Archive for March, 2008

Ask what makes this place home, and easy smiles steal across the faces of the veterans enjoying a soft drink or brew at Happy Hour on one of the veterans’ units at Wascana Rehabilitation Centre (WRC) in Regina.

“What makes it home to me is the people around me,” says Fletcher Peterson. “It’s a wonderful bunch of people.”

One by one the men sharing the table chime in. For new resident Vic Lappa, it’s being able to continue his swim routine: 10 laps every Tuesday. For Vernon Kramer it’s the trips out for meals or entertainment. For 86-year-old Simon Hitcherick, who’s been […]

Life is hard in Afghanistan, a country which ranks among the very poorest in the world. While cities like Kabul and Kandahar are relatively modern with their paved streets and concrete buildings, many of the smaller cities and villages probably haven’t changed a great deal in the last 1,000 years—food is scarce, the buildings are often made of mud, and clothing is rudimentary at best.

Seeing these living conditions first-hand can be quite a shock for the Canadian soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and understandably many of them want to help in whatever way possible.

When Major Pierre Huet, a reconnaissance squadron commander […]

When one of Canada’s famed Snowbirds aerobatic team members died in a stunning plane crash last year, American veterans in Montana felt they could not overlook the tragedy in their own back yard.Captain Shawn McCaughey died May 18 while the team was practising for an air show at the Malmstrom Air Force Base, near Great Falls, Mont. While the accident made headlines in Canada and led to a temporary suspension of the Snowbirds regular air demonstration schedule, local veterans thought it was fitting that the Canadian pilot be honoured on their local memorial.“He was a brother,” said Sam Pappas, the […]

Finding Bacteria’s Sweet Tooth

Employing nanotechnology, which uses particles one billionth of a metre in size, researchers at the University of Toledo in Ohio have devised a new means of capturing bacteria—by catering to their “sweet tooth.”

Many bacteria launch their infections after latching onto carbohydrates (sugars) on human cell surfaces. Dr. Xuefei Huang, an associate professor of chemistry, and colleagues from the department of civil engineering, coated some magnetic nanoparticles with a sugar that is particularly attractive to E. coli, the bacteria responsible for many cases of food poisoning. The ‘bugs’ just ate it up.

Within five minutes researchers, using a […]

Christopher R.W. Nevinson, one of the earliest war artists, created images of World War I that explored the personal and global consequences of war. While one early painting was censored for its unflinching portrayal of death, others portrayed close-ups of wounded and worn soldiers; still others were distant landscapes that spoke to the industrial growth of the period and how that changed the face of war.

The artist was born in 1889 in London, England. His parents were well-known journalists—his father an author and war correspondent, his mother a writer and suffragette. Unlike many of his peers, Nevinson’s family supported […]

Almost from the moment the camera was invented, men sought to take it aloft. The first aerial photograph—taken from a balloon over Paris—was made in 1858. Armies investigated the new technology, and in 1883 Captain Henry Esdale, Royal Engineers, photographed the Halifax Citadel from an unmanned balloon tethered 1,450 feet above the site—the first aerial photograph taken in Canada.

The limitations of balloons as camera platforms were evident. If tethered they overlooked a limited area. If set free they traversed an unpredictable track. The development of the airplane solved the problem by allowing the camera to roam or follow a […]

Contrary to what some historians suggest, the Royal Canadian Navy’s ambitious plans in late 1940 for a navy built around fleet-class destroyers and cruisers were not out of sync with developments in the war. In fact, even as the Canadian naval staff planned to acquire cruisers and modern fleet-class destroyers, the German pocket battleship Scheer attacked Allied convoys just east of the Grand Banks.

In November, in one of the dramatic moments of the war at sea, Scheer sank the armed merchant cruiser Jervis Bay while attacking convoy HX 84. By December, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper was trolling the […]

When Lieutenant-General E.L.M. “Tommy” Burns took command of 1st Canadian Corps in March 1944 he was briefed on plans for the forthcoming offensive in Italy’s Liri Valley by the commander of 8th Army, General Oliver Leese. Two options were considered. If British 13 Corps broke the Gustav and Hitler Lines, the Canadians would pass through using Highway 6, the main road to Rome. If 13 Corps was stopped short, Burns would be responsible for the Hitler Line and the subsequent breakout across the Melfa River to Ceprano and Frosinone. Major-General Chris Vokes’ 1st Infantry Division would attack […]

Veterans Affairs Canada has released a new hearing loss policy which recognizes that partial entitlement may be granted for a present-day hearing loss disability where the audiogram a veteran received upon his release from the military shows a lessening, but falls short of establishing an actual disabling hearing loss. Previously, veterans needed to have a disabling hearing loss upon discharge to qualify for benefits.

An applicant may be granted full entitlement if:

• He/she has established a disabling hearing loss which equates to a Decibel Sum Hearing Loss (DSHL) of 100 decibels or greater at frequencies of 500, 1,000, 2,000 and […]

In 2007 veterans and Canadians marked several important anniversaries. Fifty years after Canada became a country its troops found themselves at Vimy Ridge, where many say the nation was really born, and Canadian soldiers swept to victory where others could not. It was the first time that Canadian units served together as a Canadian formation.