Memoirs & Pilgrimages
Italian Remembrance
For 65 years his body lay in the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery near Ortona, Italy, beneath a grave marked “Known unto God.” Ortona and its surrounding area had seen some of the fiercest fighting endured by Canadians in the Second World War. The 1,614 other graves in the cemetery attest to that.
But while the body still lies there, he is no longer unknown.
In a simple Canadian Forces ceremony, delegates of a Veterans Affairs Canada pilgrimage to mark the 65th anniversary of the Italian Campaign and Canadian students from CCI Renaissance School in nearby Lanciano participated in the dedication of [...]
March 14, 2010, by Tom MacGregor
Pilgrims In The Shadow Of War
At 5:20 a.m., July 16, 2009, on a rocky beach in France, a group of 30 Canadians raise a toast in a solemn, if impromptu, ceremony to a sacrifice made by their countrymen in this very place 67 years ago. The Aug. 19, 1942, Dieppe Raid was the single most costly day for Canadians in the Second World War. Almost 5,000 members of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division landed as part of Operation Jubilee. More than 3,300 became casualties, including 913 who paid with their lives. Another 1,946 Canadians became prisoners of war.
“We will remember them,” pledge members of The [...]
November 7, 2009, by Sharon Adams
The Battle For Panjwai: A Soldier’s Story
Ambush At The White School
One of the first battles for the infamous white school in the Panjwai district of Afghanistan occurred on Aug. 3, 2006—one month prior to the launch of Operation Medusa, which has been the subject of a three-part series in Legion Magazine. In the August battle, Canadian soldiers fought with great courage despite being seriously outnumbered by the enemy. What follows is one soldier’s account of that chaotic situation. Master Corporal Matthew Parsons is a transplanted New Zealander who served in 9 Platoon of Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.
We were sitting at Forward [...]
August 20, 2009, by Matthew Parsons
Into Ortona Then And Now
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 [...]
March 2, 2009, by Dan Black
Korea: Tension And Remembrance
The shooting this summer of a South Korean tourist cast an uncomfortable shadow over the Veterans Affairs Canada delegation that had come to Seoul to mark the 55th anniversary of the Korea Armistice Agreement signed on July 27, 1953.
Park Wang Ja, a 53-year-old housewife from Seoul, was walking on a beach at a tourist area in North Korea when, according to North Korean officials, she strayed into a restricted military area and was shot twice. This was after failing to acknowledge shouts and a warning shot.
The killing, coupled with North Korea’s refusal to allow South Korean authorities to examine the [...]
November 15, 2008, by Tom MacGregor
Old Wounds, Lasting Memories
I can remember the wounded, coming out of battle in Europe. We—the members of 14th Field Ambulance of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division—were among the first to treat them. There were men from all ranks, and sometimes friend and foe would arrive in the same ambulance. Some wept while others were silent, suffering from shock. Many waited quietly, and often we would be with them for only a few minutes—intensely close as men ever get to men—before they would slip away and be gone. Part of them became part of us, and through the years I have found myself thinking [...]
May 1, 2008, by Earl Stiles
Shaped by Sacrifice
It is bright and clear and the air is crisp as the first people arrive, many laden with blankets and cushions, more than two hours early to stake out their positions for the Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial. In the end, one [...]
January 1, 2008, by Sharon Adams
The Remembrance Odyssey
It was the sound of applause that struck members of the 2007 Royal Canadian Legion Youth Leaders’ Pilgrimage of Remembrance when they reached the small, French town of Buron–not far from Caen.
The group of 26 was on the Legion’s biennial pilgrimage to [...]
November 6, 2007, by Tom MacGregor
One Family’s Tree
The bur oak stands on land that has been in my husband’s family for more than a century. Its roots are deep and strong and its branches spread in all directions. The trunk has been made solid by sunshine [...]
November 1, 2007, by Sharron Arksey
Dad’s Dieppe
My father, Gunner Robert Vincent Waddy, died three years ago–on July 1, 2004. He was 83, and had survived the horrific Dieppe raid of Aug. 19, 1942. I remember hearing him talk about the failed raid and his incarceration at various [...]
