Browse "Military"

The HMS St Lawrence was the largest warship ever built on the Great Lakes during the age of sail. During the War of 1812, supply, reinforcement and the movement of troops for attack all depended on the naval control of the lakes.

Imperial Munitions Board, established November 1915 in Canada by the British Ministry of Munitions, with Canadian government approval. Headed by J.W.

One of history's most famous wartime poems, "In Flanders Fields" was written during the First World War by Canadian officer and surgeon John McCrae.

In Flanders Fields is a poem which, in various musical settings, has become a traditional part of Remembrance Day services commemorating those killed in the First World War, 11 November 1918, and subsequent conflicts.

Thousands of Indigenous peoples served in the Canadian military forces in the First World War and Second World War, mostly voluntarily. On the home front, most Indigenous communities participated in the national war effort in diverse ways.

Known as the “Queen of Battle,” the infantry is the branch of the army that provides its primary fighters. The main responsibility of infantry soldiers is to “close with and destroy the enemy.” Although they are trained, armed and equipped to fight on foot, infantry soldiers are usually transported to the battlefield by other means. Infantry soldiers can also specialize as light, mechanized, airmobile, airborne and other types. The characteristics of infantry are mobility, firepower, flexibility, communications and vulnerability (to enemy action). Infantry soldiers are trained in a wide range of individual and crew-served weapons and work with the all-arms team of reconnaissance, armour, artillery, air defence, engineers, tactical aviation and other combat specialists. Except for a brief time during the feudal period (when cavalry dominated), the infantry has been the largest single component of armies since ancient times. In Canada, the infantry has always been the army’s largest element.

Canada is a country so vast that too often, it seems, its history is lost inside its geography. A striking example is the history of Indigenous peoples, whose long, rich narrative is well-preserved by them, but seldom gets the same attention on a broader scale — even when their stories affect us all.

Joseph Aaron “Joe” Friedman was a Romanian-Jewish Canadian tail gunner in the Royal Canadian Air Force who enlisted when he was 17 years old. Friedman took part in carpet bombing operations before he was shot down and sent to a prisoner of war camp in Germany. Listen to Friedman describe his experiences in the Air Force and comment on the controversy of carpet bombing.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Jules Blais served on HMCS Sea Cliff to accompany merchant ships during the Second World War. He was present at the sinking of the U-877 in December 1944. Blais rescued survivors from the freezing waters before dressing them and stowing them away aboard the ship. Listen to Blais describe his naval service and his interactions with German POWs.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Khaki University (initially Khaki College), an educational institution set up and managed by the Canadian Army in Britain, 1917-19 and 1945-46. The program was rooted in the study groups of the Canadian YMCA and the chaplain services of the Canadian Army.

Koje-Do (now Geojedo), is an island 40 kilometers southwest of Busan, South Korea, where the United States operated a prisoner of war (POW) camp during the Korean War. North Korean and Chinese prisoners rebelled and seized the camp.

The Korean War began 25 June 1950, when North Korean armed forces invaded South Korea. The war’s combat phase lasted until an armistice was signed 27 July 1953. As part of a United Nations (UN) force consisting of 16 countries, 26,791 Canadian military personnel served in the Korean War, during both the combat phase and as peacekeepers afterward. The last Canadian soldiers left Korea in 1957. After the two world wars, Korea remains Canada’s third-bloodiest overseas conflict, taking the lives of 516 Canadians and wounding more than 1,000. In total, an estimated three million people died during the war. More than half were civilians. The two Koreas remain technically at war today.

“Within sight of this house over 100 men of the Queen’s Own Rifles were killed or wounded, in the first few minutes of the landings.”

La Musique du Royal 22e Régiment. The regimental band of the Royal 22e Régiment. Originally named the Royal 22nd Regiment by King George V, the infantry unit was renamed in 1928 as the Royal 22e Régiment to reflect the language and culture of the unit.

French westward expansion in the 1670s and 1680s cut off the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy from new sources of beaver and threatened New York's fur trade.

Land mines, used in zones of conflict to prevent access, are containers filled with explosives. Usually camouflaged or hidden, the devices maim and even kill when detonated by their unsuspecting victims. Land mines are small, inexpensive and easy to deploy.

The Last Post Fund is a nonprofit organization established in 1909. The organization’s mission is to ensure a dignified funeral and burial, as well as a military-style gravestone, to all eligible veterans. The fund is closely linked to Veterans Affairs Canada.

During the SOUTH AFRICAN WAR 90 officers and men of the Royal Canadian Dragoons were assigned to cover the retreat of a British infantry column under attack by several hundred Boer horsemen near Leliefontein farm, east Transvaal.

Leo, the Royal Cadet. A Canadian 'military' opera in four acts, written in Kingston, Ont. The libretto is by George Frederick Cameron (1854-85) and the music, for chorus, 16 solo voices, and orchestra, was composed ca 1889 by Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann.

In the final months of the Second World War, Canadian forces were given the important and deadly task of liberating the Netherlands from Nazi occupation. From September 1944 to April 1945, the First Canadian Army fought German forces on the Scheldt estuary — opening the port of Antwerp for Allied use — and then cleared northern and western Netherlands of Germans, allowing food and other relief to reach millions of desperate people. More than 7,600 Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen died fighting in the Netherlands. Today, Canada is fondly remembered by the Dutch for ending their oppression under the Nazis.