Upcoming Presentation by Norman Leach

Norman Leach has sent me an announcement for an upcoming presentation he will be giving:

"The Winnipeg Press Club Presents: Bringing Canada's Military History to Life Military Storytelling: It is Possible to Make History Interesting

The Winnipeg Press Club is proud to host a luncheon featuring our Ambassador at Large, author of best-seller Passchendaele: Canada’s Tragedy and Triumph on the Fields of Flanders, and a historian on the Paul Gross movie by the same name.

Join us for lunch and a lively discussion on the art of military storytelling.

When: Monday, September 19, 2011 at 12:00 noon
Where: Games Room, Royal Canadian Legion #4, 1755 Portage Avenue., Wpg.
Cost: $25, including taxes $20 for members of the Winnipeg Press Club and St. James Legion #4 and students – including taxes
Advance reservations are required by September 9.

To reserve your space and buy tickets:
go on-line to www.winnipegpressclub.com and click on the “events” tab
by email at winnipegpressclub@mts.net
by phone, call Wendy Hart at 204-800-1887

Note that the Legion #4 has a cash bar. It does not accept debit or credit cards.

About Norm Leach: Norm Leach brings Canadian military history vividly to life through his books, documentaries and presentations. Not for him the stodgy and dull recitation of battles won and lost and too many dates to memorize.

Norm is a historian, award-winning writer, documentary producer, professional speaker and adventurer. He has written five books on Canada’s military history. His latest is Sam Steele: A Canadian Hero. He’s currently working on a documentary on Steele.

Unveiling at The Military Museums in Calgary

I received the following item from Norman Leach in Calgary:

"World Trade Center Artefact Unveiling Ceremony
Sunday, 11 September 2011
10:30 AM
The Military Museums
4520 Crowchild Trail SW, Calgary AB

The Military Museums (TMM) will unveil a World Trade Center artefact on the 10th anniversary of this tragic date in world history. The 1,277 kilogram piece of exterior wall steel was graciously gifted to TMM by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. All members of the public are welcome to attend this outdoor event.

Acquisition commenced in 2009, when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey welcomed requests from national and international organizations to acquire steel from the World Trade Center. TMM is one of several organizations across Canada to have received such a gift. TMM extends a sincere debt of gratitude to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, to the September 11th Families' Association and to Dick Averns, a Calgary based artist and member of TMM's Art Gallery Advisory Council for his notification to TMM management of this opportunity.

The ceremony will include several distinguished speakers as well as conceptual sketches and a site model from Averns. Averns will continue to work with TMM's Art Gallery Advisory Council to propose a public installation through which viewers can engage and reflect. The final installation of the World Trade Center artefact will represent a link to The Founders' Gallery, a 4,000 square-foot gallery that hosts local, national and international art and heritage exhibitions at TMM.

Admission to TMM is free on Sunday, 11 September 2011. Attendees should dress comfortably for this outdoor event. TMM sincerely appreciates the donation of a non-perishable food product in support of the Veterans Food Bank and or a monetary donation to support our mission elements - to remember, to preserve and to educate."

University of Toronto Press books in Canadian History

The website for the University of Toronto Press has a "Canadian History" category some 43 pages in length, and I looked to see what lies therein with respect to Canadian military history:

David Bercuson, Blood on the Hills: The Canadian Army in the Korean War (published Apr 2002);

Terry Copp, Cinderella Army: The Canadians in Northwest Europe, 1944-1945 (Oct 2007);

Terry Copp, Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy (Jul 2004);

Paul Dickson, A Thoroughly Canadian General: A Biography of General H.D.G. Crerar (Nov 2007);

Susan R. Fisher, Boys and Girls in No Man's Land: English-Canadian Children and the First World War (Apr 2011);

J.L. Granatstein, Canada's Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace, 2nd edition (Jan 2011);

F. Murray Greenwood and Barry Wright (eds.), Canadian State Trials, Volume Two: Rebellion and Invasion in the Canadas, 1837-1839 (Dec 2002);

Andrew Iarocci, Shoestring Soldiers: The 1st Canadian Division at War, 1914-1915 (Sep 2008);

J.I. Little, Loyalties in Conflict: A Canadian Borderland in War and Rebellion, 1812-1840 (Dec 2008);

David MacKenzie, Canada and the First World War: Essays in Honour of Robert Craig Brown (Mar 2005);

Ian Miller, Our Glory and Our Grief: Torontonians and the Great War (Mar 2002)

Marc Milner, Canada's Navy: The First Century, 2nd edition (Jan 2010);

John Nelson Rickard, Politics of Command: Lieutenant-General A.G.L. McNaughton and the Canadian Army, 1939-1943 (Mar 2010);

Robert J. Sharpe, The Last Day, the Last Hour: The Currie Libel Trial, republished (Sep 2009);

Robert Teigrob, Warming Up to the Cold War: Canada and the United States' Coalition of the Willing, from Hiroshima to Korea (May 2009);

Brian Tennyson and Roger Sarty, Guardian of the Gulf: Sydney, Cape Breton, and the Atlantic Wars (May 2002);

George Woodcock, Gabriel Dumont (Mar 2003);

plus several more published more than a decade ago.

July 2011 New Books from Library and Archives Canada

The July 2011 new books list from Library and Archives Canada includes the following (relatively few titles) for readers of Canadian military history:

Terry "Stoney" Burke, Cold War Soldier: Life on the Front Lines of the Cold War (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2011);

Joseph Stanton Benoît Cadieux, Journal de Guerre [Mémoires de campagne d'un officier d'artillerie] (Montréal : VLB éditeur, 2011);

John D. Conrad, Scarce Heard Amid the Guns: An Inside Look at Canadian Peacekeeping (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2011);

Valerie Fortney, Sunray: The Death and Life of Captain Nichola Goddard (Toronto: McArthur, 2011); and

Jake Olafsen, Wearing the Green Beret: A Canadian with the Royal Marine Commandos (Toronto: Emblem, 2012).

A melage of material

I was away from home with my family last weekend, so didn't have a chance to blog. So, here is a collection of material I've gathered.

Fort Malden, in Amherstburg. Ontario, had its Military Heritage Days last weekend (we were there), and there's some material on The Amherstburg Echo website. It was pretty interesting, especially for my seven-year-old daughter - who lined up with the mini militia - and my wife (who worked there as a guide about 20 years ago).

RUSI (Royal United Service Institute) Vancouver has run a piece on the Canadian Military Education Centre Museum, which is located in the old CFB Chilliwack. This is "a living history museum that purposefully educates Canadian students, teachers and the public about Canadian military history. CMEC allows people to touch, feel and experience Canada's military history through hands-on interactive displays." The core of the museum revolves around military vehicles and it is open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 1000 to 1600 hours.

The Military Collectors' Club of Canada website recently came across my line of sight as a group dedicated to serving "as the focal point for Canadian Collectors of all types of military artifacts from medals, badges, artwork, to Military arms, vehicles and just about anything Militaria related." I've personally found in the past that such groups are incredible fonts of knowledge whose members are very willing to answer questions the historical researcher might have about particular areas of Canadian military heritage.

Online Review of "A Bard of Wolfe's Army"

Timothy Compeau, with the Department of History at the University of Western Ontario, has written a review of Ian M. McCulloch and Earl John Chapman (eds.), A Bard of Wolfe's Army: James Thompson, Gentleman Volunteer, 1733-1830 (Montreal, 2010), for the H-Canada listserv. Thompson was a member of the Fraser Highlanders present for the assault of Quebec City in 1759 and for the same city's defence in 1775.

Upcoming Conference on the First World War at UWO

The University of Western Ontario will be hosting an inter-disciplinary conference from 10 to 12 November 2011 titled The Great War from Memory to History. The tentative program for the conference is up and includes a wide range of papers in several categories, such as education, Aboriginal Canadians, war art and cinema, memory, narratives, ethnic background, remembrances, memorials, and literature. There will also be participation in the London, Ontario, municipal Remembrance Day service.

Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery website

I recently discovered a project website for the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, in Poperinge, Belgium. Titled "Daily reflections of the Great War", the research project "aims to bring into focus the story of the medical assistance behind the front line and to explain how the place provides a mirror of the whole of the Great War." The project managers are also appealing to anyone with information on the dead who are interred there to contact them. One of the interesting benefits of this website is the inclusion of a search function which allows the visitor to search through information available on the men buried in this Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery. While much of the information can be gleaned off of the attestation papers available on the Library and Archives Canada website, there are also images - including (so it appears) the headstone for each man.

CBC Digital Archives

I can't remember exactly what I was looking for - probably links to stories about Carpiquet - but earlier this month I stumbled across the CBC Digital Archives website, specifically for the "On This Day" material for 4 July. In this case, the highlighted piece is a five-minute radio clio from Matthew Halton recorded during the launch of the Canadian assault on the German positions at Carpiquet Airfield on 4 July 1944. Listed on the same page are links to radio pieces about Buzz Beurling and V-E Day celebrations in Canada. Amongst several search categories is "War and Conflict", the overarching category containing some 809 radio and television pieces. Some are contemporary to the subject, others remembrances by veterans and others. Deeper examination would clearly produce other very interesting items to students of Canadian military history.

Digital Book Index

The website of the Digital Book Index provides a list of links to more than 140,000 free "full-text digital books from more than 1800 commercial and non-commercial publishers, universities, and various private sites." The visitor can browse by subjects or search by author or title. Canadian content under the category of military history - World War I - personal narratives and diaries, for example, includes amongst the offerings: Frederick Bell's "The First Canadians in France", Ralph W. Bell's "Canada in War-Paint", Sapper W. Brindle's "France & Flanders: Four Years Experience Told in Poem & Story", Frank Carrel's "Impressions of War", H.D. Clark's "Extracts from the War Diary and Official Records of the 2nd Canadian Divisional Ammunition Column", Frederic Curry's "From the St. Lawrence to the Yser with the 1st Canadian Brigade", etc., etc. Each publication links to a page of the Internet Archive or other sources, the former providing electronic files in various formats - such as PDF, EPUB, Kindle, or even the option to read it online.

3,000 Posts on my Soldiers of the 38th Blog

The brief, biographical entries on my Soldiers of the 38th blog passed 3,000 posts yesterday! Only another 1,500 officers and men to go to fully establish the ranks of this Canadian Expeditionary Force battalion. From there, I can continue to incorporate additional material from sources I have on hand, their personnel files at Library and Archives Canada, and fantastic material supplied by family members. This is a long term project - always has been - but well worth the effort.

Book Reviews on the Website of "Canada's History"

The website for Canada's History (the excellent Canadian history magazine formerly known as The Beaver) has loads of book reviews online, including quite a few publications in Canadian military history, such as:

Peter Barton, Vimy Ridge and Arras: The Spring 1917 Offensive in Panoramas;

Dan Bjarnason, Triumph at Kapyong: Canada's Pivotal Battle in Korea;

Jim Blanchard, Winnipeg's Great War: A City Comes of Age;

Timothy Blazer, The Information Front: The Canadian Army and News Management during the Second World War;

Joseph Boydon, Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont;

George H. Cassar, Hell in Flanders Fields: Canadians at the Second Battle of Ypres;

Scott Chantler, Two Generals;

Tim Cook, The Madman and the Butcher: The Sensational Wars of Sam Hughes and General Arthur Currie;

Daniel Francis, Seeing Reds: The Red Scare of 1918-1919, Canada's First War on Terror;

Steven High, Occupied St. John's: A Social History of a City at War, 1939-1945;

Mark Milner and Glenn Leonard, New Brunswick and the Navy: Four Hundred Years;

John Nelson Rickard, The Politics of Command: Lieutenant-General A.G.L. McNaughton and the Canadian Army, 1939-1943;

Alan Taylor, The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies;

Mark Zuehlke, On to Victory: The Canadian Liberation of the Netherlands, March 23-May 5, 1945;

and many, many more!

Fall 2011 Catalogue for McGill-Queen's University Press

The Fall 2011 catalogue for McGill-Queen's University Press lists a few titles of interest to readers of Canadian military history - some new, some now in cheaper paperback editions - including:

Sandy Antal, A Wampum Denied, 2nd edition (release 1 Nov 2011) [war on the Detroit frontier in 1812-13];

Mary Frances Coady, Georges and Pauline Vanier: Portrait of a Couple (release 1 Aug 2011);

Peter Neary, On to Civvy Street: Canada's Rehabilitation Program for Veterans of the Second World War (release 1 Nov 2011);

Wesley B. Turner, British Generals in the War of 1812: High Command in the Canadas (paper release 1 Nov 2011); and

David Williams, Media, Memory, and the First World War (paper release 1 Oct 2011).

UBC Press Military and Security Studies 2011-12 Catalogue

The catalogue for the UBC Press Military and Security Studies 2011-12 publications is out and contains a whole bunch of Canadian military history titles:

Timothy Balzer, The Information Front: The Canadian Army and News Management during the Second World War (released January 2011);

Y.A. Bennett (ed.), Kidd the kids for dad, Don't forget to write: The Wartime Letters of George Timmins, 1916-18 (released 2009);

Michael K. Carroll, Pearson's Peacekeepers: Canada and the United Nations Emergency Force, 1956-67 (released 2009);

Tim Cook, Clio's Warriors: Canadian Historians and the Writing of the World Wars (released 2006);

Douglas E. Delaney, Five British and Canadian Generals at War, 1939-45 (released May 2011);

Serge Marc Durflinger, Veterans with a Vision: Canada's War Blinded in Peace and War (released 2010);

James G. Fergusson, Canada and Ballistic Missile Defence, 1954-2009 (released 2010);

Andrew B. Godefroy, Defence and Discovery: Canada's Military Space Program, 1945-74 (released March 2011);

Benjamin Isitt, From Victoria to Vladivostok: Canada's Siberian Expedition, 1917-19 (released 2010);

Philip P. Mason (ed.), After Tippecanoe: Some Aspects of the War of 1812 (released March 2011);

Michael Petrou, Renegades: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War (released 2008);

Aaron Plamondon, The Politics of Procurement: Military Acquisition in Canada and the Sea King Helicopter (released 2009);

Amy J. Shaw, Crisis of Conscience: Conscientious Objection in Canada during the First World War (released 2008);

David Curtis Skaggs and Larry L. Nelson, The Sixty Years' War for the Great Lakes, 1754-1814 (released 2010);

Kevin A. Spooner, Canada, the Congo Crisis, and UN Peacekeeping, 1960-64 (released 2009);

Cynthia Toman, An Officer and a Lady: Canadian Military Nursing and the Second World War (released 2007);

Randall Wakelam, Cold War Fighters: Canadian Aircraft Procurement, 1945-54 (to be released November 2011);

Timothy Wilford, Canada's Road to the Pacific War: Intelligence, Strategy, and the Far East Crisis" (to be released September 2011); and

James Wood, Militia Myths: Ideas of the Canadian Citizen Soldier, 1896-1921 (released 2010).

Canadian Historical Association 2012 Annual Meeting

The theme for the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association - "Crossroads: Scholarship in an Uncertain World - will observe the 200th anniversary of the commencement of the War of 1812 as well as other "transformative events of the past that have substantially altered the course of history." The conference will be held at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo, in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, from 28 to 30 May 2012. Proposals for single papers and panels are most welcome and need to be submitted by 19 October 2011. For further details check the conference press release.

June 2011 New Books from Library and Archives Canada

The June 2011 new books list from Library and Archives Canada includes the following for readers of Canadian military history:

Lawrence J. Barkwell, Veterans and Families of the 1885 Northwest Resistance (Saskatoon: Gabriel Dumont Institute, 2011);

Ted Barris, Breaking the Silence: Veterans' Untold Stories from the Great War to Afghanistan, 2nd edition (Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2011);

John Bell, Rebels on the Great Lakes: Confederate Naval Commando Operations launched from Canada, 1863-1864 (Toronto: Dundurn, 2011);

Murray Brewster, The Savage War: The Untold Battles of Afghanistan (Etobicoke, ON: J. Wiley & Sons Canada, 2011);

Richard Feltoe, Redcoated Ploughboys: The Volunteer Battalion of Incorporated Militia of Upper Canada, 1813-1815 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2012);

Ryan Flavelle, The Patrol: Seven Days in the Life of a Canadian Soldier in Afghanistan (Toronto: Harper Collins, 2011);

Nathan M. Greenfield, The Damned: The Canadians at the Battle of Hong Kong and the POW Experience, 1941-45 (Toronto: Harper Collins Canada, 2011);

Bernd Horn and Emily Spencer (eds.), No Easy Task: Fighting in Afghanistan (Toronto: Dundurn, 2012);

D. Peter MacLeod, The Canadian Iroquois and the Seven Years' War (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2012);

William D. Mathieson, Nine Hours: The Canadians at Dieppe: Wednesday, 19 August 1942 (Belleville, ON: Epic Press, 2011);

John Melady, Korea: Canada's Forgotten War, 2nd edition (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2011);

Art Montague, Canadian Forces: An Historical Salute to Those on the Front Line (Lunenburg, NS: MacIntyre Purcell Pub., 2011);

Dan Snow, Death of Victory: The Battle of Quebec and the Birth of an Empire (Toronto: Penguin Canada, 2011);

Randall T. Wakelam, Cold War Fighters: Canadian Aircraft Procurement, 1945-54 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011); and

Timothy Wilford, Canada's Road to the Pacific War: Intelligence, Strategy, and the Far East Crisis (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011).