Re: Remembrance Day

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please move your holiday to another date as to not conflict with ours,
thanks

"James" <fake@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:ebma7gu5FHA.472@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Its rememberance day in Canada today...
>
> What Should We Remember?
> Formal records tell us about the size and strength of armies, military
> strategy, and the outcome of battles. Such information is vital, yet to
> fully appreciate military history we must try to understand the human face
> of war. Loss of comrades, extreme living conditions, intense training,
> fear, as well as mental, spiritual and physical hardship helps illuminate
> what the individual sailor, soldier and airman experienced in battle.
>
> The First World War 1914-1918
> In the First World War, the Canadians' first major battle occurred at
> Ypres, France, on April 22, 1915, where the Germans used poison gas. As
> approximately 150 tonnes of chlorine gas drifted over the trenches,
> Canadian troops held their line and stopped the German advance in spite of
> enormous casualties. Within 48 hours at Ypres and St. Julien, a third of
> the Canadians were killed. One of those who survived described the
> aftermath of a dreaded gas attack:
>
> The room was filled with dying and badly wounded men; trampled straw and
> dirty dressings lay about in pools of blood. The air, rank with the fumes
> of gas, was thick with the dust of flying plaster and broken brick, and
> stifling with the smoke from the burning thatch. 6
>
> Using outdated 19th century military strategy, Allied generals believed
> that sending wave after wave of infantry would eventually overwhelm the
> enemy. Soaring casualty rates proved that soldiers attacking with rifles
> and bayonets were no match for German machine guns. Each side dug in and
> soon the western front became a patchwork of trenches in France and
> Belgium stretching from Switzerland to the North Sea.
>
> In April 1917, the Canadians helped turn the tide of battle when they won
> a major victory at Vimy Ridge. This triumph came at high cost: more than
> ten thousand casualties in six days. Even with this victory, the war
> continued for more than a year. Finally, on November 11, 1918, the
> Armistice was signed and the Canadians took part in the triumphant entry
> into Mons, Belgium. Throughout this conflict, Canadians proved that they
> could pull their weight, and by their effort earned for Canada a new place
> among the nations of the world.
>
> The Second World War 1939-1945
> During the Second World War, Canadians fought valiantly on battlefronts
> around the world. More than one million men and women enlisted in the
> navy, the army and the air force. They were prepared to face any ordeal
> for the sake of freedom. When the war was over, more than 42,000 had given
> their lives. On the home front as well, Canadians were active as munitions
> workers, as civil defence workers, as members of voluntary service
> organizations, and as ordinary citizens doing their part for the war
> effort.
>
>
> The Dieppe Raid, August 1942. (National Archives of Canada C-14160)
>
> In December 1941, Canadian soldiers were participants in the unsuccessful
> defence of Hong Kong against the Japanese; 493 were wounded and 557 were
> killed in battle or at the hands of the Japanese as prisoners-of-war
> (POWs). The situation faced by the Canadian POWs was horrible; they
> laboured long hours and were given very little to eat. The daily diet was
> rice - a handful for each prisoner. Occasionally, a concoction of
> scavenged potato peelings, carrot tops and buttercups was brewed. The
> effect was obvious:
>
> Sidney Skelton watched the 900-calorie-a-day diet shrink his body from 145
> to 89 pounds. And whenever a group of prisoners could bribe a guard into
> giving them a piece of bread, they used a ruler to ensure everyone got an
> equal share.7
>
> Canadians played a leading role on the European front. On August 19, 1942,
> Canadians attacked the French port of Dieppe. Canadians made up almost 90
> per cent of the assault force. The raid was a disaster. Out of a force of
> 4,963 Canadians, 3,367 were killed, wounded, or became POWs. Lucien Dumais
> was there and described the beach upon landing:
>
>
> Soldier of the 1st RCR awaiting medical aid after night patrol, June
> 1952. (National Archives of Canada PA 128860)
> The beach was a shambles, and a lot of our men from the second wave were
> lying there either wounded or dead. Some of the wounded were swimming out
> to meet our flotilla and the sea was red with their blood. Some sank and
> disappeared. We stood by as they died, powerless to help; we were there to
> fight, not to pick up the drowning and the wounded. But the whole
> operation was beginning to look like a disaster.8
>
> Canadians played an essential role as the war continued. They participated
> in the conquest of Sicily in 1943, and defeated the Nazis in Italy despite
> fierce resistance especially at Ortona and Rimini. On June 6, 1944, D-Day,
> Canadians were in the front lines of the Allied forces who landed on the
> coast of Normandy. All three Canadian services (Navy, Army, and Air Force)
> shared in the assault. In Normandy, the fighting was fierce, and the
> losses were heavy. Approximately 14,000 Canadians landed on Juno Beach and
> suffered 1,074 casualties (including 359 fatalities).
>
> Canadians encountered fierce resistance from the German occupiers as they
> fought through Northwest Europe, particularly at Caen and Falaise, France,
> as well as the formidable task of clearing the English Channel ports in
> France and Belgium. They also saved the Allied advance from stalling by
> defeating the Nazis in the Scheldt estuary of Belgium and Holland -
> intense fighting over flooded terrain.
>
> In May 1945, victory in Europe became a reality and millions celebrated
> V-E Day. Still ahead lay the final encounter with Japan. Then, on August
> 6, 1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
> Three days later, a second bomb destroyed Nagasaki. On August 14, 1945,
> the Japanese accepted the Allied terms of unconditional surrender and the
> Second World War was over.
>
> The Korean War 1950-1953
> The hard-fought end to the Second World War did not provide Canadian
> troops with a long peace. By 1950, Canadian soldiers were mobilized on
> behalf of the United Nations (UN) to defend South Korea against an
> invasion by North Korea. By 1951, the People's Republic of China had
> joined North Korea against the UN force. In Korea, the Canadians fought at
> Kapyong, at Chail-li, in the advance across the Imjin River, and in the
> patrolling of the Chorwon Plain. When the hostilities ended in 1953,
> Canadians stayed as part of the peacekeeping force.
>
> The conditions in Korea were often difficult, with harsh weather, rough
> terrain, and an elusive and skillful enemy. In their own camp, they had to
> deal with casualties, illness and limited medical facilities. The winter
> of 1951 was especially severe. They were living twenty-four hours a day in
> trenches, which provided some protection but little comfort. As one
> soldier recalled, the weather aggravated what was already a demoralizing
> experience:
>
> Rain was running down my neck, my hands were numb, and I never seemed to
> be dry. Kneeling in the snow, or advancing in the rain, my knees and the
> front of my legs became wet. Then the dampness soaked right through and
> the skin underneath became tender and raw. 9
>
> Altogether, 26,791 Canadians served in the Korean War and another 7,000
> served between the cease-fire and the end of 1955 when Canadian soldiers
> were repatriated home. There were 1,558 casualties, 516 fatal. While
> Canada's contribution formed only a small part of the total United Nations
> effort, on a per-capita basis, it was larger than most of the other
> nations in the UN force.
>
> "It (Canada's participation in Korea) also marked a new stage in Canada's
> development as a nation. Canadian action in Korea was followed by other
> peacekeeping operations which have seen Canadian troops deployed around
> the world in new efforts to promote international freedom and maintain
> world peace." 10
>
>
> Troops of 2nd PPCLI during patrol, March 1951. (National Archives of
> Canada PA 115564)
>
> From all of these records of wars, the observations of the individuals who
> took part stand out as reminders of the true nature of conflict. Through
> knowledge of the realities, we may work more diligently to prevent them
> from happening again.
>
>
>


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