Archive for September, 2008

The decision during the Italian Campaign to withdraw the Canadian Corps from the battle south of Rome and from the pursuit of the German forces retreating to Florence allowed for a lengthy rest and training period in the Volturno Valley. According to the historical officer attached to 1st Cdn. Division, leave arrangements in June and July 1944 were “extensive and generous” with rest areas in Bari, Salerno and Amalfi. Of course it was not all rest and relaxation. The lessons of combat in the Liri Valley were studied with special attention given to better methods of controlling artillery fire, and improving [...]

It is a spring day typical of coastal cities like Halifax: the sunny sky invites people outside to play—and a brisk, chilly wind quickly chases them back inside. But that doesn’t stop a few stalwarts from donning sweaters and jackets and slapping on hats to enjoy Camp Hill Veterans’ Memorial Garden. The breeze rustling new leaves on the trees, the splash of water in the stone and metal poppy fountain, the smell of sun-warmed earth and the sight of cheery tulips just make you feel glad to be alive, a fact not lost on the residents of Camp Hill Veterans Memorial [...]

John Beatty had a boisterous start in life. Born in Toronto in 1869, he was expelled from school at age 13 and by 16, itching for adventure, was enlisted and served as a bugle boy in the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. Following the surrender of Louis Riel, Beatty returned home and worked at an assortment of jobs until he was 18, at which time—against his parents’ wishes—he joined the Toronto Fire Department. It was a good fit for the lively, outspoken young man. Indeed, up until the time of his death in 1941, he was known as the fireman turned [...]

A free one-year membership is being offered to retiring members of the Canadian Forces as an initiative to introduce The Royal Canadian Legion to potential new ordinary members. The first introductory package was presented June 5 to Commander Cathy Bruce-Hayter at the Naval Officers Mess in Ottawa by Dominion Vice-President Erl Kish and Dominion Command Director of Administration Brad White. Bruce-Hayter retired after 32 years in the navy. The Dominion Command Membership Committee and Defence Committee negotiated with the chief of military personnel to finalize a kit to be given to members upon retirement. The program was developed to preserve the Legion’s [...]

Poised atop the dome of the Manitoba Legislative Building, standing 5.25 metres (17.2 feet) tall—from the bottom of his bare feet to the tip of his torch—and weighing in at 1,650 kilograms (3,640 pounds), the Golden Boy is arguably the best-known cultural icon in the province. On a local level, this larger-than-life statue has been exceptionally popular. That should probably come as no surprise, for Manitobans pride themselves on being hardy, spirited and resilient. And right from the start, the Golden Boy showed he possessed these features in spades. Conceived, created and cast in bronze during World War I, the Golden [...]

Ninety years can be an insuperable gulf of time: time for doers of great deeds to pass on, their feats forgotten even by descendants. Time for thrilling exploits to become dusty memories in albums and diaries. And, finally, time for facts to be condensed into dry tracts in textbooks, stripped of the visceral individual experiences, the fear and pain and longing and suffering and willingness even to die in the line of duty. John Alexander McLean, a teenager from Cape Breton, was killed in action at Lens in 1917. His body was not recovered from the battlefield. It is likely [...]

Canada is on the razor’s edge of lived memory. At the time of writing this story, there is only one Canadian veteran left alive from the First World War. In fact, there are only a handful of these veterans still alive from around the world, with France, Turkey, and Australia’s last Great War veterans having passed away in recent years to join their millions of comrades who had already marched into history. While we totter from memory to history, the war remains a poignant event that continues to resonate across the divide of more than 90 years. The Great War for [...]

In 2009, the Last Post Fund will commemorate 100 years of operations. The fund began operations in 1909 when its founder, Arthur Hair, noticed that a veteran would be buried in a pauper’s grave. The veteran had died penniless with no known relative. Since then, the Last Post Fund has lived up to its mandate that “no veteran would be denied a dignified funeral for lack of funds.” In 1921, the Government of Canada decided to fund its own veterans funeral and burial program. Today, the Last Post Fund administers this program on behalf of Veterans Affairs Canada as well as [...]

The 42nd dominion convention held in Ottawa June 21-25 turned out to be a historic occasion when The Royal Canadian Legion took stock of how it was governing itself. The RCL Commission on Governance, Representation and Command Structure had studied the Legion’s history and compared how the various commands, including Dominion Command, were governing themselves. The largest problem was the size and cost of the Dominion Executive Council. While the Legion membership had dropped by almost a third from its peak of 602,489 members in 1984, DEC had remained virtually the same with 40 members. There were nine members of the [...]

The new Senior Officers of Dominion Command are (front, from left) First Vice Pat Varga, Dominion President Wilf Edmond, Past President Jack Frost; (rear, from left) Treasurer Mike Cook, Vice-President Paulette Cook, Vice-President Gordon Moore, Vice-President Erl Kish, Chairman Tom Irvine. DOMINION PRESIDENT Wilf Edmond, 75, the son of a First World War veteran, has been active in all levels of the Legion for 50 years. He is a life member of Donkin, N.S., Branch in Cape Breton, and served as Nova Scotia Command president from 1993 to 1995. Prior to his years of service on provincial command, he served several [...]