Archive for May, 2009

On the chilly weekend of Feb. 21-22, a considerably smaller group of Legionnaires came together to meet as the restructured Dominion Executive Council at Legion House in Ottawa. This was the second DEC meeting since the governance restructuring that occurred at the last dominion convention. And while certainly some disagreements remain on the governance issue, never did the conversation become strained or rancorous. It seemed to be a meeting of largely like-minded people. On Saturday morning, Honorary Grand President Charles Belzile opened the meeting with a short speech welcoming everyone to Ottawa. Belzile began by calling for “unity” and by making it [...]

Canadians travelling to France to mark the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings and Normandy Campaign will find many events and locations dedicated to the contributions made by Canadians during the summer of 1944. Details for some of the planned events were still being worked out by press time in March, but a major ceremony, including the unveiling of a monument in honour of the Royal Canadian Navy, is scheduled for 10 a.m. June 6 at the Juno Beach Centre in Courseulles-sur-Mer, France. The ceremony will also help launch a temporary exhibit titled We Were There which will tell the personal stories [...]

In the May/June issue we tested your knowledge of National Defence. Here are the answers: The Militia Act of 1883, which established the Infantry School Corps and the Cavalry School Corps.  The infantry and cavalry units formed the basis for Canada’s professional army, through both regular duties and providing permanent instructors for the non-permanent militia, male Canadian citizens who volunteered as part-time soldiers. The Department of Naval Service, the Department of Militia and Defence, and the Air Board. James H. MacBrien, who was head of the army during a period of financial retrenchment.  Later he became Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Defence [...]

Jean Lesniak has had her monthly prescriptions filled at the same drug store in Port Hope, Ont., for years, but after it recently changed hands, she was surprised when asked to pay an extra $4.99 to cover a dispensing fee. “I used to just pick up my prescriptions and they were covered by Veterans Affairs,” says Lesniak, an 85-year-old army veteran. When the pharmacy changed hands, the dispensing fee increased, putting it above the amount Veterans Affairs Canada covers. “I just never realized a dispensing fee was part of the cost of prescriptions,” says Lesniak. Like many Canadians whose medications are covered [...]

COMMONWEALTH WAR CEMETERY, BAYEUX, NORMANDY, JUNE 5, 1955: Bent and frail, Lise Enguerrand was a poor village woman in her early 70s. I was a Paris student from Toronto, aged 21. We were both there to attend to Stuart Hogarth of Hampton, Ont. Stu was a 28-year-old Canadian sergeant killed on Sept. 4, 1944, three months after the Allies’ June 6 Normandy invasion. His mother, my mother’s distant cousin, had asked me to come to this majestic garden of grief to represent her at her son’s grave. Madame Enguerrand was there, as every week, to dust Stu’s upright headstone and bring [...]

It has often been asked by Canadian Forces (CF) members and veterans seeking a disability claim if there are any advantages associated with using the services of a command service officer of The Royal Canadian Legion Service Bureau Network. While all advocates bring their own qualities and strengths, we would like to think that the Legion service officers are a special breed. We are there to serve those who serve. Indeed, Legion command service officers are former members of the CF, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Veterans Affairs Canada, with extensive time and experience with the Service Bureau Network. We [...]

Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa will be designated as the national cemetery of Canada, with legislation supported by all parties easily passing through the House of Commons in March. Environment Minister Jim Prentice, who is also responsible for Parks Canada, introduced the bill in the House of Commons on March 5 and followed with a brief ceremony at the cemetery that day. “Our government is proud to take this historic step,” said Prentice. “Our legislation today provides our country for the first time with an official resting place for our national leaders and other great Canadians who have shaped our history. “Over the years, [...]

Canada has sent thousands of soldiers and a number of artists to war, and both roles have remained distinct and perhaps opposite in nature. Soldiers are trained, as best as they can be, for the grim environment of war, but the artist is in alien territory trying to record his surroundings with sensitivity and nuance—a setting he has little training for. The two vocations are disconnected, yet Will Ogilvie excelled at both. He endured years of wartime service on battlefields and simultaneously produced watercolours that stand among the best in this country. Born at Stutterheim, South Africa, in March 1901, Ogilvie [...]

The following timeline on the D-Day invasion and Normandy Campaign  represents a rough sketch of how the fighting progressed during the summer of 1944. More specific details can be found in many fine books on the subject. August 1943: The plan to invade France is endorsed during the Quebec Conference attended by Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. PHOTO: NATIONAL FILM BOARD/LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA August 1943. May 8, 1944: General Dwight D. Eisenhower settles on June 5, 1944, as the date of the cross-Channel Normandy invasion. It is also decided that in the event of bad [...]

Late February in Ottawa can only mean one thing—the Conference of Defence Associations annual general meeting, in this case the 72nd, which has over the years evolved into the pre-eminent military conference in Canada. The speakers at the two-day event were illustrious as always, including Minister of National Defence Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lawrence Cannon and a wide range of top Canadian and American generals. The CDA is an umbrella group of military associations of which The Royal Canadian Legion is the largest. The Feb. 26-27 event was attended by approximately 400 people, a number which included several ambassadors. While [...]