By: CTVNews Staff Writer(s)
A tiny French village unveiled a long overdue memorial to the men once dubbed Canada’s best kept military secret - the No. 2 Construction Battalion of the CEF's Forestry Corps; who fought for their right to fight for King and Country during the First World War.
The first and only black battalion in Canadian military history is being honoured in the Supt, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comte region of eastern France, on September 29, 2018.
Douglas Ruck, chair of the board of governors for the University of King's College in Halifax, N.S, is son of the late Senator Calvin W. Ruck who wrote the book Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret – The No. 2 Construction Battalion C.E.F.
He told CTV News that after war erupted in Europe, Canada was brought into the conflict as part of the British Empire.
“While the white individuals were treated with great joy and taken into the fold, the black soldiers were rejected,” he said.
“Not because of any physical impairment, but because of the color of their skin and the perception that they were inferior and would not make good soldiers.”
From 1914 to 1916 the black soldiers fought for the right to fight through protests, petitions and bringing pressure to bear, Ruck says.
In 1916 they were granted permission to join the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, but in a segregated unarmed unit, going to war with pick-axes and shovels.
As part of the forestry corps near the frontlines, the soldiers cut trees for lumber, trenches, boardwalks and other requirements.
They were also involved with moving the dead and wounded off the battlefield.
In France, the segregation continued and the soldiers received inferior treatment, being the last to receive supplies and were often denied basics like underwear and socks.
Ruck told CTV News: “They were relegated to that role, not what they wanted to do, but that was the only choice they had.”
The memorial to the 3,000 Canadian forestry engineers will now bear the names of the 29 forestry engineers who were buried in that town and other nearby towns.
Of the 29, 10 were black men who were part of the 600-member No. 2 Construction Battalion, stationed near Supt, population 115.
It is thought to be the first memorial on French soil that recognizes the black men.
A memorial to the ‘Black Battalion’ already exists in Pictou, N.S, one of two bases in the province where soldiers were mustered before shipping out to Europe.
It is hoped the French monument will help preserve the memory of the brave men that made up the battalion.
Supt Mayor Evelyne Comte spearheaded the campaign to create the tribute after becoming aware of the Canadian contribution when she saw the graves at the cemetery.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended of the Great War.
Showing posts with label Remembrance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Remembrance. Show all posts
Friday, October 19, 2018
Monday, October 24, 2016
Airdrie Legion set to unveil 1st Light Armoured Vehicle Monument in Canada
By: Ryan Rumbolt, The Calgary Herald
Once a part of Canada’s military might, a light armoured vehicle is patiently waiting for its debut as a monument.
Part of the Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) III Program, the decommissioned LAV is the first of its kind in Western Canada. The LAV was delivered to Airdrie’s Nosecreek Valley Museum on Oct. 19 and will serve as a memorial to veterans who served in Afghanistan.
Once a part of Canada’s military might, a light armoured vehicle is patiently waiting for its debut as a monument.
Part of the Light Armoured Vehicle (LAV) III Program, the decommissioned LAV is the first of its kind in Western Canada. The LAV was delivered to Airdrie’s Nosecreek Valley Museum on Oct. 19 and will serve as a memorial to veterans who served in Afghanistan.
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| A Canadian LAV (light armoured vehicle) arrives to escort a convoy at a forward operating base near Panjwaii, Afghanistan at sunrise on Nov.26, 2006. The Canadian Press has learned that Canada's foreign ministry is closely monitoring all of the country's military exports, but won't revisit the controversial decision to allow the sale of light armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Bill Graveland |
The LAV III Program recognizes the service and sacrifice of the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan by providing a full-sized, demilitarized replica of the LAV III to qualified, deserving communities throughout Canada.
A veteran of peacekeeping missions in Egypt and Cyprus, retired Canadian Forces Sgt. Bob McNevin led the Airdrie LAV committee. McNevin said it is time for Canadians to start honouring the younger generation of veterans and their families, and the LAV monument is a way for the older generation to pass the torch of remembrance to veterans of more recent conflicts, such as Afghanistan and Bosnia.
“It’s these young men and women — that’s what it’s all about,” McNevin said. “I did not realize how many veterans we have in the city of Airdrie.”
Retired British Armed Forces Sgt. Bill Drummond is also with the Airdrie LAV Committee, and said many people only associate the Legion with veterans of the First and Second World Wars, and echoed McNevin’s wish to honour younger veterans.
“I think it’s a fitting tribute for the young fellas and women who put their lives on the line for world peace,” Drummond said. “To them, it means that they are being recognized — especially someone who has any kind of PTSD problems.”
The LAV III is a versatile fighting vehicle, able to reach speeds of more than 100 km/h. Drummond said Canadians were “seen as the envy of all of the United Nations troops” because the LAV is “so adaptable.”
“They were used as ambulances, they were used as mobile offices, they were used for taking troops out to advanced outposts,” Drummond said. “And they were taken there in relative safety.”
Drummond said the project to bring the LAV to Airdrie was estimated to cost around $70,000, butlocal businesses took the brunt of the financial load by donating money, transporting the LAV from Ontario and even pouring the concrete pad for the monument.
McNevin said he was stunned to see so many members of the community show their support for the LAV project by donating time, money and supplies to bring the monument to Airdrie.
“I want (veterans and their families) to see what we’ve done for them as a community,” McNevin said. “I’ve been involved in a lot of things and this is the largest rally I’ve ever seen of the community coming together.”
Currently sitting under camouflage netting, the LAV III monument will be unveiled during a ceremony Nov. 6 at the Nosecreek Valley Museum at 1 p.m.
A veteran of peacekeeping missions in Egypt and Cyprus, retired Canadian Forces Sgt. Bob McNevin led the Airdrie LAV committee. McNevin said it is time for Canadians to start honouring the younger generation of veterans and their families, and the LAV monument is a way for the older generation to pass the torch of remembrance to veterans of more recent conflicts, such as Afghanistan and Bosnia.
“It’s these young men and women — that’s what it’s all about,” McNevin said. “I did not realize how many veterans we have in the city of Airdrie.”
Retired British Armed Forces Sgt. Bill Drummond is also with the Airdrie LAV Committee, and said many people only associate the Legion with veterans of the First and Second World Wars, and echoed McNevin’s wish to honour younger veterans.
“I think it’s a fitting tribute for the young fellas and women who put their lives on the line for world peace,” Drummond said. “To them, it means that they are being recognized — especially someone who has any kind of PTSD problems.”
The LAV III is a versatile fighting vehicle, able to reach speeds of more than 100 km/h. Drummond said Canadians were “seen as the envy of all of the United Nations troops” because the LAV is “so adaptable.”
“They were used as ambulances, they were used as mobile offices, they were used for taking troops out to advanced outposts,” Drummond said. “And they were taken there in relative safety.”
Drummond said the project to bring the LAV to Airdrie was estimated to cost around $70,000, butlocal businesses took the brunt of the financial load by donating money, transporting the LAV from Ontario and even pouring the concrete pad for the monument.
McNevin said he was stunned to see so many members of the community show their support for the LAV project by donating time, money and supplies to bring the monument to Airdrie.
“I want (veterans and their families) to see what we’ve done for them as a community,” McNevin said. “I’ve been involved in a lot of things and this is the largest rally I’ve ever seen of the community coming together.”
Currently sitting under camouflage netting, the LAV III monument will be unveiled during a ceremony Nov. 6 at the Nosecreek Valley Museum at 1 p.m.
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Honoring Canada's Military Past
Written by Mathew Fisher, National Post
That solemn cenotaph remembers, among others, my friend, Calgary Herald journalist Michelle Lang, my old roommate, Glyn Berry, and many soldiers I knew personally. The monument, which arguably means far more to those who served in Afghanistan than any other, stood for years as a place of quiet remembrance in a gravel courtyard behind task force headquarters at Kandahar Airfield.
When the combat mission ended there in 2011, the tribute was taken apart, flown home at considerable expense and taken on a cross-country vigil. Canadian Joint Operations Command has confirmed it is languishing in a warehouse in a Canadian military compound in Ottawa while the government and the Department of National Defence decide what to do with it.,
Because it is too brittle to withstand Canadian winters, the monument must find a permanent indoor home. Suggestions have included putting it in the Canadian War Museum or in the main lobby of the new National Defence Headquarters.
That memorial and others that recall Canada’s decade-long involvement in Afghanistan are a potential political minefield for the government, judging by the emotional Internet response to an article Friday by Postmedia’s Lee Berthiaume. My colleague revealed the government is ending a well-regarded Community War Memorial Program to build modest local cenotaphs that would remember Afghanistan and other wars where Canadians have fought.
That decision, and dithering by the new government about whether it intends to proceed with a National Memorial to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan, approved by the Harper regime in 2014, dovetails with its oft-stated intention to promote the narrative that ours is a country of principled peacekeepers, rather than a nation of principled warriors.
Little consideration has apparently been given to how it would not be a contradiction to honour Canada’s distinguished history of peacekeeping and its far longer, equally noble history as peacemaking because both have been about making the world a safer place.
Senators on the national security and defence committee will have a chance Tuesday to ask Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan on the government’s plans.
It is a tricky file for Sajjan, who served three tours as a senior military intelligence gatherer in Kandahar, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who has publicly sought to downplay what he regards as the militarism of the Harper government.
It is a fact that the United Nations peacekeeping missions Trudeau greatly admires and talks about Canada being part in future no longer exist. Almost every UN sponsored military mission now is extremely dangerous. Today’s blue berets are, in reality, blue helmets and must be prepared to fight at a moment’s notice.
Sajjan is not the only respected Liberal Afghan vet who should publicly state where he stands on how Canada should remember its long military engagement in Afghanistan. Liberal Party whip Andrew Leslie was deputy commander of the international mission in Afghanistan in 2003, before returning home to eventually run the Canadian Army. Another Afghan veteran is retired RCAF Lt. Col. Karen McCrimmon, now Liberal MP for Kanata—Carleton.
As diplomats were also to be honoured for their brave service by the Afghan national memorial, it would be worthwhile for senators, MPs and the media to seek out the opinions of ambassadors such as Bill Crosbie, Elissa Goldberg and Ben Rowswell, and former ambassador and Conservative cabinet minister Chris Alexander who all led teams of diplomats who engaged in “combat diplomacy” in Afghanistan.
Walt Natynczyk, who ran the Canadian Armed Forces for much of the Afghan campaign, now deputy minister of Veterans Affairs, would have a highly informed opinion too. So would Canada’s best-known Kandahar vet, Gen. Jonathan Vance, who now sits in Natynczyk’s old chair as chief of defence staff.
But most of all, it is the voices of the battalions of soldiers, aviators and sailors who served in often harrowing situations in Afghanistan that must be heard. A few Afghan vets generated a lot of noise about alleged shortcomings in the treatment of veterans who served there. Judging by my email and social media streams, many vets of the war against al- Qaida and the Taliban are furious that their service and the sacrifices of their fallen comrades in Afghanistan have been turned into yet another hot potato where politicians can score partisan points.
The families of the 158 Canadians who died in that bleak, hot, distant land and the thousands more who returned home with severe physical injuries and mental trauma deserve much better than that.
Amid the acrimonious debate over the competing Liberal and Conservative visions about where and how Canadian Armed Forces members should be remembered for their heroic service in Afghanistan, there has been no public discussion about the fate of the poignant, wood-framed, grey-granite memorial depicting the 190 Canadians and American soldiers and civilians who died while working with Task Force Kandahar.
There has been no discussion about the fate of the grey-granite memorial depicting the fallen 190 Canadian and American soldiers and civilians who died while working with Task Force Kandahar, Matthew Fisher writes.
That solemn cenotaph remembers, among others, my friend, Calgary Herald journalist Michelle Lang, my old roommate, Glyn Berry, and many soldiers I knew personally. The monument, which arguably means far more to those who served in Afghanistan than any other, stood for years as a place of quiet remembrance in a gravel courtyard behind task force headquarters at Kandahar Airfield.
When the combat mission ended there in 2011, the tribute was taken apart, flown home at considerable expense and taken on a cross-country vigil. Canadian Joint Operations Command has confirmed it is languishing in a warehouse in a Canadian military compound in Ottawa while the government and the Department of National Defence decide what to do with it.,
Because it is too brittle to withstand Canadian winters, the monument must find a permanent indoor home. Suggestions have included putting it in the Canadian War Museum or in the main lobby of the new National Defence Headquarters.
That memorial and others that recall Canada’s decade-long involvement in Afghanistan are a potential political minefield for the government, judging by the emotional Internet response to an article Friday by Postmedia’s Lee Berthiaume. My colleague revealed the government is ending a well-regarded Community War Memorial Program to build modest local cenotaphs that would remember Afghanistan and other wars where Canadians have fought.
That decision, and dithering by the new government about whether it intends to proceed with a National Memorial to Canada’s Mission in Afghanistan, approved by the Harper regime in 2014, dovetails with its oft-stated intention to promote the narrative that ours is a country of principled peacekeepers, rather than a nation of principled warriors.
Little consideration has apparently been given to how it would not be a contradiction to honour Canada’s distinguished history of peacekeeping and its far longer, equally noble history as peacemaking because both have been about making the world a safer place.
Senators on the national security and defence committee will have a chance Tuesday to ask Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan on the government’s plans.
It is a tricky file for Sajjan, who served three tours as a senior military intelligence gatherer in Kandahar, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who has publicly sought to downplay what he regards as the militarism of the Harper government.
It is a fact that the United Nations peacekeeping missions Trudeau greatly admires and talks about Canada being part in future no longer exist. Almost every UN sponsored military mission now is extremely dangerous. Today’s blue berets are, in reality, blue helmets and must be prepared to fight at a moment’s notice.
Sajjan is not the only respected Liberal Afghan vet who should publicly state where he stands on how Canada should remember its long military engagement in Afghanistan. Liberal Party whip Andrew Leslie was deputy commander of the international mission in Afghanistan in 2003, before returning home to eventually run the Canadian Army. Another Afghan veteran is retired RCAF Lt. Col. Karen McCrimmon, now Liberal MP for Kanata—Carleton.
As diplomats were also to be honoured for their brave service by the Afghan national memorial, it would be worthwhile for senators, MPs and the media to seek out the opinions of ambassadors such as Bill Crosbie, Elissa Goldberg and Ben Rowswell, and former ambassador and Conservative cabinet minister Chris Alexander who all led teams of diplomats who engaged in “combat diplomacy” in Afghanistan.
Walt Natynczyk, who ran the Canadian Armed Forces for much of the Afghan campaign, now deputy minister of Veterans Affairs, would have a highly informed opinion too. So would Canada’s best-known Kandahar vet, Gen. Jonathan Vance, who now sits in Natynczyk’s old chair as chief of defence staff.
But most of all, it is the voices of the battalions of soldiers, aviators and sailors who served in often harrowing situations in Afghanistan that must be heard. A few Afghan vets generated a lot of noise about alleged shortcomings in the treatment of veterans who served there. Judging by my email and social media streams, many vets of the war against al- Qaida and the Taliban are furious that their service and the sacrifices of their fallen comrades in Afghanistan have been turned into yet another hot potato where politicians can score partisan points.
The families of the 158 Canadians who died in that bleak, hot, distant land and the thousands more who returned home with severe physical injuries and mental trauma deserve much better than that.
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