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While much of the world celebrated VE-Day, the Canadian city of Halifax rioted. I explore the May 7-8, 1945, chaos in my latest Legion Magazine feature, "Going Overboard," which is now available online: legionmagazine.com/going-overbo... 📸 Halifax Municipal Archives/102-16N-0015.4

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

KAPUT! Gunners of the 12th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery with the Victory issue of the Maple Leaf newspaper, Aurich, Germany, 20 May 1945.

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🧵Today, the 80th anniversary of VE-Day, is a day to rejoice, yes, to celebrate the end of bloodshed in Europe. But it is also, of course, a day to commemorate, to remember the millions murdered by the Nazi regime and the many thousands who died to end Hitler's reign of terror.

submitted 3 days ago • 3 comments

In my new Legion Magazine article, I interview filmmaker Colin Field about his new documentary on Ontario's WW II farmerette program. Some 40,000 Canadian women served in the province's agricultural sector for the Allied war effort. legionmagazine.com/95780-2/ 📸 We Lend a Hand.

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Stab in the dark: Does anyone know anything about Canadians at the Battle of Waterloo (yes, that's right). I'm looking to explore figures such as Captain Alexander Macnab and other Upper/Lower Canada-born soldiers who fought in the ranks.

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Missed it last week? Here is my latest Legion Magazine article detailing a new documentary on Canada's Operation Faust: legionmagazine.com/combat-video...

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This time 80 years ago, Canada's leading role in the liberation of the Netherlands had entered its final days as the German surrender in the country, not to mention VE-Day itself, edged ever closer. You can learn more in my Legion Magazine special issue, which remains available!

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In my latest Legion Magazine article, combat videographer Alison MacLean discusses her new documentary on Operation Faust, a Canadian-led initiative to supply provisions to the starving Dutch populace in the final weeks of WW II. legionmagazine.com/combat-video... 📸 Het Utrechts Archief

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Purely on the off chance, does anyone have a copy of Journal of a War: North-West Europe 1944-1945, a memoir by North Nova Scotia Highlander Donald Pearce? Ideally, I'd need someone to photograph a couple of extracts. It's a borderline immediate thing otherwise I'll purchase it.

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

April 30, 2025, marks 80 years since the evilest, vilest genocidal maniac, Adolf Hitler, killed himself in a Berlin bunker as his Reich crumbled around him. Today, we remember the millions murdered by his regime, and the thousands more who sacrificed their lives to end his reign of terror.

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My latest Legion Magazine article: An American 1812 war prize, the return of the Mace of Upper Canada to Ontario symbolized the evolution of cross-border relations. 📸 Wikimedia; Legislative Assembly of Ontario; Wikimedia/Royal Museums Greenwich; Owen Staples legionmagazine.com/ceremonial-s...

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My latest Legion Magazine article: An American 1812 war prize, the return of the Mace of Upper Canada to Ontario symbolized the evolution of cross-border relations. legionmagazine.com/ceremonial-s...

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Missed it last week? For my latest Legion Magazine article, I interviewed British military historian James Holland about Canada's contributions during the Second World War. "They never waver," he says. "My admiration for the Canadians knows no bounds." legionmagazine.com/they-never-w...

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The utter madness of watching the Harlem Globe Trotters last night. No idea what happened, but it was jolly good fun.

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"They never waver" is what acclaimed British military historian James Holland had to say about Canada's WW II contribution when I recently spoke with him. You can read the Legion Magazine exclusive interview here: legionmagazine.com/they-never-w... 📸 griffonmerlin.com

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"They never waver" is what acclaimed British military historian James Holland had to say about Canada's WW II contribution when I recently spoke with him. You can read the Legion Magazine exclusive interview here: legionmagazine.com/they-never-w... 📸 griffonmerlin.com

submitted 17 days ago • 1 comment

Today marks the 74th anniversary of the Korean War's April 22-25, 1951, Battle of Kap'yong. Amid the Canadian defence, Lieutenant Mike Levy played a critical role in preventing a Chinese breakthrough. Read more in my Legion Magazine article. 📸 Military Museums. legionmagazine.com/a-canadian-g...

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Missed it last week? Here is my latest Legion Magazine interview with RCAF Foundation CEO Jeremy Diamond, discussing the organization's newly published children's book on Canadian aviation. legionmagazine.com/rcaf-foundat...

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Missed it last week? Here is my latest Legion Magazine interview with RCAF Foundation CEO Jeremy Diamond, discussing the organization's newly published children's book on Canadian aviation. legionmagazine.com/rcaf-foundat...

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A pleasant surprise to see Route 19 in Inverness open out of season.

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Coffee and Cheez-It breaks on the Cabot Trail.

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Finding the rainy roads (slightly) less travelled around the Cabot Trail

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Did I literally bring a TV to our TV-less accommodation in Cape Breton, and thus for the entirety of our spontaneous Cabot Trail journey, just to watch the latest episode of Doctor Who? Yes. Yes, I did.

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Spontaneous Cape Breton trip (yes, even in April) begins in Baddeck and Ingonish.

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We need more of this! My latest Legion Magazine article is an interview with the RCAF Foundation's CEO, Jeremy Diamond. His organization has just published a children's book on the RCAF. We discuss its origins and importance. 📸 RCAF Foundation. legionmagazine.com/rcaf-foundat...

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Missed it last week? Here is my latest Legion Magazine feature on Mona Parsons, a Nova Scotian Broadway performer, nurse, Dutch resistance member, German prison escapee, and all-round Canadian inspiration. legionmagazine.com/moed-en-vert...

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Missed it last week? Here is my latest Legion Magazine interview with Jared Shawcross, the acting interpretation officer for HMCS Haida National Historic Site. legionmagazine.com/an-armchair-...

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Celebrating Doctor Who day the right way, by dressing up in appropriate attire (an old habit of mine) and thrusting reference upon reference on one's beloved Canadian friends.

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#OTD 80 years ago (April 12, 1945), 2nd Canadian Division liberated Westerbork transit camp, freeing 876 Dutch Jews. Hundreds of people had passed through en route to extermination camps, including a young girl named Anne Frank. Today, the rails have been raised so they may never be used again.

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Selfie just because.

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My latest Legion Magazine feature tells the stranger-than-fiction tale of Mona Parsons, a Canadian (specifically Nova Scotian) Broadway performer, nurse, informal Dutch resistance member, Nazi prison escapee, and all-round inspiration. 📸 Andria Hill. legionmagazine.com/moed-en-vert...

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

My latest Legion Magazine feature tells the stranger-than-fiction tale of Mona Parsons, a Canadian (specifically Nova Scotian) Broadway performer, nurse, informal Dutch resistance member, Nazi prison escapee, and all-round inspiration. 📸 Andria Hill. legionmagazine.com/moed-en-vert...

submitted 30 days ago • 1 comment

Dubbed Canada’s “fightingest ship,” HMCS Haida is the last Tribal-class destroyer in existence. In my latest Legion Magazine article, I embark on an armchair tour with the museum's acting interpretation officer Jared Shawcross. 📸 Parks Canada. legionmagazine.com/an-armchair-...

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In William Longstaff's painting "The Ghosts of Vimy," commemorating the April 9-12, 1917, Battle of Vimy Ridge, Canada's fallen rise once more. The solemn spectres wander toward the memorial above, where Mother Canada awaits their return. Lest We Forget. 📸 Wikipedia.

submitted 31 days ago • 3 comments

In William Longstaff's painting "The Ghosts of Vimy," commemorating the April 9-12, 1917, Battle of Vimy Ridge, Canada's fallen rise once more. The solemn spectres wander toward the memorial above, where Mother Canada awaits their return. Lest We Forget. 📸 Wikipedia.

submitted 31 days ago • 3 comments

My latest Legion Magazine article 😊 I appreciate everyone who reads, shares, comments, or all of the above! legionmagazine.com/historian-mi...

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My latest Legion Magazine article 😊 I appreciate everyone who reads, shares, comments, or all of the above! legionmagazine.com/historian-mi...

submitted 35 days ago • 1 comment

I interview the Canadian War Museum's historian Michael Petrou for my latest Legion Magazine piece on Canada's role in the Spanish Civil War. Some 1,600 Canadian anti-fascists fought for Spanish democracy, 400 of whom died in the struggle. 📸 Michael Petrou legionmagazine.com/historian-mi...

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

I interview the Canadian War Museum's historian Michael Petrou for my latest Legion Magazine piece on Canada's role in the Spanish Civil War. Some 1,600 Canadian anti-fascists fought for Spanish democracy, 400 of whom died in the struggle. 📸 Michael Petrou legionmagazine.com/historian-mi...

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

Just over a year in my dream job with Legion Magazine. This come-from-aways Brit has had the honour of a lifetime telling Canada's wartime stories and highlighting its Veterans.

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Check out my latest Legion Magazine article on a Boer War-era Canadian postcard, a relic that now "boasts a complex duality" in the years and decades since the controversial conflict: legionmagazine.com/postcard-fro... 📸 New Brunswick Museum/1963.16.3.1; New Brunswick Musuem/FE-F4-2.

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments