Lewis Burwell Puller
Lt. Gen. Lewis Burwell Puller, known as Chesty, is the most decorated US Marine ever. Included in his medals were five Navy Crosses, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star,…
The Wolves of Winter
Novel by Tyrell Johnson, The Wolves of Winter, 2018 Simon & Schuster A young woman and her family had headed north from the United States, ending up in the Yukon.…
Vietnam Vets
Canada was part of America’s Vietnam War. Not officially, but in providing men for it and harbouring them from it. Anyone alive in the 1970s probably has had their life…
Veterans on The Street
Britain's wars have been part of Coronation Street throughout its six decades. From the 1960s to 1990s, there were veterans of the World Wars and, in the 2000s, the war…
Rwanda 25 years ago
Lest we forget: 25 years ago a genocidal massacre in Rwanda started. Nearly a million killed in 100 days. Here is what it was like, a couple months after it…
Beaumont Hamel
In Newfoundland and Labrador, July 1st is Memorial Day. It's been that longer than it's been Canada Day. Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. But July 1st has had special significance…
World War I
It seemed like a good idea at the time. That’s the explanation I come up with for why World War I started. Virtually the entire world became embroiled in war…
The Acadians: Review
Bill Smallwood takes a complicated period of history and makes it more complicated - and that's good. The Acadians, the first novel in his Abuse of Power series starts in…
Dogs in War
A compendium of examples of dogs in war written by Jim Stewart and originally published on the STDOA website. (Tap highlighted book titles to see on Amazon.) Sergeant Gander The…
Battle of Ridgeway
Today marks a bizarre incident in Canadian history. Irish-Americans invaded Canada, planning to hold it hostage as leverage to end British rule in Ireland. My family's farmhouse was smack-dab in…
War and Peaceniks
“Where have all the flowers gone, and the young men gone for soldiers every one.” A Pete Seeger song. The death of that great warrior for peace made me think…
Poppies
My dad had a whole collection of poppies. Mom kept the ones that we bought every year and pinned them on the top of a wallhanging in the dining room.…
War of 1812
In 1814 we took a little trip - Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip’ We took a little bacon and we took a little beans And we caught…
Francis Family Books
If you had the sad job of picking the topic of the last novel you would write, I don’t think you could choose better than Dick Francis did. Crossfire, co-written…
Anger by name…
Years ago, I was in a public library in Los Angeles and found reference books on family histories. I looked up my family name, Anger. It said the name came…
Coronation Street Scene of the Week (July 31/11)
Care Package Eddie Windass, in the cafe, stealing Roy’s condiments for food purchased elsewhere. Anna scolds him. He asks if there’s any tape. She looks to see what he’s doing,…
Rwanda
Seventeen years ago, one hundred days of genocide ended in Rwanda. It was part of a long-standing conflict between Hutu and Tutsi, two groups who uneasily co-exist in the small…
United Empire Rebels
A couple weeks ago, I posted the family tree of the Mabees, my paternal grandmother’s people. It’s the family I knew least about, other than there are a lot of…
The King and Us
Wallis Simpson makes me think that there may well be a God, and that He is on “our” side. I cannot imagine what the world would look like had King…