Archive for 2008

On a wooded hillside outside Vladivostok, Russia, 14 Canadians found their final resting place in 1919. Five others died at sea. They were ordinary folk who had enlisted in the closing days of the First World War for service in an unlikely theatre—Siberia.

The Canadian Siberian Expedition Force (CSEF), which consisted of 4,213 men and one woman from across Canada, mobilized alongside 13 Allied armies to replace Lenin’s Bolsheviks with a more friendly government. The mission failed in the face of divided Allied strategies and heated domestic opposition, consigning the story to the margins of history.

Editor’s note: University of Victoria […]

The shooting this summer of a South Korean tourist cast an uncomfortable shadow over the Veterans Affairs Canada delegation that had come to Seoul to mark the 55th anniversary of the Korea Armistice Agreement signed on July 27, 1953.

Park Wang Ja, a 53-year-old housewife from Seoul, was walking on a beach at a tourist area in North Korea when, according to North Korean officials, she strayed into a restricted military area and was shot twice. This was after failing to acknowledge shouts and a warning shot.

The killing, coupled with North Korea’s refusal to allow South Korean authorities to examine […]

Members of the Canadian Forces killed or wounded since Oct. 7, 2001, may be eligible to receive a newly minted honour—the Sacrifice Medal.

The Sacrifice Medal was announced Aug. 29 by Governor General Michaëlle Jean. It was created to recognize members of the CF, a member of an allied force, or a Canadian civilian under the authority of the Canadian Forces who died or was wounded under honourable circumstances as a direct result of hostile action.

While it is a new honour for the CF, the Sacrifice Medal replaces the Wound Stripe, which was a distinction worn on the sleeve of soldiers […]

Second World War veteran Phil Bradbury, 85, of Toronto was surprised to learn that in civilian life he’d been missing in action for a couple of decades. Veterans Affairs Canada has been looking for veterans like Bradbury who qualify for, but aren’t receiving benefits under the Veterans Independence Program. The VIP helps aging veterans live independently as long as possible by providing home care support like housecleaning and shovelling walkways, making meals and help with bathing, as well as home adaptation and health support services.

Bradbury was on the crew of a bomber that flew 34 missions near the end […]

“It’s an insult,” says Gerry Pumphrey of the RCMP Veterans Association in Nova Scotia, who’s worked on the issue for more than five years. “I’m disgusted. It’s always ‘next spring, next fall.’ And the thing is, there are people dying who need this help.”

There are approximately 6,000 RCMP members and RCMP veterans receiving disability pensions, but not all of those would want or qualify for VIP, says Murray Brown, chairman of the RCMP serving members’ occupational health and safety committee.

Roughly 225 RCMP veterans die each year, and “if only 10 per cent were eligible,” says Pumphrey, “you have about […]

The Veterans Independence Program (VIP) has changed a lot since its introduction in 1981—and The Royal Canadian Legion has been there every step of the way.

The program was implemented to help Veterans Affairs Canada handle a looming crisis in availability of long-term care beds due to aging of war service veterans. At the time, options were limited for seniors unable to live independently, and there was great reliance on long-term care facilities. “There was a concern in the late 1970s that in the absence of an alternative, the Second World War veteran was literally going to swamp the system […]

World War I Special Stirred Memories

A wonderful series of articles in the last Legion Magazine reflected upon the 90th anniversary of the ending of the First World War. What was hammered home was the fact that at the time of writing, only one soldier from that era survives. Reflecting the passage of time’s inexorable flight, I am reminded that only two of us in our Legion branch still sport the medals of the Second World War.

Just after the war many of us younger soldiers waiting to be discharged were posted to prisoner of war camps in various locations. There we […]

What follows are brief snapshots from a week in the life of one small Canadian outpost in Afghanistan—Haji Beach—in April 2008. It is a story of roads closed and being built, of enemy ambushes and the confusion and daily frustrations for soldiers at the sharp end of a war that’s very hard to see clearly, even when you’re right in the middle of it.

The Enemy is Real

In a random grape field in Panjwai, Afghanistan, early last spring, two Canadian patrols linked up and hunkered down as the war revealed itself on every side.

About a kilometre northwest, an enemy force […]

The timing couldn’t have been better for the 2008 Royal Canadian Legion National Youth Athletic Championships.

On the same weekend that Canada’s top junior athletes were gathering for the Legion competition in Sherbrooke, Que., Canada’s top senior athletes were joining the world’s best to gather in Beijing, China, for the 2008 Olympic Games.

And just as many of the athletes at the Aug. 7-12 Legion event were looking forward to London in 2012, many of the athletes in Beijing could no doubt look back at their own youthful trips to the Legion national track and field event.

With all this in mind, the […]

The Canadian Virtual Hospice provides support and personalized information about palliative and end-of-life care to patients, family members and health care providers.

The website www.virtualhospice.ca and www.carrefourpalliatif.ca is full of practical information to make life easier for family caregivers.

Launched in 2004, Virtual Hospice was established to help address the lack of resources for patients and families dealing with life-threatening illness and loss. The Virtual Hospice provides 24-hour access to up-to-date, evidence-based information Canadians can trust on a spectrum of physical, emotional and spiritual topics. Health facilities across Canada regularly printed off this information for patients and families. The site also has […]