Canadian Forces Considering Dropping Citizenship Requirements

By: Tony Keene, CBC News Opinions

The Canadian Armed Forces recently said that in the interest of boosting ranks, it is considering changing its requirement that recruits have Canadian citizenship — a policy that many assumed to be longstanding.

In fact, the longstanding practice in our military has been to enroll non-citizens. It has long been part of our military tradition. If it had not been, I wouldn't be here writing this column.

In the First World War, the Canadian Expeditionary Force, which fought on the Western Front, was largely made up of British-born men throughout the entire four years of that conflict. They were given priority for recruitment in some cases, and even as late as October of 1917, a survey showed that the CEF was still 55 per cent British. And that was all ranks. If you take out the officers, who were largely Canadian-born, the percentage rises to about 65 per cent.

And that, after more than three years of war.

Canada was awarded 73 Victoria Crosses in that conflict. Only 30 of them went to those born in this country; the rest went to foreigners, almost all of them British.

When the war ended, large numbers of those men did not come home to Canada, but went back to the British Isles. They weren't Canadian, and did not consider themselves to be. Most of them joined because they were unemployed, and wanted to go home to Britain. Three hots and a cot, and a steamship bunk.

After the Second World War, when not only Brits but many Americans served in our uniforms, the Royal Canadian Air Force was being equipped with the Bomarc anti-aircraft missile. The need for increased security prompted the formation of an Air Force Police branch, and recruiters immediately set out, not across Canada but across the Atlantic, seeking to lure the famed British Bobby to come to our shores.

At the time, the the Metropolitan London Police were thought to be the finest police force on earth, and Brit cops were thought to be superior overall.

One of those was my father.

Recruitment on the streets of London

Having served in the Household Cavalry, he was now in the Metropolitan Police Mounted Branch. While riding through the streets of London in 1955, he was hailed by a Canadian air force recruiter:

"Good morning constable! Are you thinking about emigrating? The Royal Canadian Air Force needs policemen."

And that's how I got here.

After living in Alberta for five years, we were posted to France, and then Germany with the 1st Canadian Air Division.

I remember going into the guardhouse at Grostenquin in France to see my father, and hearing nothing but British accents from everyone in there. The entire shift was British.

The author's father, Cpl. Jack Keene, being decorated at RCAF 2 Wing, Grostenquin, France in 1961. (Supplied)

Upon our return to Canada in 1964, we settled at Base Borden in Ontario and at the age of 17, I joined my local militia regiment, the Grey and Simcoe Foresters. Citizenship was never an issue. Three years later, I was commissioned and joined my local newspaper, The Barrie Examiner, and my two careers moved forward in tandem.

We were called "landed immigrants" and for all intents and purposes, we were the same as citizens.

When my father retired in 1969, we were still not citizens, and this caused a flap when my parents returned to Britain for two years and then tried to come back. They were turned down as "undesirable immigrants" and it took newspaper headlines and a ministerial warrant to allow them back in.

We all became Canadian citizens shortly after that. I remember walking into the citizenship office in uniform, as I was on reserve duty at the time. I was shown into an office where a woman administered the oath, had me sign a piece of paper, and that was it. My certificate arrived in the mail shortly afterwards.

Enrolling non-citizens in the Forces is a Canadian tradition going back to the beginning of our military. This is nothing new, and it will not only provide us with skilled and trained soldiers, but eventually with more solid citizens, especially if we give them a "fast track" way of doing it.

If the world needs more Canada, Canada needs more Canadians. This is another good way to get them.

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This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ.

New Book: The Role of Canadian Jews During World War Two

By: Bill Gladstone, The Canadian Jewish News 

Double Threat: Canadian Jews, The Military, and World War II, by Ellin Bessner (New Jewish Press)

One of the first books to be released by the Toronto-based New Jewish Press may turn out to be one of its most impressive. Double Threat, by Ellin Bessner, leaves no stones unturned in its telling of the full-blooded saga of the heroic participation of Jewish men and women in the Canadian military during the Second World War.

It’s a worthy topic, and one that, surprisingly, has never been covered in such depth before. For that reason, the book has the feel of a popular Canadian Jewish classic, comparable, say, to None Is Too Many (Irving Abella-Harold Troper) or Canada’s Jews: A People’s Journey (Gerald J. J. Tulchinsky).

Nearly 17,000 Canadian Jews donned military uniforms in the Second World War, out of a total of more than one million Canadians who served in the war. Bessner probably interviewed close to 200 veterans or their family members, and searched archives and libraries for written accounts of the experiences of others, including the 450 Canadian Jews who died while serving.

It was the tombstone of one such casualty – 25-year-old George Meltz, a bombardier in the Royal Canadian Artillery who died on July 8, 1944 – that inspired Bessner to write this book. It was likely Meltz’s young widow who arranged for the epitaph that Bessner found so moving: “Deeply mourned by his wife and family, he died so Jewry shall suffer no more.”

A theme of the book is the observation that Jews weren’t fighting merely to preserve democracy and freedom for ourselves and our children: for many, it was much more personal than that. Some described it as “fighting Amalek,” the ancient, perennial enemy of the Jewish people.

Flight Sgt. Herbert Wolf of Ottawa wrote home: “To me this is more our fight than anyone else’s and I pray to God before I die I will have the satisfaction of seeing some work of Nazism destroyed by my own hands.”

The well-known Ben Dunkelman of Toronto enlisted against his parents’ wishes because, “As a Jew I had a special score to settle with the Nazis,” he wrote. “As a loyal Canadian, it was my duty to volunteer to fight.”

The title, Double Threat, comes from a letter that Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King wrote to the Canadian Jewish Congress in 1947, expressing gratitude for the contribution of Jewish troops to the Allied victory. He correctly saw the war and Hitler as a “double threat” to Jewish servicemen, noting they fought not only against “Nazi and Fascist aggression,” but “also for the survival of the Jewish nation.”

Double Threat marches us into all the major battles and actions of the war, including the Battle of Hong Kong, Dieppe, and of course D-Day. It relates tales of Jewish POWs captured behind enemy lines and soldiers who helped to liberate the Nazi concentration and death camps. It examines the various branches of the armed forces – army, navy, air force, merchant navy – from the viewpoints of both men and women.

Wartime experiences run the gamut from signing up to coming home, including life in the barracks, adventures AWOL and off-duty activities such as dates with lady friends and liaisons with prostitutes. On the other end of the spectrum, the book explores the difficulties observant Jews had saying daily prayers, keeping kosher, and commemorating Jewish holidays.

Max Clement, who was serving with the 48th Highlanders in Italy, was initially mystified when he and many other Jewish servicemen were called back from the front for some unknown reason; he was amazed to learn it was so they could take part in a Passover seder. “We had a very, very fine meal and we had wine and everything else,” Clement recalled. “That was something I suppose we’ll never forget.”

Sadly, anti-Semitism raised its ugly head as well, and long before our Jewish servicemen and -women went overseas. Some experienced unfriendliness, and worse, right in their local recruitment offices. When it emerged that a certain colonel was rejecting all Jews in Windsor, the town’s then-mayor David Croll invited a photographer from the Windsor Star to go with him when he went to enlist so, as he later explained, “They couldn’t refuse.”

Toronto physician Jacob Markowitz was rejected, he was told, because he had been born in Romania. Later British Intelligence hired him because of his fluency in Romanian, and he was used as a spy. Markowitz always resented the Canadian military for denying him the privilege of wearing the maple leaf on his uniform.

Buoyed and swept along by a stream of anecdotes, Double Threat offers a grunt’s-eye view of the war from participants who were variously heroic, unextraordinary, even unheroic. Overall, Bessner celebrates the bravery of that generation of Canadian Jews who met the challenge of history at that very dark hour.

Joey Jacobson’s War: A Jewish Canadian Airman in the Second World War,
by Peter J. Usher
(Wilfrid Laurier University Press)

Joseph Jacobson of Montreal, who moved to Toronto before the Second World War, was a prolific letter-writer to his father long before he entered the Air Force and was shipped to Britain. The letters continued as Jacobson joined a British squadron tasked with bombing raids on Germany. In his own words, Jacobson explains why he enlisted, his understanding of strategy, tactics, and the effectiveness of the air war.

Although Jacobson died at age 24 during an aerial raid near Muenster, Germany in 1942, his diaries and letters live on in this impressive book, written by his cousin, Peter J. Usher. “Even before he left Canada, Joey was convinced that he would be engaging in a mortal struggle for civilization: a total war in which there could be no partial or limited victory,” Usher writes.

Usher also used Joey’s father’s diary in compiling this lively and intimate account of one man’s war. Interestingly, Usher writes at greater length about one Canadian Jewish serviceman’s wartime experiences than Ellin Bessner did in describing the wartime experiences of all Canadian Jewish servicemen in Double Threat.

As poets have observed, there is sometimes more to observe in a single grain of sand than in an entire beachhead.

On November 11 - Take Time to Remember

By: Geoffrey Johnson, Kingston Whig-Standard

In our fast-paced, technologically driven age, we have a world of knowledge available to us in our smartphones, tablets and computers. And yet many of us know little of Canada's proud military history and the sacrifices made by those Canadians in uniform who defended freedom and democracy.

Remembrance Day is a time to remember and honour those sacrifices and to learn about the military campaigns that helped to shape Canada and sometimes even the world. Of course, it is impossible to do justice to the accomplishments of the Canadian military in a few paragraphs, but we can at least acknowledge some of the pivotal moments in our history.

First World War and the Battle at Vimy Ridge

"There is no question that Vimy Ridge was an unmitigated Canadian military success," University of Calgary military historian Prof. David J. Bercuson said in a telephone interview. "It was the first time that all four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together to achieve an objective.

"It wasn't a war-winning battle," continued Bercuson, who leads the university's Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies. "We didn't change the course of the First World War by winning the Battle of Vimy Ridge. I think we more proved that we were becoming a capable fighting force as a result of the Battle of Vimy Ridge."

According to the Veterans Affairs Canada's website, 100,000 Canadians fought in the battle. There were approximately 11,000 Canadian casualties, of which nearly 3,600 were fatal.

"By the end of the First World War, Canada, a country of less than eight million citizens, would have more than 650,000 servicemen," notes the website. "The conflict took a huge toll with more than 66,000 Canadians losing their lives and 170,000 being wounded."

Canada was recognized by the United Kingdom "as being a major contributor" to the U.K.'s forces in Europe and was permitted to sign the Treaty of Versailles at the conclusion of the First World War, stated Bercuson. In addition, Canada's contribution to the war effort spurred London to enter into talks with Ottawa, which "eventually led to complete independent Dominion status for Canada in 1931."

Second World War and the Italian campaign

"Our importance to the British and the Americans in helping to win that war, led to their considering us a considerably important nation in the post-war period," Bercuson said of Canada's role in the Second World War. For example, Canada was included in the "very earliest discussions" that gave rise to the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949.

Canadians distinguished themselves during the Italian operations, their first sustained ground campaign of the Second World War. In the summer of 1943, Canadian forces took part in the Allied capture of Sicily, before moving on to the Italian mainland.

"The Italian campaign was a very difficult campaign," said Bercuson, noting that the terrain was hilly and mountainous with many river valleys. Given the easily defendable terrain, the Germans "fought a defensive battle from the very beginning." In December 1943, after intense house-to-house combat, the Canadians captured Ortona, a key Adriatic port.

The Germans blew up bridges and tunnels and culverts, and dug in around those positions. And that made taking those positions "very difficult," Bercuson said. "So every time the Canadians come to another river, they've got to fan out; they've got to bridge the river; they've got to cross under enemy fire." As a result, Canadian forces "took a lot of casualties in the Italian campaign." More than 26,000 Canadians were wounded and nearly 6,000 died.

Historians argue about the importance of the Italian campaign. One thing is for certain, said Bercuson, the Canadian offensive "drew off a number of German divisions that would've fought on the eastern front or faced us in France when we invaded in June of 1944."

Liberation of the Netherlands

Canada played a big role in the liberation of the Netherlands, sacrificing more than 7,600 Canadian soldiers in combat, including the Battle of the Scheldt and house-to-house fighting. "I think the Scheldt estuary battle was probably the most important Canadian victory of the war," Bercuson declared.

"The Battle of the Scheldt was a military operation in northern Belgium and southwestern Netherlands that took place during the Second World War," states a Veterans Affairs Canada report, which is part of its online Remembrance Series. "On September 12, 1944, the First Canadian Army was given the task of clearing the Scheldt of German occupiers."

To put the importance of the Battle of the Scheldt in proper context, Bercuson compared it to the Vimy Ridge victory of the First World War. "It was far more important in comparison to Vimy Ridge, had a much greater impact on the outcome of the war in the west [of Europe] than did Vimy Ridge," he asserted.

The Scheldt estuary (tidal river) was the route to the strategic sea port of Antwerp, which was the second-largest port in northwest Europe at that time, explained Bercuson. After the D-Day Invasion in June 1944, the Allies advanced through Nazi-occupied France, Belgium and the Netherlands. "Access to this port was essential to supply the Allied armies as they continued their push towards Germany to defeat Adolf Hitler's forces and free Western Europe from four years of Nazi occupation which had begun in April 1940," notes the Veterans Affairs Canada document.

The British captured the port of Antwerp in September 1944. However, said Bercuson, the Germans controlled areas along the Scheldt, giving them plenty of room to wage a defensive campaign.

"The Germans had mined the river, and they had fortified both sides of the river," Bercuson continued. "So it was impossible for the Allies to get supplies up the river into the port of Antwerp. The job was given to the Canadian Army to liberate the approaches to the port of Antwerp. And it was a long and very costly battle."

The fighting along the Scheldt finally concluded near the end of November 1944, just two weeks before the Germans launched their largest counteroffensive of the Second World War in Belgium, called the Battle of the Bulge. Because the port of Antwerp had been liberated and the Scheldt had been secured, "the Allies are able to pour reinforcements of troops and materiel into Antwerp to help beat the Germans back," Bercuson said.

Battle of the Atlantic

The Battle of the Atlantic was "one of the most important battles in the war," stated Bercuson of the Allies' struggle to keep shipping lanes open between Great Britain and North America. Were it not for the supplies and fuel shipped from Canada and the United States, the United Kingdom would likely not have survived.

In addition, Bercuson said, the Allies needed to ship millions of soldiers and thousands of tanks and trucks and aircraft across the Atlantic in preparation for the invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. "If the Germans were able to choke off the sea routes to the United Kingdom, it would have been very, very difficult for the Allies to win the war in the west," Bercuson said.

German U-boats or submarines mercilessly attacked merchant marine ships carrying supplies bound for the U.K., threatening to cut off the Brits lifeline to North America. "The Royal Canadian Navy played a significant role in keeping the sea lanes open by helping to escort convoys and by also helping to destroy U-boats," Bercuson said.

According to Veteran Affairs Canada, more than 1,600 Merchant Navy personnel from Canada and Newfoundland lost their lives in the Battle of the Atlantic. It is also important to remember the sacrifices of the brave men of both the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force. "Most of the 2,000 RCN officers and men who died during the war were killed during the Battle of the Atlantic, as were 752 members of the RCAF," according to Veterans Affairs Canada.

Korea and Afghanistan

The Korean Conflict is often ignored by ordinary Canadians. "If the United Nations had not intervened with armed forces, including Canadians, to help South Korea fight off the invasion of North Korea, which occurred in June of 1950, if the North Koreans had conquered the Korean Peninsula, South Korea as we know it today wouldn't exist," Bercuson said.

After decades of development, South Korea has "become pretty well as free a society as anywhere on earth," he continued. "That never would have happened under Communist leadership."

Similarly, Canada tried to bring stability to Afghanistan. "I think people have to remember what our mission was in Kandahar Province," Bercuson said of Canada's role in the Afghan war launched after the jihadist strikes on the United States of Sept. 11, 2001. "Our primary mission was to take over from the United States under the auspices of NATO, to basically allow the Americans to shift more forces to Iraq."

Canada was largely successful in that mission. Bercuson pointed out that Canadian forces kept "most important parts of Kandahar Province free from the Taliban."

However, he acknowledged that we won't know for "a long time" how successful the Canadian and NATO mission has been in Afghanistan. After all, South Korea was a military dictatorship in the decades after the Korean Conflict, but it eventually evolved into a liberal democracy. "We can't really tell what the end result is going to be in Afghanistan at this stage of the game, because the war is still ongoing," Bercuson said.

Canadian contributions to the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean Conflict, and the Afghan campaign "weren't the largest by any means," Bercuson stated. "But I don't think that's important. The important thing is that those wars demanded that allied countries that share a common view of the world stepped up to the aggressor and said: 'You're not going to get away with this.'"

By fighting in those conflicts, said the history professor, Canada demonstrated that it was becoming a "mature and independent" nation. "As a mature and independent nation, as we are today, we have responsibilities that go beyond our own borders."

Does Bercuson have a message for Canadians about Remembrance Day?

"Yeah. Go to a ceremony."

Follow Geoffrey P. Johnston on Twitter @GeoffyPJohnston.

The Kingston Whig-Standard 2016 ©

Canadian Army Paratroopers Celebrate the 72nd Anniversary of Operation MARKET GARDEN

Canadian Army Press Release

Sixty-five soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, The Royal 22e Régiment based in Valcartier, Que., and 9 other Canadian Armed Forces personnel will participate in activities commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the Second World War’s Operation MARKET GARDEN in Arnhem, the Netherlands, from September 13 to 17, 2016.

Organized by the 11th Airmobile Brigade of the Royal Netherlands Army, the commemorative activities for this historic offensive will occur in two parts. First, international airborne operations units will conduct parachute jumps from September 13 to 16 on Exercise Falcon Leap and exchange “wings”, the uniform insignia and award which designate parachute jumpers. Then, on September 17, the Canadian paratroopers will jump simultaneously with counterparts from Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom in a re-enactment of the "mass jump" that was the hallmark of Operation MARKET GARDEN.

A ceremony honouring the memory of the soldiers who participated in the operation in 1944 will conclude the commemoration.

"The presence of our soldiers in the commemorative activities in Arnhem demonstrates the commitment of the Canadian Armed Forces to remember the heroic actions of Canada and allied countries that helped liberate the Netherlands during the Second World War and to pay tribute to the soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. Exercise FALCON LEAP and the jump commemorating Operation MARKET GARDEN also provide an ideal opportunity to share knowledge with participating nations and further enhance our skills in airborne operations.” - Lieutenant-Colonel Frédéric Pruneau, Commanding Officer of the 3rd Battalion, The Royal 22e Régiment


More than 800 paratroopers from different countries will participate in Exercise FALCON LEAP and the commemoration of the 72nd anniversary of Operation MARKET GARDEN. Troops from Belgium, Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom will be among those participating.

During Exercise FALCON LEAP, the Canadian paratroopers will jump from aircraft from various countries taking part. Participating nations will have the opportunity to mutually earn parachute “wings”— an award which acknowledges specific jump achievements.

Operation MARKET GARDEN is an important moment in the history of the Netherlands and of the Second World War. The relationship that exists today between Canada and the Netherlands dates back to the Second World War, in which Canada played a key role in liberating the Dutch people.

Canadian WW2 Remains Identified as Pvt. K. Duncanson

DND Press Release
Ottawa – National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

The Department of National Defence (DND) and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) have identified the remains of a Second World War soldier found in a farmer’s field near Molentje, Damme, Belgium, as those of Private Kenneth Donald Duncanson from Dutton, Ontario. Private Duncanson was a member of The Algonquin Regiment, which served in 10th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Armoured Division in Northwest Europe.

DND and the CAF have notified members of Private Duncanson’s family, and Veterans Affairs Canada is providing the family with ongoing support as final arrangements are made. Private Duncanson’s remains will be interred at Adegem Canadian War Cemetery in Belgium in the fall of 2016 by his Regiment. Next-of-kin have been invited to attend.

Adegem Canadian War Cemetery, Belgium (Commonwealth War Graves Commission)

DND’s Casualty Identification Program exists to identify unknown soldiers when their remains are discovered so that they may be buried with a name by their Regiment and in the presence of their family. In meeting this aim, the program fosters a sense of continuity and identity within the CAF, as it provides an opportunity for all Canadians to reflect upon the experiences of those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

“We are grateful for the dedication of the Raakvlak Intercommunal Archaeological Service of Belgium, and the support of our international partners, which ultimately made it possible for our officers to identify Private Duncanson, and to provide a sense of closure to his family, his Regiment, and the country which he served. He will not be forgotten.” - Harjit S. Sajjan, Defence Minister

“Private Duncanson gave his life in service to Canada during the Second World War. Now, finally, he may be solemnly laid to rest with the honour and dignity he deserves.”- Kent Hehr, Veterans Affairs Minister and Associate Minister of National Defence

Private Duncanson was born in Wallacetown, Ontario, on June 7, 1915. He married in 1939 and lived in Dutton, Ontario. He enlisted in the Canadian Army on August 24, 1942. He joined The Algonquin Regiment in April 1944.

Private Duncanson was killed on September 14, 1944, during an attempt by the Algonquin Regiment to establish a bridgehead crossing of the Dérivation de la Lys and the Leopold Canal, at the hamlet of Molentje, now in the municipality of Damme, Belgium. This was part of the preliminary battles leading up to the Battle of the Scheldt. Private Duncanson was 29 at the time of his death.
His name is recorded on panel 11 of the Groesbeek Memorial at the Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands, which commemorates by name more than 1,000 members of the Commonwealth land forces who died during the campaign in Northwest Europe between the time of crossing the Seine at the end of August 1944 and the end of the war in Europe, and whose graves are not known.

On Remembrance Day, November 11, 2014, a metal detector hobbyist discovered the remains of Private Duncanson in a farmer’s field near Molentje, Damme, Belgium.

Subsequently, the remains were fully recovered by the Raakvlak Intercommunal Archaeological Service of Bruges, Belgium, with assistance from DND’s Casualty Identification Program, and with the support of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Canadian Embassy in Brussels, and the Canadian Defence Attaché in Paris.

Private Duncanson’s identification resulted from a combination of historical context, anthropological analysis, artefact evidence, and dental records. The identification was made by the Casualty Identification Program, with the assistance of the Royal Canadian Dental Corps and the Canadian Museum of History.

CAF Divers Helping Clear WW1 & WW2 Explosives from Baltic Sea

Eleven Canadian Forces clearance divers and support personnel began participation in OP OPEN SPIRIT 2016 on May 13 in Lithuania.

These members of Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic) from Halifax, Nova Scotia, will work alongside personnel from the Lithuanian Naval Flotilla and 12 other partner nations until May 27 in order to clear explosive remnants of the First and Second World Wars in the Baltic Sea, according to the Canadian Forces news release.

Operation OPEN SPIRIT is a multinational naval mine clearance and ordnance disposal operation conducted on an annual basis since 1997. This mission aims to reduce the threat of unexploded ordnance throughout the Baltic Sea region, including seabed communications lines, international shipping routes, and fishing areas.

Kenney: RCN could receive as few as 11 CSC's

Last week a report came out regarding the $26 billion dollar budget for the Royal Canadian Navy's Canadian Surface Combatant Fleet which is supposed to replace and modernize the 4 HMCS Iroquois destroyers and the 12 HMCS Halifax-Class Frigates.

The initial CSC order called for 16 vessels to be built under the program. That number was later reduced to 15 due to budgetary constraints.

On Friday, October 2, 2015 Defence Minister Jason Kenney confirmed the bottom number possible. Kenney indicated that the government will not just write a blank check to the CSC program to ensure that 15 vessels are built - inflation and planning are taking their toll on the $26 Billion fixed budget, that is loosing close to $1 million per day in delays.

Kenney confirmed Friday that the $26 billion will purchase between 11 - 15 CSC Vessels. So 11 is now the bottom number. Now the Navy is concerned it will not get enough vessels to maintain its current level of operations; both domestically or internationally.

The lowered number does not come as a surprise to many Navy insiders; who have hinted that the fixed budget could produce as few as 8 CSC vessels.

With 8 to 11 CSC the Navy might have to look elsewhere to find more vessels to increase the size of its fleet. It is the only Navy in the world belonging to a country that borders 3 Oceans - and it might be down to 8 major vessels. That is pretty sad for a Navy that was once the third largest in the world (Post World War Two).

True Story behind the sinking of the USS Ingraham 1942

Propaganda is as old as conflict itself. Propagandize was used in World War Two to ensure push for an increase in recruitment numbers, especially in coastal towns such as Halifax, Nova Scotia.

For 70 Years the deaths of 300 US Navy sailors have been buried in the propaganda of the time. The USS Ingraham, which was launched in 1941, was escorting two Canadian troop transports and a larger supply convoy on its way towards England, when on August 22nd 1942 is sank off of Sable Island, known as the Maritime Graveyard of the Atlantic.

It was not Sable island that caused the sinking, but a false U-Boat scare that led the USS Ingraham and USS Buck to begin a cross-search and destroy pattern. In the fog and darkness of the North Atlantic, the Buck's bow was hit by the troop transport Awatea and almost simultaneously, the oil tanker Chemung t-boned the Ingraham, causing the Ingraham to sink instantly killing all by 11 of its crew. As the Ingraham sank, the unlocked depth charges on its deck exploded, killing many of the survivors in the water.

Until recently, thanks to a National Post investigation the Ingraham was thought to have been hit by a torpedo while protecting the Awatea. There are no specific memorials to the USS Ingraham in Halifax - the port it last sailed from.

You can read the entire report here:

How 300 U.S. sailors died off the coast of Nova Scotia

CAF Divers in Estonia clearing WW1 & WW2 Ordnance

Last week DND released its information with regards to  OP OPEN SPIRIT 2015 - where Canadian Armed Forces Divers are joining Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the US in Baltic waters - searching for and clearing unexploded ordnance from the world wars. The Operation started May 15, 2015 and runs to May 28 2015.

The CAF have sent 14 clearance divers and support personnel based out of Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic) from CFB Halifax.

OP OPEN SPIRIT 2015's aims are to reduce the threat of unexploded ordnance throughout the Baltic Sea region. The region saw heavy fighting during both the First and Second World war, which included air bombardment, naval battles, mine-laying, and submarine warfare. As a result there are remaining ordnance which failed to detonate - causing a danger to maritime shipping and fisheries in the area.

HMCS Fredericton visits Agira War Cemetery

The Royal Canadian Navy released news today that while deployed in the Mediterranean, the crew of HMCS Fredericton took an opportunity to visit the Canadian Agira War Cemetary in Sicily.  The visit took place on January 23 2015.

During the Invasion of Sicily in 1943, the 1st Canadian Infantry and 1st Canadian Tank Brigade captured Agira. The cemetery is located on a hill side in the commune of Agira, located in the Province of Ennn - right in the heart of Sicily. Following the fall of Sicily, a decision was made to consecrate one cemetery for all Canadians killed in action in Sicily. The Agira Cemetery contains the resting place of 490 (6 are still unidentified) Canadians killed in 1943. (Another 58 who drowned while en route to Sicily are commemorated on the Cassino Memorial, in mainland Italy.

The crew of HMCS Fredericton held a small rememberance ceremony in memory of those who gave their lives during the Second World War, and where given time to wonder the site and pay their individual respects to those buried there.

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" John 15:13

Devil's Brigade to Receive Congressional Gold Medal

This week in the U.S Capital as things continue to heat up with the Republican controlled Congress, members of Canada's first Special Forces Unit will be present and honoured. 

Members from the Joint U.S.-Canadian Devil's Brigade from World War Two are set to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. Around 40 or more surviving members will receive the medal on February 3, 2015. 

According to the Vancouver Province the Devil's accounted for 12,000 German casualties and captured more than 7,000 prisoners - while mainly operating in Italy and Souther France. 

In 2013, Canada Special Operations Forces Command (CANSOFCOM) said this about the Devil's Brigade: 

“Upon arrival in the Mediterranean Theatre, the FSSF was given the extremely difficult mission of taking the German-held, 963-metre mountain protecting the approaches to Rome, Italy.

Monte La Difensa, officially known as Hill 960, was the first major battle for the FSSF. The Forcemen, as members of the FSSF were known, battled rain, fog and snow during the night of December 2-3, 1943 to scale the treacherous northern side of the mountain as part of their surprise attack against the German positions. After an intense battle, despite sustaining severe casualties on the mountain, the members of the force were successful in taking their objectives.”

To read the full article please see the link Below:
Devil's Brigade to Receive Congressional Gold Medal

To read more about the Devil's Brigade see the Canada at War link