Archive for January, 2010

When it came into force in 2006 the New Veterans Charter (NVC) was introduced as a living document, a work in progress that would be continually adapted to the changing needs of veterans. But promised updates have not occurred, and changes are now urgently needed, say the Legion’s Dominion Command Service Bureau and the Veterans Ombudsman. “Gaps are evident in the areas of financial benefits, rehabilitation and case management, and in the care of families,” Dominion Command Service Bureau Director Pierre Allard told the Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs in October. “The language now used by Veterans Affairs Canada could suggest [...]

Our quiz in the January/February issue of Legion Magazine concerned the Korean War. Here are the answers. In July 1950, Canada sent three Royal Canadian Navy destroyers and the Royal Canadian Air Force’s No. 426 Squadron, a transport unit that conducted trans-Pacific shipments of United Nations supplies. True.  The Canadian government effectively recruited CASF troops off the street, in order to avoid weakening regular force units (whose primary role was to defend Canada) and the contentious issue of compulsory overseas service. CASF volunteers signed up for 18 months; some were Second World War veterans while others had been too young to fight [...]

Legion Magazine staff writer Adam Day spent nearly a month in Afghanistan last October. These field notes serve as a prelude to a major special section on the war in Afghanistan scheduled to appear in the March/April issue—the Editor. AFGHANISTAN FIELD NOTE No. 1 In the spring and summer of 2009, it seemed that critical opinion about the war in Afghanistan was sinking towards pessimism nearly as fast as violence inside the country was rising. “We are not going to ever defeat the insurgency,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper told CNN, and a chorus of military analysts soon joined him in expressing doubt. [...]

Inadequate funding and a cumbersome bureaucracy have left some families of veterans scrambling to find the money to cover the funeral and burial expenses of loved ones, says a report from the Office of the Veterans Ombudsman. In a toughly worded 19-page report titled Serve With Honour, Depart With Dignity, Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran makes seven recommendations to bring the Veterans Funeral and Burial Regulations established by Veterans Affairs Canada and administered by the Last Post Fund up to date for today’s veterans. The Last Post Fund is a non-profit organization and registered charity with roots reaching back to its founding in [...]

It was the first time 91-year-old Arthur Dewar of London, Ont., had worn his medals, and the first time he had attended the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa. No one had ever shaken his hand or thanked him for his wartime service until today. And the first one to do so was the Prince of Wales. “He thanked me. Oh my, I don’t think I have the proper words for it,” said Dewar, who served with the 43rd General Transport Company during the Second World War campaigns in Sicily and Italy, and in northern Europe at the end of the [...]

Banff in November is a vision of a winter wonderland. At the town limits the snowy mountains stretch instantly upwards into rocky peaks and people clank down the main street in ski boots and it seems like every single Banffite wears a toque all the time no matter what. It is cold, after all. Banff is one of Canada’s most famous places, stuck high up in the mountains in Alberta’s Banff National Park; the town of about 7,000 permanent locals is the country’s highest at an altitude of 4,800 feet. The Remembrance Day ceremony here is not exactly traditional, not exactly textbook, [...]

Legion Magazine’s postcards for the troops campaign has taken off, with schools and individuals contacting the magazine’s office asking for more. The idea for the postcards emerged when Editor Dan Black was putting together a feature package for the November/December issue on letters written by serving members of the military from the First World War through the Second World War, the Korean War and postwar operations including Afghanistan. The feature contained many original letters collected by Library and Archives Canada as well as side stories on how the letters were delivered and replies received from Gladys Osmond of Newfoundland who has [...]

In 1945, naval minister Douglas Abbott announced he wanted Canada to have “a good, workable little fleet.” Some interpretations of Abbott’s statement suggest this was a cry for an efficient and versatile force, which, through its ability to perform numerous maritime tasks, would give the government the greatest flexibility when dealing with foreign policy challenges. What Abbott actually had defined, however, was a versatility paradox that would haunt the Canadian navy throughout the postwar period. Cutting budgets and capabilities while telling the navy to respond to a wide range of contingencies and increasing operational commitments may seem counterintuitive, but that is [...]

Finding ways to actively reach out to reservists, ex-military personnel, their families and friends in order to keep them informed of the many services available once they have returned from a deployment or have left the military, is an ongoing challenge. It is certainly one faced by the Legion and other concerned organizations such as the Integrated Personnel Support Centre and Veterans Affairs Canada. To ensure these individuals are reminded that they are not alone “out there” is not always an easy task. In order to combine resources towards the development of a plan to also provide outreach to families and [...]

“Adventure and serving your country, what a drawing card, eh?” said my wife as she examined the photo of the 17-year-old sailor and put it on the scanner. “Wow!” It’s a remarkable Second World War story. From only 13 ships when war broke out in September 1939, the Royal Canadian Navy mushroomed to 332 warships, becoming the third largest Allied navy in the war. Morley Barnes of Georgetown, Ont., was typical of the young men and boys who volunteered, swelling the number of full-time sailors from 1,800 to 100,000. Most went to sea and the majority had time in a corvette. Designed [...]