The memory project joins the Minister of Veterans Affairs to commemorate sacrifices of canadian forces in a year of significant anniversaries in 2012
The Historica-Dominion Institute’s Memory Project Speakers Bureau and the Minister of Veterans Affairs will be at l’École secondaire de l’Aubier in Saint-Romuald, Québec. The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, and three members of the Memory Project Speakers Bureau will speak about the sacrifices made by the Canadian Forces, past and present. This event will bring together currently serving Canadian Forces Personnel, veterans of the Second World War and the Korean War, local legion members, as well as students and educators from l’École secondaire de l’Aubier.
Continue Reading …Memory Project Speakers Bureau Visits 15 Wing Moose Jaw
The Memory Project Speakers Bureau has hosted a volunteer recruitment event at Canadian Forces Base Moose Jaw. 15 Wing Personnel, local community members, and program supporters came together to share their stories of service and sacrifice.
Continue Reading …Enemies At The Front, Comrades Of The Soil
In a small cemetery in Kitchener, Ontario, old enemies rest in Canadian soil. Woodland Cemetery is the final resting place of 187 German soldiers who died while interned in Canadian prisoner of war camps during the First and Second World Wars. Buried across Canada upon their deaths, these soldiers’ remains were moved to Woodland in 1970. Far from being treated with disdain, the German graves and their monument are well tended and respected: around Remembrance Day each year, wreathes are laid in memoriam. This gravesite represents in microcosm the fascinating and complex process of how our understanding of enemies progresses from wartime to the distant past.
Continue Reading …Second World War and Korean War veterans to gather in GTA to preserve their stories with The Memory Project
The Memory Project Archive continues its efforts to capture stories from Korean War veterans with new mandate to create a legacy of the “Forgotten War.”
Continue Reading …Second World War vet dead at 86
Second World War vet dead at 86The world was lucky to hear Bill Newell’s story. It was one the Second World War veteran was not afraid to share — and one many people listened to with bated breath. Mr. Newell died on Monday at Welland hospital. He was 86. But his story will live on through the Historica-Dominion Institute’s Memory Project — a national initiative meant to create a record of Canada’s participation in the Second World War and Korean War as seen through the eyes of thousands of veterans.
Reaping The Whirl Wind
Assuming the position of the Royal Air Force’s Commander-in-Chief Bomber Command 70 years ago today, “Bomber” Harris’ name became eponymous with the campaign of widespread, continuous bombing (“area bombing”) of Germany. Of the 55,500 British, Canadian, and other Empire-Commonwealth servicemen that lost their lives conducting bombing raids over continental Europe, the majority were killed on Harris’ watch. A hefty butcher’s bill by most accounts. However, Harris’ tag as a “war criminal” was directly correlated to the deaths of an estimated 300,000 - 600,000 German civilians, along with the destruction of Germany’s urban cultural centres.
Continue Reading …Codename Greenlight: Canadians and the North Pacific Campaign of World War Two
The Pacific theatre during the Second World War is often remembered by focusing on several major events; the attack on Pearl Harbor, bloody battles on small Southern Pacific islands like Guadalcanal, iconic images of flag raising on Iwo Jima, the capture of Okinawa, and the dropping of atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While there is no doubt these were immensely important events, it is worth clarifying the popular historical perceptions of the campaign by revisiting the less known events in which Canada participated during the Pacific War. The “forgotten of the forgotten” may be the Canadian involvement in the Aleutian Island campaign. At first glance, the story of the Canadians in the North Pacific appears to have all the hallmarks of a riveting military engagement; a desolate battlefield, harsh weather, the prospect of facing a daunting enemy, and the only time during the Second World War that an Axis power captured and held North American soil.
Continue Reading …Life At The Juno Beach Centre
A snapshot of life at the Juno Beach Centre in the Fall of 2011.
Continue Reading …Canadian Naval Memorial Trust
On the eve of the 70th anniversary of the commissioning of HMCS Sackville, the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust has launched a new website dedicated to promoting not only the legacy of the ship and the Second World War, but of all Canadian sailors – past, present, and future.
Continue Reading …Black Christmas: The Fall of Hong Kong in December 1941
To simply state the facts would miss the point. In December 1941 Canadian soldiers fought a losing two-week battle alongside other Commonwealth troops against a Japanese attack on the British colony of Hong Kong. Why were Canadian troops in Hong Kong in 1941? Why did the Allied defenders lose and how did they lose so quickly? Hong Kong’s position along a mountainous wisp of land on China’s southern border made it extremely difficult to defend and impractical to effectively resupply if under siege. For these reasons, the Hong Kong garrison was merely a skeleton crew, more a symbolic deterrent to Japanese forces attempting to take over large swathes of territory. However, by 1941 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and other senior planners wanted to bolster the garrison with more troops. The reality was that no number of Allied soldiers then available could prevent the fall of Hong Kong; however, as a British colony it was important that the troops stationed there fight a delaying action to hold off the Japanese for as long as possible should the colony be attacked. The uncertain goals of the garrison hamstrung their planning and clouded the main purpose of the force. The theme of divided objectives would be a recurrent issue in the fall of Hong Kong.
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