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There is clarity here—found in the crystal blue glacier water and up along the golden ridges and swaying pines separating land from sky. It also emerges from the words and playful anticipation of those who have arrived—out of uniform—to canoe the braided channels and rapids of the historic North Saskatchewan River.

Alex is pouring scotch when George arrives; 10 floors up in a hotel room overlooking the bursting city of Seoul, South Korea. Outside, rays of light explode from automated signs, creating late-night exclamation marks above streets that resemble run-on sentences in the ultimate story of growth. Westerners and Easterners alike call it The Miracle on the Han, after the massive postwar reconstruction effort that sprang up along the river running through the city which now boasts more than 10 million people, and contributes immensely to the country’s domestic and global economic success.

Just inside the door to Senator Roméo Dallaire’s Parliament Hill office is a large colour photograph showing several children on a grassy hill in Rwanda. Some of the kids in the 2004 photo are barely tall enough to be seen over the grass, but it is clear MOST were born well after the 1994 civil war and genocide that left hundreds of thousands dead and millions more, including Dallaire, deeply scarred.

With help from Canadian military historians, we’ve come up with a list of some of this country’s most renowned military leaders; limiting ourselves to 25 names for a pictorial salute that will surely generate debate—something we welcome in the interest of getting these names out there and promoting public awareness in Canadian military history. From the start, selecting that one word to use as a title was problematic. “Influential”, “Best”, “Famous” and “Renowned” all have connotations that can or cannot be applied to everyone on the list because some were famous while others were less celebrated, but more influential. We also need to point out that those considered for this list were either born in or resided in Canada before they made a name for themselves in the Canadian military. Helping us out with their personal picks were historians J.L. Granatstein, Marc Milner, Doug Delaney, Hugh A. Halliday, Terry Copp and John Boileau—not to mention numerous books of reference. Enjoy.

On Freddy’s starboard side: toes over edge of deck; eyes staring between feet at swirling water, 6 1⁄2 metres below; brain suddenly more cognizant of how the side of the massive grey warship—the freeboard—angles in and down, and how the 7 1⁄2 -metre-long rope ladder—called the “jumping ladder”—swings freely until its lower wooden rungs are held against side of moving ship by two crewmen who—at this moment—are balancing like surfers in the bottom of a small boat riding the swells to keep pace with the 134-metre-long frigate.

Roughly one hundred metres above the Gulf of Oman: cargo door open; all senses engaged. Shadows and human silhouettes against sunlit water; vibrations still typing rhythmic pattern up spine to neck; deep muffled engine and main rotor noise in helmet overlaid with sudden invite from 423 Squadron’s Captain Adam Power: “Would you like to come up and fly for awhile?”

His name was Alfred Guibault, and he lived near the Ottawa River in Aylmer, Que. He was a private, and he died horribly during the fighting for Regina Trench in 1916. Ninety-two years after the First World War the circumstances of his service and the circumstances of thousands of others who served are available for all to see—but only if you want to see. Adam Gutoskie wanted to see. The Grade 11 student from D’Arcy McGee High School in Gatineau, Que., was one of several students who earlier in the school year made use of a popular learning experience through the [...]

It’s Tuesday morning, 8:25 a.m. to be exact, and seven-year-old Grace Ashworth is standing in the secretary’s office at Donald Fraser Memorial School in Plaster Rock, N.B. O Canada has just been sung throughout the school and so everyone is standing. Glancing down at a small piece of paper between her fingers, Grace, who is in Grade 2, clears her throat and then speaks into the school’s public address system. “Today we are going to honour and remember the following soldier who died while serving our country in World War II. Sergeant Roy Wintfield Vickery, Dec. 15, 1943. Could you please [...]

Fifteen metres above the Gulf of Oman: cargo door open; all senses engaged. Surge of heavy air against arms and legs; vibrations moving from floor to feet to spine; muffled whine of the engine infiltrating your helmet, and best of all—out there—through that wide opening, the rapid rush of blue-silvery water, broken only by fleeting whitecaps and the vanishing trails of flying fish.

There’s no mistaking the anticipation you feel while staring down at a large box of wartime letters pulled from the vaults of the Canadian War Museum. If you could find a way to turn print into audio, and make each letter speak to you directly in the actual voice of its author then perhaps—just perhaps—more people would be convinced of the tremendous value a Dear Mom letter has to Canadian military history. Carol Reid, the collections manager at the Canadian War Museum Archives, needs no convincing. She relishes the job of helping researchers find these important documents, and gets really [...]