head, not having been able to raise them above his shoulders before the treatment. He discovered that niacin had greatly relieved the severe arthritis and insomnia that had plagued him as a result of his wartime imprisonment and systematic starvation over a four-year period. He supported the use of this vitamin for all Canadian and US ex-prisoners of war suffering from similar symptoms.[citation needed]
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