ROMMEL AND HITLER CALLED CANADA- BRITAIN'S BEST KEPT SECRET- THE GREAT WAR- WWI
Canada refused minorites 2 parttake in WWI- until so many were killed-
and Canadian minorities wanted 2 take part so badly... it was... their
Canada... our Canada..... conscription took place in Canada WWI
Voluntary Recruitment
For the first two years of war, Canada
relied on a voluntary system of military recruitment. It adopted a policy of
conscription, or compulsory service, only after a long, difficult political
debate in 1917- Minorities in Canada were NOT allowed 2 take part in WWI till
1916-17
Who Fought
The war started in Europe, but soon
spread throughout most of the world.
These are many of the countries that
fought during the war. The date indicates their declaration of war, or the day
they commenced hostilities without a formal declaration.
The Triple Entente or Allies
•Serbia (28 July 1914)
•Russia (1 August 1914)
•France (2 August 1914)
•Great Britain (4 August 1914)
•British Empire Dominions and Colonies (4
August 1914):
Australia
India
Canada
Newfoundland
New Zealand
South Africa
•Japan (23 August 1914)
•Italy (23 May 1915)
•United States (6 April 1917)
These countries also fought with the
Allies or declared war on the Central Powers:
•Minor European Powers: Portugal,
Belgium, Romania, Greece
•Other countries: Montenegro, San Marino,
Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua,
Panama, Peru, China, Siam, and Liberia
The Central Powers
•Austria-Hungary (28 July 1914)
•Germany (1 August 1914)
•Turkey (5 November 1914)
•Bulgaria (14 October 1915)
These were the main European countries to
remain neutral throughout the war:
•The Netherlands
•Switzerland
•Spain
•Sweden
•Norway
•Denmark
•Finland
•Iceland
-------------------
Canadian Pride Video- CANADA -
THE GREAT WAR- flag- posters- honour
----------------
World War One (WWI) from a Canadian Perspective -thx Canadian Legion
and Scouts Canada
Canada's contribution to the first world war (WWI) was significant.
66,000+ Canadians lay down their lives for the cause of Freedom.
COMMENT:
I think it's quite offensive that the USA thinks that they can say
that they saved us or won the war. Seeing that they didn't actually start
fighting until the very last year of the war. While we Canadians and the
Aussies, Britain and France were in it from the beginning and fought through
the brunt of the war. We have proven ourselves time and time again.
COMMENT:
God Bless King George.. I heard he was a very great king of the
commonwealth..
COMMENT:
An important yet sombre moment in Canadian history. Thank you for
posting this. we must never forget what many of our fellow countrymen and women
have done to allow for us to live as we do today. --A Proud Canadian
COMMENT:
sweet vid i am canadian so this vid shows how important we are
COMMENT:
Great presentation thanks for the work
--------------
World War 1 History - Canada 1/5
COMMENT: Part of poem by Alden
Nowlan....(Ypres, 1915).. "Private Macnally thinking "you squarehead
sons of bitches, you want this goddamned trench you're going to have to take it
away, from Billy Macnally of the south end of Saint. John, New Brunswick"
------------------
THE HISTORY OF THE RED POPPY...
The Red Poppy
I am sure most of you have seen red poppies worn and decorating
places, especially at war memorials and at times when we remember our heroes
who fought and died protecting their countries during war.
The red poppy is known to be a symbol of remembrance, but I am sure
most of us would like to know how it really became a symbol of remembrance.
Colonel John McCrae, who was a Professor of Medicine at McGill
University first described the Flanders’ poppy as the flower of remembrance.
Though he was a doctor, he was a gunner in the Boer war. Soon afterwards he
went to France in World War I as a medical officer with the first Canadian
contingent.
As a surgeon attached to the first Field Artillery Brigade, John
McCrae had spent seventeen days treating injured men in the Ypres salient. It
was almost impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams and the blood,
and Major McCrae had seen and heard at his dressing station enough for him to
last a lifetime.
Major McCrae later wrote of his experience…
"I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of
that seventeen days .... Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day
if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have
folded our hands and said it could not have been done"
A young friend and former student of Major McCrae, Lt Alexis Helmer of
Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2nd May. Helmer’s death
particularly affected Major McCrae. Lt Helmer was buried later that day in the
little cemetery outside McCrae’s dressing station, and in the absence of the
chaplain, McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony.
Sitting on the back of an ambulance on the next day, McCrae started to
compose a poem with sentiments of his pain and anguish. In 1915, at the second battle
of Ypres, he wrote in pencil on a page from his dispatch book a poem that has
come to be known as “In Flanders Fields” which describes the poppies that
marked the graves of soldiers killed fighting for their country. McCrae could
see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches and he spent twenty minutes
of precious rest time scribbling lines in a notebook.
Cyril Allinson, who was a young twenty two year old sergeant major at
that time, watched McCrae write it. Allinson was delivering mail that day when
he saw McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing
while the sergeant major stood there quietly. Allinson recalled “His face was
very tired but calm as he wrote”. “He looked around from time to time, his eyes
straying to Helmer’s grave.” When he finished five minutes later, he took his
mail from Allinson and without saying a word, handed his pad to the young
soldier. Allinson was moved by what he read.
Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer
retrieved it and sent to the newspapers in England. “The Spectator” in London
rejected it, but “Punch” published it on 8th December 1915.
To this day McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields” remains one of the most
memorable war poems ever written, with its lasting legacy of the terrible
battle in the Ypres salient.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row by row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard among the guns below.
We are the dead.Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If yea break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
McCrae was a chronic asthmatic, and his lungs had been badly damaged
by the chlorine gas at Ypres.
On 25 January 1918, he fell ill with pneumonia, and in three days he
was dead.
Each Remembrance day the British Legion lays a wreath on his grave as
a tribute to a great man whose thoughts were always for others
AND....
What have u done 2day 4 freedom
4 r Canada 4 ur Canada....?
CANADA-2013 : 11,000 Canadians buy the white Poppy- 18
million Canadians buy our Red Poppy of Respect 4 our freedoms- ok with that-
but do NOT diss troops on Nov. 11- we will getcha - and it won't be the troops
- u interfere with 35.5 million Canadians quietly honouring our troops- our
Military, Militia, Reservists and Rangers - who have died 4 the freedoms we
live on in Canada- we will hunt u down... we will find u... we will post ur
names on a wall of shame 2 circulate around the world. Canadians are tired of
our children wearing our Canadian flags dying, wounded, suicides over freedoms
in lands that are just horrific 4 women and children.... and the troops walk
that talk each and every day... don't u dare burn our flag... or diss our
Canada- we would never 4give u... instead 4 peace serve at food banks... give
blankets and clothes 2 the homeless.... take care of stray animals... help
children of Canada who can't afford books and sneakers; give 2 the Red Cross-
blood donations; clean our highways, help pack food at food banks -homeless
centres, volunteer 2 read and help elderly, volunteer at youth centres,
organize fund raisers 4 disadvantaged -of which there are many- in our Canada
.... u want peace.... well how about earning it!
WHITE POPPIES= RED POPPIES
-------------------------------
World War 1 History - Canada 2/5
COMMENT;
"Canada A Peoples
History" Disk 3 Or 4 I Think. You Can't Order It Anymore, Thats Why I
Posted It. It Was Produced By CBC & CBC French Canada In The 90s. Ill Be
Getting 1812 Up Hopefully In The Next 2 Months After Im Done Moving.
---------------
World War 1 History - Canada 3/5
-----------------
World War 1 History - Canada 4/5
COMMENT:
Nothing but love for the country that gave the world hockey and made
those fine men that fought so well. Canada my second favorite country in the
world
COMMENT:
REMEMBER VIMY RIDGE!!!!!!
COMMENT:
Also created Basketball and Lacrosse... Canada has done a lot of
things indeed.
------------------
World War 1 History - Canada 5/5-
CANADA'S PEACE SHORTLIVED.... SPANISTH INFLUENZA- KILLS 20 MILLION
PEOPLE- CANADA LOSES ALMOST AS MANY AS THE GREAT WAR...
COMMENT:
i can see that this flu could have contributed to the foundation that
led to our public health care system.
-------------
Well here's a crapshoot folks- Canada/New Zealand/Australia- white
countries who won WWI 4 Britain are being excluded because we are 2 white in
the 100 year celebrations of victory of the Great War...
Britain accused of "whitewashing" ANZAC role in First World
War
NZ and Australian WWI forces ignored in "political correctness
push", according to Australian report.
By Toby Manhire In The
Internaut
9th January, 2014 Anzac day,
Gallipoli,
Anzac troops on the beach at Gallipoli, 1915. ALEXANDER TURNBULL
LIBRARY
The contribution and sacrifices of New Zealand and Australia in the
First World War has been overlooked in Britain's official century anniversary
commemorations, according to a News Limited report published in the Sydney
Daily Telegraph.
The omission is the result of a "PC push", reads the
introduction above the report, penned by Charles Miranda.
He writes:
News Corp Australia has learned [that] in a blatant politicising of
the anniversary, Whitehall officials in London have been briefed to push the
efforts by the so-called "New Commonwealth" nations in a bid to win
political and economic favour in multicultural Britain.
The move comes amid a heated social and political row in Britain over
immigration numbers with the issue likely to determine the outcome of federal
elections in Britain next year.
British government sources have confirmed internal briefings on WWI
commemorations have not mentioned Australia or New Zealand once, instead staff
from departments and cabinet offices have been briefed to concentrate on other
British Empire contributions by soldiers from countries such as Nigeria and
other dominions in West Africa, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
A "government insider" is quoted as saying:
It's basically to remind Britons the First World War wasn't just
soldiers from here fighting in France and Belgium but involved people from
Lagos, Kingston and the Punjab … There has been no mention of old Commonwealth
Allies like Australia or New Zealand but more interest in celebrating the role
from New Commonwealth countries. I think it's fair to say Commonwealth ties are
being frayed a little on this one.
The report also quotes New Zealand born British author Murray
Rowlands:
There is nothing in David Cameron's programme of commemoration that
mentions these countries …
The British pretty much lost the war in July 1918, they were in
retreat and it was the Australians and New Zealanders who got put into the gap
… they were the ones that held up the Germans in places like Hamel [Somme,
northern France], with the Americans too but basically the well-trained
Australians, pretty battle hardened by then, who stopped the Germans.
-------------
World War 1 Images & Songs - Pack up You Troubles in Your Old
The Sound track for these images is the popular song "Pack up
Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag" (Smile Smile Smile) This version was
recorded by Reinald Werrenrath in 1917.
You can find the lyrics for this and many other World War One songs
here:
720p HD video by Rod Smith
--------------
BLOGGED/BLOGGED
FACTS AND STORIES- BLOGGED
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Jan 2014- Commemorating 100th Anniversary of WWI
– The Great War- Canada-stories-facts- how Canada came 2gether- War 1812 with
Canada's First Peoples created Canada-
The Great War- Defined Canada- Vimy Ridge
French Soldier with Pigeons on his back - WWI
-----------------
Original WW1 Battle Footage Passchendaele 1917 Pont des Arts
COMMENT:
Rest in peace, every man, horse and dog that died during these
terrible conflicts, you died for your country, and in my eyes, that makes you a
hero.
---------
Canadian Sikh soldiers world war 1 - japanese/chinese/minorities tried
so hard 2 form part of Canada's participation in WWI
COMMENT:
Not impressed with the Royal Canadian so called Legion. They should
""HAVE ALLOWED"" these men into the Legion. I have seen
pictures of Sikhs wearing helmets on top of there head dress.
"""VERY""" disappointed in the Legion.
COMMENT:
touching work god bless
---------------
Canadian Aboriginal Soldiers- Mackenzie&Sierra
-----------------------
Canada
Commemorates 100th Anniversary of the Great War- WWI started in 1914. War of
1812 created us with our First Peoples- WWI defined us -Vimy Ridge. This is a
beautiful dedication by High School Students who were devestated by 4 Canadians
in 2007 and they wrote and performed this incredible historical documentary 2
honour Canada's Forces- land, sea and air... Malvern Collegiate Instit. 2007-
Proud Canadian Soldier
Malvern Collegiate Instit. 2007- Proud
Canadian Soldier
----------------------------
BLOGGED:
CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: Pg1 July7 Nova Scotia Black Battalion Honoured/REMEMERING our
troops-our Canada/NOVA SCOTIA- come visit, we’d love 2 have u- all ages and
disabilities- kids matter
AND..
Canadian
Aboriginal Soldiers- Mackenzie&Sierra
---------------
CANADA
The
Victoria Rifles – Black History Month- EVERY MONTH IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH
This
is a 30-second Black History Month (BHM) Public Service Announcement (PSA) on
The Victoria Rifles. It was formed in 1860 by Sir James Douglas, the first
black Governor of British Columbia. The Rifles were one of British Columbia’s
first military defense units comprised of Canadian black men only.
---------------------
The
Last Long Mile (World War I Song) (1918) ( Historical Recroding )
---------------------
BLOG:
CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: PAGE 1/Sep12-CAMP ALDERSHOT-NOVA
SCOTIA/Afghanistan/CANADA'S MILITARY HISTORY/Canada formed by Christian
Religious Wars-Catholics versus Protestants/WW1/background of who we
are/September 11
CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: PAGE 2/Sep12-CAMP ALDERSHOT-NOVA
SCOTIA/Afghanistan/CANADA'S MILITARY HISTORY/Canada formed by Christian
Religious Wars-Catholics versus Protestants/WW1/background of who we
are/September 11
CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: PAGE 3/Sep12-CAMP ALDERSHOT-NOVA SCOTIA/Afghanistan/CANADA'S
MILITARY HISTORY/Canada formed by Christian Religious Wars-Catholics versus
Protestants/WW1/background of who we are/September 11
CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: PAGE 4/Sep12-CAMP ALDERSHOT-NOVA
SCOTIA/Afghanistan/CANADA'S MILITARY HISTORY/Canada formed by Christian
Religious Wars-Catholics versus Protestants/WW1/background of who we
are/September 11
--------------------
Black
Canadians in Uniform -
A
Proud Tradition-First World War
Like
so many others swept up in the excitement and patriotism that the First World
War (1914-1918) initially brought on, young Black Canadians were eager to serve
King and country. At the time, however, the prejudiced attitudes of many of the
people in charge of military enlistment made it very difficult for these men to
join the Canadian Army. Despite the barriers, some Black Canadians did manage
to join up during the opening years of the war. Black Canadians wanted the
chance to do their part on a larger scale, however, and pressured the
government to do so.
On
July 5, 1916, the No. 2 Construction Battalion was formed in Pictou, Nova
Scotia—the first large Black military unit in Canadian history. Recruitment
took place across the country and more than 600 men were eventually accepted,
most from Nova Scotia, with others coming from New Brunswick, Ontario, the West
and even some from the United States. The Black Battalion’s chaplain was
Reverend William White, who had also played a leading role getting the unit
formed. He was given the rank of Honourary Captain—one of the few Black
commissioned officers to serve in the Canadian Army during the war.
The
segregated battalion was tasked with non-combat support roles. After initial
service in Canada, the battalion boarded the SS Southland bound for Liverpool,
England in March 1917. Its members were sent to eastern France later in 1917
where they served honourably with the Canadian Forestry Corps. There they
helped provide the lumber required to maintain trenches on the front lines, as
well as helped construct roads and railways. After the end of the First World
War in November 1918, the men sailed to Halifax in early 1919 to return to
civilian life and the unit was officially disbanded in 1920.
In
addition to the men of the Black Battalion, an estimated 2,000 Black Canadians,
such as James Grant, Roy Fells, Seymour Tyler, Jeremiah Jones and Curly
Christian, were determined to get to the front lines and managed to join
regular units, going on to give distinguished service that earned some of them
medals for bravery.
Black
Canadians also made important contributions on the home front. They helped
achieve victory by working in factories making the weapons and supplies needed
by the soldiers fighting overseas, and by taking part in patriotic activities
like raising funds for the war effort.
Today,
the dedicated service of the "Black Battalion" and other Black
Canadians who fought in the First World War is remembered and celebrated as a
cornerstone of the proud tradition of Black military service in our country.
Black
Canadians in Uniform -
A
Proud Tradition
Pre-First
World War
The
tradition of military service by Black Canadians goes back long before
Confederation. Indeed, many Black Canadians can trace their family roots to
Loyalists who emigrated North in the 1780s after the American Revolutionary
War. American slaves had been offered freedom and land if they agreed to fight
in the British cause and thousands seized this opportunity to build a new life
in British North America.
This
tradition of military service did not end there, with some Black soldiers
seeing action in the War of 1812, helping defend Upper Canada against American
attacks. A number of volunteers were organized into the “Company of Coloured
Men,” which played an important role in the Battle of Queenston Heights. Black
militia members also fought in many other significant battles during the war,
helping drive back the American forces. Black soldiers also played an important
role in the Upper Canadian Rebellion (1837–1839). In all, approximately 1,000
Black militia men fighting in five companies helped put down the uprising,
taking part in some of the most important incidents such as the Battle of
Toronto.
Black
volunteers also served with British forces farther away from home, including in
the Royal Navy. Indeed, one such man, William Hall, would earn the Victoria
Cross (the highest award for military valour) for his brave actions in India in
1857.
Victoria
Rifles standing at attention
Victoria
Pioneer Rifle Corps.
Photo: LAC C—022626
Black
people in the West also forged their own military traditions. In the late
1850s, hundreds of Black settlers moved from California to Vancouver Island in
pursuit of a better life. Approximately 50 of the new immigrants soon organized
the Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps, an all-Black volunteer force also known
locally as the “African Rifles.” While the corps was disbanded by 1865 after
only a few years of existence, it was the first officially-authorized militia
unit in the West Coast colony.
While
relatively few Black Canadians served in the military in the years immediately
following Confederation, a few were part of the Canadian Contingent that went
overseas during the South African War of 1899–1902. However, the First World
War that erupted a decade and a half later would see a great change in how
Black Canadians served.
-------------------
CANADA
AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Voluntary
Recruitment
For
the first two years of war, Canada relied on a voluntary system of military
recruitment. It adopted a policy of conscription, or compulsory service, only
after a long, difficult political debate in 1917.
War
Enthusiasm Bolsters Recruiting
Throughout
the war, but especially in its early months, Canadians rushed to enlist for
reasons of patriotism, adventurism, opposition to German aggression, or
personal ties to Great Britain. Public attitudes also influenced individual
decisions, in particular the widespread view in many parts of the country that
those who failed to enlist were cowards.
Daily
newspaper editorials, political speeches, and lectures from the pulpit implored
men that their duty to King and Country meant serving in the military. Early
recruitment posters urged enlistment on the basis of patriotism and emotional
connections to the war's major issues. Later, more desperate posters tried to
shame men into enlisting by questioning their loyalty and their manhood.
Wartime propaganda also urged women to pressure men to enlist.
War
Weariness and Declining Enlistment
The
early strength of Canada's voluntary recruitment waned in 1916 in the face of
growing casualty lists. Local newspapers reported daily on the war's human
costs, and many public places posted the official casualty lists. Canadians had
come to realize that the war would be neither short nor easy, and not all of
them agreed that troops should continue to go overseas as the conflict dragged
on. Industry and agriculture at home needed workers in order to produce
munitions and foodstuffs, and 'doing one's bit' for the war could also mean
serving only in Canada. Others claimed simply that Canada had already
sacrificed enough, as the casualty rolls appeared to indicate.
Renewed
Efforts to Find Volunteers
As
voluntary recruiting weakened in the face of continuing losses overseas, the
government gradually eased previous restrictions on recruitment. It lowered
medical standards for the acceptance of volunteers, and allowed community
groups to raise their own battalions. Men less than five feet tall were
permitted to form bantam units and, from 1916, the government cautiously
accepted some visible minorities. The latter soon enlisted in significant
numbers, including 3,500 Aboriginal Canadians, 1,000 Blacks, and several
hundred Canadians of Chinese and Japanese descent.
These
minor successes raised more troops, but not enough to replace the many
thousands killed and wounded in the battles of 1916 and early 1917.
The
Government's Conscription Dilemma
Forced
to confront the fact that voluntarism alone could not maintain the forces
overseas at full-strength, Ottawa faced a difficult choice. It could allow the
country's war effort to decline by not replacing fallen or injured troops, or
it could maintain the forces at full-strength by forcing Canadians to serve
through conscription.
See
more objects and photographs about this topic:
Visiting
the Wounded
---------------------
Conscription,
1917
The
federal government decided in 1917 to conscript young men for overseas military
service. Voluntary recruitment was failing to maintain troop numbers, and Prime
Minister Sir Robert Borden believed in the military value, and potential
post-war influence, of a strong Canadian contribution to the war.
A
Momentous Debate
The
1917 conscription debate was one of the fiercest and most divisive in Canadian
political history. French-Canadians, as well as many farmers, unionized workers,
non-British immigrants, and other Canadians, generally opposed the measure.
English-speaking Canadians, led by Prime Minister Borden and senior members of
his Cabinet, as well as British immigrants, the families of soldiers, and older
Canadians, generally supported it.
The
conscription debate echoed public divisions on many other contemporary issues,
including language education, agriculture, religion, and the political rights
of women and immigrants. It also grew into a test of one's support for, or opposition
to, the war as a whole. Charges of disloyalty, cowardice, and immorality from
avid pro-conscription advocates were matched by cries of imperialism,
stupidity, and bloodlust by the anti-conscription camp.
The
campaign's viciousness sometimes obscured the debate's complexity. Many
anti-conscription advocates fully supported the war, for example, while not all
pro-conscription voices argued their case by using linguistic or racial smears
to diminish their opponents.
Conscription
Prevails
The
conscription debate raged through most of 1917 and into 1918. The required
legislation, the Military Service Act, worked its way through Parliament during
the summer to be passed in late August. It made all male citizens between the
ages of 20 and 45 subject to military service, if called, for the duration of
the war.
Conscription
was the main issue in the federal election that followed in December, a bitter
contest between Conservative / Unionist Sir Robert Borden and Liberal Sir
Wilfrid Laurier. Borden, running on a 'Unionist' pro-conscription ticket that
attracted many English-speaking Liberals, won decisively, but lost heavily in
Francophone areas of Quebec.
Wartime
Elections Act Changes Who Can Vote
The
government had helped pave the way for electoral victory with legislation in
the fall that enfranchised likely allies and disenfranchised likely opponents.
The
Wartime Elections Act gave the vote to the wives, mothers, and sisters of
soldiers, the first women permitted to vote in Canadian federal elections.
These groups tended to favour conscription because it supported their men in
the field.
The
Act then denied the vote to many recent immigrants from enemy countries
("enemy aliens"), unless they had a family member in military
service. At the same time, the Military Voters Act extended the vote to all
military personnel and nurses, including women, regardless of their period of
residence in Canada.
Borden's
margin of victory in December was greater than the votes delivered by either of
these controversial measures, but each had been highly successful. More than 90
per cent of military votes, for example, were Unionist.
Conscription's
Results
A
broadly popular but divisive measure, conscription polarized provinces, ethnic
and linguistic groups, communities, and families, and had lasting political
effects on the country as a whole. For many Canadians, it was an important and
necessary contribution to a faltering war effort; for others, it was an
oppressive act passed dishonestly by a government more British than Canadian.
Farmers
sought agricultural exemptions from compulsory service until the end of the
war. Borden's government, anxious for farmers' votes, agreed to limited
exemptions, largely for farmers' labouring sons, but broke the promise after
the election. The bitterness among farmers, many of them in the West, led to
the development of new federal and provincial parties.
French-speaking
Canadians continued their protests as well, and young men by the tens of
thousands joined others from across Canada in refusing to register for the
selection process. Of those that did register, 93% applied for an exemption. An
effort to arrest suspected draft dodgers was highly unpopular across the
province and, at its worst, resulted in several days of rioting and street
battles in Quebec City at Easter, 1918. The violence left four civilians dead
and dozens injured, and shocked supporters on both sides.
Conscription
would have minimal impact on Canada's war effort. By the Armistice in November
1918, only 48,000 conscripts had been sent overseas, half of which ultimately
served at the front. More than 50,000 more conscripts remained in Canada. These
would have been required had the war continued into 1919.
-----------------
Influenza,
1918-1919
The
war ended with a raging influenza epidemic, spread through Canada in part by
infected soldiers returning from overseas.
A
Global Killer
The
Spanish influenza epidemic, uniquely lethal in attacking young, healthy bodies,
killed at least 20 million people worldwide, including an estimated 50,000
Canadians. The flu was spread through bodily fluids and moved quickly through
the population. The flu presented itself through fatigue and cough, but quickly
attacked the body, creatinzzg mucous build-up in the lungs that could not be
expelled. Victims of the flu could be dead within a day of contracting the
illness.
The
Flu in Canada
Canada's
flu dead included soldiers who had survived the fighting overseas only to
succumb to illness once in Canada and thousands of family members who welcomed
them home but perished soon after their arrival.
The
loss of so many Canadians had a profound social and economic impact on a
country that had already suffered 60,000 war dead. The combined death toll
significantly reduced the workforce. It left thousands of families without a
primary wage earner and orphaned thousands of children.
In
attempting to halt the spread of the disease, many local governments shut down
non-essential services. Provinces imposed quarantines and protective masks were
required in public places. The epidemic led directly to the formation of the
federal Department of Health in 1919.
--------------
IDLE
NO MORE- CANADA'S FIRST PEOPLES 10,000 YEARS
BLOG
IDLE
NO MORE CANADA- WAR 1812- it mattered- War of 1812 Bicentennial Highlights
Unsung Aboriginal Heroes in Canada’s Creation
-----------------
AFGHANISTAN- OUR TROOPS ARE STILL THERE
CANADA-Standing Strong & True (For Tomorrow) Official Music Video
(HD)
"Standing Strong and True (For Tomorrow)," is an all-star
Canadian country single dedicated to fallen Canadian soldiers and their
families.
for more info: www.wesaluteoutheroes.ca
Music video Produced by Fahrenheit Films. Director/Editor: Antonio
Hrynchuk. Cinematographer: Ray Dumas. Producers: Hrynchuk / Susan Busse.
COMMENT:
We Will Remember Them.
Send "Standing Strong And True" Ringtone to your cell I hear
the guns I feel the fire,
with my last breath my spirit
flies
And I see the faces of my
friends,
fighting till the end
So many fearless hearts.
I feel their courage and their
pain,
their lives should never be in
vain.
From heavens gate a perfect
view
a plain and simple truth -
Is lighting up the dark
Love one another that stranger
is your brother
Leave a footprint, everywhere
you go
Keep yesterday for giving,
today just for living
Say a prayer every night for
tomorrow
I pray the past can teach us
all,
before another hero falls
Before another mother cries,
forever asking why
(Why oh why)
Can't we love one another that
stranger is your brother
Leave a footprint everywhere
you go
(everywhere you go)
Keep yesterday for giving,
today just for living
Say a prayer every night for
tomorrow
Standing strong and true, on
guard for me and you
Standing strong and true, on
guard for me and you
So we can love one another that
stranger is your brother
Leave a footprint everywhere
you go
Keep yesterday for giving
Today just for living
Say a prayer every night for
tomorrow
Bless the true believers
Who stand and fight for freedom
So we can live in peace right
here at home
Live in peace at home
Keep yesterday for giving,
today just for living
Say a prayer every night for
tomorrow
Say a prayer every night for
tomorrow
AND...
FEBRUARY- MAY 2014
Arctic Expedition
February 7 – 9, 2014: Training Camp
Three-day ski training camp in Gatineau, Québec.
April 19, 2014: Departure
Leave Ottawa, Ontario, for Resolute Bay, Nunavut.
During the first three days,
the team will acclimatize and test gear. Then, Twin Otters will carry them to
within 100 kilometres from the Magnetic North Pole – the last degree. From
there, they will continue their journey on skis.
May 2, 2014: Return
2014 True Patriot Love Expedition - Arctic Circle
Arctic Expedition
Continuing the tradition and success of the 2012 True Patriot Love
Expedition – Himalayas, the 2014 Expedition will offer the ultimate Canadian
challenge. Twelve wounded yet determined soldiers will be paired with
courageous business leaders for this epic journey to the Arctic Circle.
Together, they will ski through some of the most demanding conditions
to reach the Magnetic North Pole. As a team, they must overcome past injuries
and current mental and physical challenges to achieve their goal.
Working together, they will move each participating soldier forward on
his or her road to recovery, while raising awareness of the needs of Canadian
veterans and their families.
----------------
DEXTER THE WAR HERO
Dexter's full name is Military Working Dog Dexter CO67, but he is now
retired after service in Afghanistan. Dexter served for six years, during which
time he detected a garbage truck filled with explosives and saved at least a
thousand military personnel and civilians. After his tour, he was scheduled to
be euthanized because of hip problems and the fact that military dogs are hard
to place for adoption because of their aggressiveness. His handler, Kathleen
Ellison, went to work to save Dexter through the organization Military Working
Dog Adoptions. Veteran Danny Scheurer, who worked with dogs during his military
service, agreed to adopt Dexter and bring him home to Spring Grove, Illinois.
Dexter also became the first canine member of the American Legion when he was
accepted as a full member by Fox Lake American Legi?
(ON C.S.I.S. SHOW- JETHRO SAYS,
"That's NO dog- That's a
Marine"- and I started 2 cry with pride-
here's 2 all the Dexter Warriors)
Save-A-Vet Rescues Hero MWD Dexter
MWD Dexter saved over a thousand lives in his tours of duty in Iraq,
Afghanistan and elsewhere. Save-A-Vet rescued him from euthanization and gave
him a home where he can live out his retirement years.
Thanks to CBS 58 WDJT-TV Milwaukee for sharing this footage!
COMMENT:
ALL MWD's need to be recognized as "soldiers" and receive
the same benefits/care/protection UNDER LAW that police K9's receive!!!
COMMENT:
I was one of that group of Marines that Dexter saved. I remember that
day like it was yesterday. Thank you!
------------------
CANADIAN WAR MUSEUM.... WW I
----------------
“Angels of Mercy”: Canada’s Nursing Sisters in World War I and II
00001304.jpg
Although Canada’s women had served as nurses in earlier wars, they
acquired formal recognition during World War I. The essential role they played
in this war assisted in winning the vote for women. In World War II more than
4,000 women served as nursing sisters in all three branches of Canada’s
military service. McMaster’s collections include the memorabilia of two of
these “angels of mercy”.
Canada’s nursing sisters played a vital role in the care of wounded
soldiers during World War I and II. Called “nursing sisters” because some of
the earliest nurses belonged to religious orders, they were accorded the rank
of lieutenant during World War I. The nurses were an integral part of the
Canadian Army Medical Corps; the majority worked overseas in military hospitals
and in casualty clearing stations. Often placed on the front-line, they
ministered to injuries for which no one could have trained them, and they were
seen as angels of compassion by the soldiers whose lives they saved.
Canada’s military nurses had played an important role in wars before
World War I. They were part of the medical team deployed to nurse soldiers
during the Northwest Rebellion and they also served in the Boer War. In
September 1914, 105 Canadian military nurses sailed to England with the first
contingent of Canadians. By 1918, more than 3,000 single Canadian women had
left their familiar surroundings and volunteered to serve their country by
caring for the wounded and sick overseas. The nurses were nicknamed “Bluebirds”
by soldiers, grateful for a glimpse of their blue dresses, white aprons and
sheer white veils. They served in a total of thirty military hospitals and
casualty clearing stations in France, Belgium, Greece, Malta and Eastern
Mediterranean. The work was hard and dangerous; on 19 May 1918 No. 1 Canadian
General Hospital in Étaples was bombed.
The dangers of working at the front were not restricted to land
operations. One of the innovations of the First World War Medical Services was
the introduction of the hospital ship, used to evacuate the sick and wounded
back to Canada. These ships were also subject to enemy attack such as occurred
on the night of 27 June 1917. The Llandovery Castle, a British merchant vessel
serving as a Canadian hospital ship, was torpedoed while returning to
Liverpool, England from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Of a Canadian crew and medical
staff totalling 258, only twenty-four survived. Among those who perished were
the fourteen Canadian Nursing Sisters aboard, among them Mae Belle Sampson, who
had trained in Hamilton, Ontario. Escaping lifeboats were pursued and sunk by
the German U-boat and the survivors machine-gunned.
00001532.jpg
Memorabilia of the service of two Canadian nursing sisters, Sister
Mary English (World War I) and Sister Nancy Kennedy-Reid (World War II) can be
found in McMaster University Library’s collections. Sister English served in
France during the First War, as is indicated by her war badge service
certificate, issued in Victoria, B.C. in 1919. This certificate would have been
issued to Sister English to acknowledge her service with the Canadian
Expeditionary Force. She also saved two Christmas cards from the No. 1 Canadian
Stationary Hospital, 1915-1916, an invitation to a War Service Dinner in Paris,
dated August 1918, some postcards, photographs of nursing sisters with whom she
worked, and some photographs of soldiers and hospitals.
After Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939 and the
declaration of war, Canada’s Nursing Sisters answered the call of duty again.
This time, Canada’s nursing service was expanded to all three branches of the
military: Army, Navy and Air Force. A total of 4,373 Nursing Sisters served
during the Second World War.
Nancy Kennedy-Reid was born in Carnarvon, North Wales, on 2 August
1902. She immigrated to Canada in 1926 and trained as a nurse at the Montreal
General Hospital in 1929. She travelled with The Queen’s Own Cameron
Highlanders of Canada to England in December 1940. Once there, she worked as an
Assistant Matron, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (RCAMC) at No. 1 Canadian
Hospital, Marston Green. The hospital moved to Hailsham, Sussex two years
later. In June 1942 she was promoted to Matron. She was posted to No. 1
Canadian General Hospital, Andria, Italy in November 1943, later moving to
Rome. She returned to England in August 1944 to serve at No. 23 Canadian
General Hospital, Leavesden, near Watford. Kennedy-Reid was appointed a member
of the Royal Red Cross by George V. Following her return to Canada on 1 January
1946, she became the director of nursing at St. Anne’s Hospital, St. Anne de
Bellevue, Québec. She retired in 1967 and served as President of the Canadian
Nurses Association the following year.
00001550.jpg
Kennedy-Reid’s mementos are contained in three scrapbooks recording
her service in England and Europe. They include daily orders and nominal rolls
as well as a “berthing card” stating the particulars of her accommodation
aboard the HMT ship which she boarded from Moncton on 23 December 1940. Photographs
of wounded soldiers after the Dieppe raid, hospitals, the British countryside,
and Italian scenes including the Amalfi coast and Rome are also pasted in.
There are also letters, cards and invitations documenting her work and her
social life; one item is “No. 1 Canadian General Hospital Nursing Sister’s
Theme Song.” Of considerable interest are her medals, identification bracelet,
and a piece of shrapnel. The latter could have been a souvenir of a close call;
nurses frequently cared for the wounded while shells exploded around them.
Canada’s Nursing Sisters worked amidst omnipresent danger and incurred
a considerable number of casualties as a result of both disease and enemy
attacks. Their primary tasks were to give the wounded comfort and try to ensure
their safe return home. They had a profound effect on their profession and on
the war effort in both World Wars. The Bluebirds were the first Canadian women
to vote; the enfranchisement of women was one of the most dramatic changes
brought about by the nurses’ overseas service in World War I. In both wars,
these “angels of mercy” risked their own lives to contribute to Canada’s
eventual victory.
No 1 Canadian General Hospital
Nursing Sisters' Theme Song
In my sweet little Alice Blue gown,
When I first came to Birmingham
town.
I had had a bad trip, in a
nasty old ship
And the cold in my billet, just
gave me the pip.
We came out to nurse our own
troops,
But were greeted with measles
and whoops.
Now I'll be a granny, and sit
on my fanny,
And keep warm with turpentine
stupes.
In my sweet little Alice Blue gown,
When I return to my home town
They will bring out the band,
give the girls a big hand,
Being a nurse in the force,
I'll be quite renowned.
And I'll never forget all the
fun,
That I had, since I joined
Number One
I was happy and gay, to have
served with MacRae
In my sweet little Alice Blue
gown.
Further resources:
Nicholson, G.W.L. Canada's Nursing Sisters (Toronto:
Samuel Stevens, Hakkert, 1975)
Archival descriptions:
World War, 1914-1918, collection
Nancy B. Kennedy-Reid fonds
“Angels of Mercy”: Canada’s Nursing Sisters in World War I and II
---------
CANADA'S BEST KEPT SECRET-
The Black Battalion- Canada
Juanita Pleasant Wilbur of Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada
They came two hundred to answer the call
But only to fall
Their way was not paved
For a country they wanted to save
The battle cry went out
But these men were ousted
Their colour was wrong
Their courage strong
From battle line to battle line they went
But no one wanted them
A checker-board army they were called
Their courage strong they still persisted
For the right to fight for a country they loved
For the right to live as all men
Free and strong
The march was on, their will was strong
From place to place they went
Rejected by all, their cry was heard
Let us do our best
Don't let us be less
Give us a chance to build a life for our children
Let us make our mark
Give us a chance to stand proud and free
Rejected and tired of waiting
They finally saw the light
You're on a flight
Over-seas you're bound
At last you found your place
A checker-board army has been born
A remembrance to my Grand-dad, Private Wallace James Pleasant and all
the black men who fought and became know as Canada's best kept secret.
We love you all so much.... to my Fannie (Clements) Brothers and to my
Debbie Pleasant-Joseph ..... love you all so much....
---------------------
It was the largest engagement of the Fenian Raids, the first modern
industrial-era battle to be fought by Canadians and the first to be fought only
by Canadian troops and led exclusively by Canadian officers
-----------------------
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.