Archive for March, 2009

Year Highlighted By Passing The Torch Ceremony The year marked the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War, and with one Canadian veteran remaining from that war, there was a special tribute at the National Remembrance Day Ceremony in Ottawa. More than 25,000 attendees and four million TV viewers saw 108-year-old First World War veteran Jack Babcock pass the Torch of Remembrance to Second World War veteran George Dunlop with his wish to “Hold it high.” Dunlop passed the torch to Korean War veteran Al Tobio who passed it to United Nations peacekeeping veteran James Robert O’Brien. Sergeant Randy [...]

The pitter-patter of rain on the rooftop that used to lull Windsor, Ont., homeowner Steve Horoky to sleep now puts him on high alert. Three times since 1996 his basement has flooded with raw sewage following rainstorms. The first flood was blamed on sewer lines that needed cleaning, he says; the second on a breakdown at a pumping station. Number Three was blamed on an unusually heavy rainfall. Since that initial flood, Horoky’s trust in public utilities has been eroded. Events in Walkerton, Ont., where seven people died from drinking contaminated water in 2000, are “an example of how things can [...]

Finally, helicopters with Canadian flags are flying above Kandahar province. For the past few years, Canadians deployed in Afghanistan have relied on allied aircraft—American, British, Dutch, even independent contractors—to move around the dangerous countryside or to fly resupply missions into small and distant outposts. But on Dec. 6, the Joint Task Force Afghanistan Air Wing stood up with a parade and ceremony at Kandahar Airfield in southern Afghanistan. The official task of the air wing is to provide the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Regional Command South with transportation, surveillance and reconnaissance assets that contribute to mission success in Afghanistan. Currently, the Air [...]

The lady sat down in the lounge chair and then said hello. The pool was deserted, except for a few sun worshippers determined to grab a few rays at the hottest point of the day. She stood out amongst the dozens of business travellers at the West African resort. She was carefully groomed from her stylish, blond hair, to her manicured nails, and her voice matched her appearance perfectly—an articulate British lilt to go along with the slender, middle-aged blond. It seemed likely she would indulge in a 10-minute chat about travel, shopping and family; the safe subjects that can [...]

Who were Canada’s great military leaders? Our Readers’ Quiz for March/April prepared by Alexander Herd, a graduate student at the University of Calgary, tests your know­ledge of Canada’s military leadership. Questions Who is commemorated by a large monument at Queenston Heights, Ontario? Why did British General Garnet Wolseley use Canadian boatmen to navigate the Nile in relief of besieged British forces at Khartoum, the Sudan in 1884? Upon promotion to lieutenant-general in 1917, Sir Arthur Currie became the first Canadian-born commander of the Canadian Corps in the First World War, replacing Sir Julian Byng, also promoted to higher command. Whom did Byng replace as [...]

The familiar Memorial Cross, commonly called the Silver Cross, worn by mothers and widows of sailors, soldiers and airmen killed in service can now be given to more individuals with changes to the regulations announced Jan. 15. The revisions will recognize the families of all Canadian Forces members who have died or die as a result of military service whether it be from combat, an accident or other cause after Oct. 6, 2001, with the grant of up to three Memorial Crosses. Defence Minister Peter MacKay and Veterans Affairs Minister Greg Thompson announced the changes which they say will reflect the sacrifices [...]

The November sky over northern France is grey and leaden and a light rain begins to fall—as though the whole countryside is in mourning—when the casket containing the remains of Private Ralph Tupper Ferns, 25, of the Royal Regiment of Canada, is carried through the Bretteville-sur-Laize Canadian War Cemetery in Cintheaux, France. “He should be here, with his comrades,” said Ferns’ tearful niece Janice Basilone following the funeral, during which she and Gary Ferns, nephew of the dead soldier, were presented with the Canadian flag which had covered their uncle’s coffin. “I feel he belongs here.” And here he is laid [...]

“He died pulling the trigger. He died screaming into the face of the enemy.” The Canadian army has a policy on facial hair. Moustaches are OK, but beards are pretty much forbidden without medical cause and even then growing anything longer than the allowed one inch is a sure way to bring a crusty sergeant major down on your own personal head. It is called a ‘jacking.’ And it’s what happens in the Canadian Forces when a superior officer has some kind of issue with you, or with your beard. Master Corporal Erin Doyle was not worried about getting jacked. He was, in [...]

Early morning, Nov. 25, 2008: One by one the large tour buses stop in the tight laneway running parallel to the Adriatic’s western shore. It is cold and windy with the threat of rain hanging in the air above the stone archway linking the church of San Donato to the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery. For a few precious seconds between arrivals there is nothing but silence, just the wind rustling southward through the olive trees and vine-covered pergolas. Five kilometres to the north—on a plateau overlooking the sea and a quiet river valley—is the ancient but rebuilt town of Ortona with [...]

Canada has always had wounded soldiers returning home from distant conflicts. More recently—with the mission in Afghanistan—the public has become accustomed to seeing veterans with missing limbs or in wheelchairs. While much has been done to provide followup care for these veterans, more must be done, and done soon. In her most recent report, the Interim Ombudsman for the Department of National Defence, Mary McFadyen, states very clearly that this shortcoming continues to apply to those who are returning with wounds we do not see, operational stress injuries (Ombudsman Critical Of Progress With Stress Injuries). Her report, titled A Long Road [...]