Quebec’s Most Loved and Scorned Hero of Dieppe: General Dollard Ménard and the Québec Referendum
When he spoke publicly for the “YES” option in the first Quebec referendum on sovereignty-association in 1980, Brigadier-General Dollard Ménard, hero of Dieppe, raised a storm of controversy, especially among former military colleagues. Here is an overview of the course of General Ménard and the "Battle of the Generals".
Continue Reading …Operation Jubilee and the Dieppe Raid - August 19, 1942
The Allies’ Operation Jubilee of August 1942 – the Dieppe Raid – was clearly a military defeat. Why the Allies launched this raid and the raid’s objectives, however, have at best remained secondary to this fact in public knowledge. Moreover, a common observation is that Dieppe’s operational lessons were directly responsible for the successful Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. This conclusion, while accurate, implies that the Dieppe Raid was the only way to learn specific lessons and that the thousands wounded, captured, and killed in 1942 were necessary for future operational successes.
Continue Reading …Artefact of the Week
Patricia Collins (née Holden) was one of three press photographers working in the Public Relations Department of Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, England, 1944.
Continue Reading …HMCS Uganda: Politics, Plebiscites, and the Pacific War
In May 1945, a remarkably rare event in the history of war took place, as the crew of the Canadian cruiser HMCS Uganda voted their ship out of the Second World War. This unusual event might be seen as another example of the mutinies and absences-without-leave common in military history and which make it easy to assume that on a regular basis service personnel removed themselves from combat, against orders. However, the HMCS Uganda scenario was unique in that the officers and crew were actually given the opportunity to end their combat service by their own political and military superiors.
Continue Reading …Waterloo veterans participate in a national digital archive initiative
Second World War and Korean War veterans will gather in Waterloo to preserve their stories with The Memory Project
Continue Reading …Artefact of the Week
Arrival in Tokyo, Japan, after announcement of the armistice being signed, ending the Korean War, 27 July 1953.
Continue Reading …Memory Project Speakers Bureau visits Royal Canadian Legion in Summerside to commemorate Korean War Armistice
The Memory Project Speakers Bureau has hosted a volunteer recruitment event at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 5 Summerside. CFB Personnel, veterans, local community members, and program supporters came together to share their stories of service and sacrifice.
Continue Reading …After the Armistice
Dates are military history’s bookends, easily containing a war between a start date and an end date. Often only the war itself is studied, to the exclusion of the events that preceded and followed it. The Korean War ended 59 years ago on 27 July 1953, but Canadians soldiers, sailors, and air personnel remained in Korea well after the armistice was signed.
Continue Reading …Artefact of the Week
After Joseph Cyr's impersonation attempt was discovered, this picture was taken as a joke and sent to Naval Service Headquarters in Canada. The bearded man is pretending to be the new ship's doctor (he is actually a stoker), and is reporting to Lt. John Waters. The photo was taken in February 1952.
Continue Reading …Canada and the Quebec Conferences: What Remains (1943-1944)
The Quebec Conferences were two events on a long list of strategic meetings organized by the Allies during the Second World War. They had an important impact on both military operations and on the shape of the post-war world. The first conference was held from August 10 to 24, 1943 and the second from September 11 to 16, 1944.
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