Monthly Archives: May 2020

Knights of the air

An item from the Legion Magazine.

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Fighting for Fort George

Story by Sharon Adams

At the turn of the 19th century, the British were concerned about a balance of power where British territory met American on the banks of the Niagara River.

The British wanted a fort on the west side of the Niagara River, in what today is Niagara-on-the-Lake, to counterbalance Fort Niagara on the east bank and safeguard shipping on the river to Upper Canada.

Fort George was completed in 1802; its strategic importance recognized as war clouds gathered. It became headquarters for the British army during the War of 1812.

Ten under $10 - Pick your own Volume Set!

Knights of the air

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

There are few rivals in war who have shared the mutual regard and respect, even camaraderie, as did those who flew fighter planes during the two world wars.

Theirs was a singular experience, the scale and intimacy of which were unique in the annals of conflict, even aviation, before or since.

The chivalric tradition among flyers began during the First World War. Known as Knights of the Air, they blazed trails in the skies in canvas-and-wood airplanes with rudimentary instrumentation, sans parachutes. They fought mano a mano, skill to skill, sometimes just metres apart.

May 27, 1941

The German warship Bismarck is sunk.

Email sent to: mkbarbour@gmail.com

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In the News: Student wins photography award; new faculty fiction

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An item from one of our fellow Canadian organizations in the Bay Area.

Canadian Studies Announcements

In this issue:

Hildebrand Scholar Desirée Valadares wins prize for visual sociology
New short fiction from faculty affiliate Beth Piatote

Hildebrand Scholar Desirée Valadares Wins Tanur Prize for Visual Sociology

Canadian Studies is pleased to congratulate UC Berkeley graduate student Desirée Valadares, who won the third prize in the Rachel Tanur Prize for Visual Sociology. Hosted by the Social Science Research Council, the award recognizes students in the social sciences who incorporate visual analysis in their work

Ms. Valadares’ photograph, “Absent Presence: Residential Barracks at Manzanar National Historic Site“, was taken during dissertation research funded in part by the Edward Hildebrand Award. The project compares historic preservation issues at several sites related to the WWII-era internment of people of Japanese descent in Canada and the United States. The photograph selected depicts the site of Manzanar Internment Camp in California, where over 10,000 Japanese-Americans were imprisoned between 1942-45. It conveys the haunting presence of a site that still conveys a powerful legacy despite of a lack of physical remains.

Desirée Valadares is currently pursuing a doctorate in architecture at UC Berkeley, with a focus on historical preservation, legal geography, and critical ethnic studies. For more information on her work, please visit her academic profile.

New Short Fiction from Faculty Affiliate Beth Piatote

A short story by Berkeley professor Beth Piatote was published Sunday in the Spokane Spokesman-Review’s as part of their “Summer Stories” series, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Washington’s Mount St. Helens. The piece, entitled “Rumblings”, portrays how a chance encounter brings two strangers to a passionate but ultimately ruinous finale.

Professor Piatote is an associate professor of Native American studies, specializing in Native American literature and Nez Perce language revitalization. She is Nez Perce, and an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. She published her first short story collection, The Beadworkers, in 2019.

Read the full piece online at The Spokesman-Review.

Canadian Studies Program

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Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720

WWI Webinar Series: “Doughboy MIA – The Who, The Where, The Ways and Means”

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An item from the World War One Centennial Commission.

WWI Webinar Series

Building the National WWI Memorial
In Washington, D.C.

Friday May 29 2020 , 1p Eastern • “Doughboy MIA – The Who, The Where, The Ways and Means”

Friday, May 29, 2020 @ 1pm Eastern

“Doughboy MIA”
The Who, The Where, The Ways and Means

Over a century after the end of World War I, over 4,000 American military service members remain Missing in Action and unaccounted for from the conflict.

Author and Historian Robert J. Laplander, Managing Director of the Doughboy MIA project of the Doughboy Foundation, will explain the reasons why so many are still unaccounted for, and why the search for them is being carried on by volunteers.

“A Man is Only Missing if He is Forgotten” is the slogan of Doughboy MIA, and after this webinar you’ll understand the efforts to ensure that all the MIA are properly remembered, and how you can be a part of the effort.

Click to Register

Featuring

Robert J. Laplander
Independent Historian and Author

Rob Laplander is the Managing Director of Doughboy MIA, a project of the Doughboy Foundation that seeks to research, memorialize and, if possible, recover America’s missing service men from WW1. In that role he has been featured in print all over the country as well as frequently on radio.

His books include “Finding the Lost Battalion: Beyond the Rumors, Myths and Legends of America’s Famous WW1 Epic”, “The Lost Battalion: Return to the Charlevaux” He currently is writing a biography of Major Charles W. Whittlesey, commander of the Lost Battalion. He is also the author of “The True Story of the Wooden Horse” about a famous American POW escape in WWII.

Special Guest

Mike Vietti, Director of Marketing, Communications and Guest Services at the National WWI Museum and Memorial, Kansas City will tell us about the reopening of this incredible WWI Venue.

If you have never been to this venue, you definitely want to know about it.. in any case you will learn about their plans to reopen and allow the public back in starting June 1, 2020.

SHORT DOCUMENTARY BONUS

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, most American Indians were not citizens and thus not subject to the conscription law drafting men into military service.

There was also long-standing hostility between Native Americans and the U.S. government. Despite this, approximately 12,000 Native Americans would ultimately serve in World War I, with the Onondaga and Oneida Nations formally declaring war against Germany.

This 6 minute documentary short from our “How WWI Changed America” Series examines this from a variety of perspectives.

Click to Register

View videos from our Previous 2020 Webinar Series

Stay Connected with World War One Centennial Commission:

Memorial Day at Greenlawn Cemetery

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Earlier today, Fred Rutledge – President of US Branch #25 – spent some time at Greenlawn Cemetery in Colma (one of the two cemeteries our branch helps to maintain).

Comrade Rutledge reports that it was a warm and breezy day, with hardly a soul in the cemetery. He put the Canadian, American, and Union Jacks flags up on the flagpole. There was one family that had placed Canadian and United Kingdom flags by their family’s markers, and another who had placed fresh flowers on the marker from another family.

Finally, the latest group of memorial name plaques for those who have passed recently, but are not buried at Greenlawn, were now on the central memorial.

There’s no forgetting.

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An item from Marines’ Memorial Association & Foundation.

ADAPT AND OVERCOME - Image of marine saluting

Dear Michael Barbour,

Around Memorial Day, we’d normally be asking for your support to help us honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and keep their names alive for generations to come.

Well, things are certainly not “normal,” but we won’t let this challenging situation get the better of us.

In years past, many of you have made it a tradition to contribute to the Marines’ Memorial on Memorial Day. Though this year may be more difficult, there’s never been a better time to renew your commitment to our mission — to Commemorate, Educate and Serve our past and present heroes. You are absolutely vital to this mission.

Commemorate

In order to be “a tribute to those who have gone before” — a commitment we made back in 1946 — we need our most loyal supporters. We are doing everything we can to keep the Living Memorial going, but it takes ongoing support to ensure that the memories of our fallen service members will be protected in the future.

Educate

As one of the last military bastions in the Bay Area, our duty to educate the future is more important than ever. We have so many incredible events and commemorations planned for the upcoming year, and your continued support will help us return to service as quickly as possible.

Serve

Taking care of our own, both service members and our team, has always been at the forefront of what we do. Our service members and their families all across our great Nation are working around the clock to keep us safe and secure during this hard time. We want to be there for them when these challenging times pass.

This Memorial Day, I’m asking you to dig a bit deeper if possible, to help us ensure that we can continue to honor our fallen heroes and serve those putting their lives on the line for us.

Preserve The Legacy

Gratefully and Semper Fidelis,

Jan C. Huly
Lieutenant General, USMC (Ret)
President and CEO

P.S. Your ongoing support keeps alive the stories of our fallen heroes, and fuels programs that make a difference in the lives of veterans and their survivors. Will you please invest in our future by giving this Memorial Day?

If your giving is restricted to 501(c)3 organizations, please consider a gift to Marines’ Memorial Foundation, which supports all programs of the Marines’ Memorial Association. Please contact the Marines’ Memorial Development Department at development@marinesmemorial.org for more information.

Royal Canadian Legion, US Branch #25

San Francisco Bay Area

Monthly Archives: May 2020

Knights of the air

In the News: Student wins photography award; new faculty fiction

WWI Webinar Series: “Doughboy MIA – The Who, The Where, The Ways and Means”

WWI Webinar Series

Building the National WWI Memorial
In Washington, D.C.

Friday May 29 2020 , 1p Eastern • “Doughboy MIA – The Who, The Where, The Ways and Means”

Friday, May 29, 2020 @ 1pm Eastern

“Doughboy MIA”
The Who, The Where, The Ways and Means

Over a century after the end of World War I, over 4,000 American military service members remain Missing in Action and unaccounted for from the conflict.

Author and Historian Robert J. Laplander, Managing Director of the Doughboy MIA project of the Doughboy Foundation, will explain the reasons why so many are still unaccounted for, and why the search for them is being carried on by volunteers.

“A Man is Only Missing if He is Forgotten” is the slogan of Doughboy MIA, and after this webinar you’ll understand the efforts to ensure that all the MIA are properly remembered, and how you can be a part of the effort.

Click to Register

Featuring

Robert J. Laplander
Independent Historian and Author

Special Guest

SHORT DOCUMENTARY BONUS

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, most American Indians were not citizens and thus not subject to the conscription law drafting men into military service.

There was also long-standing hostility between Native Americans and the U.S. government. Despite this, approximately 12,000 Native Americans would ultimately serve in World War I, with the Onondaga and Oneida Nations formally declaring war against Germany.

This 6 minute documentary short from our “How WWI Changed America” Series examines this from a variety of perspectives.

Click to Register

View videos from our Previous 2020 Webinar Series

Memorial Day at Greenlawn Cemetery

There’s no forgetting.

WWI Webinar Series

Building the National WWI Memorial In Washington, D.C.

Friday May 29 2020 , 1p Eastern • “Doughboy MIA – The Who, The Where, The Ways and Means”

Friday, May 29, 2020 @ 1pm Eastern

“Doughboy MIA” The Who, The Where, The Ways and Means

Over a century after the end of World War I, over 4,000 American military service members remain Missing in Action and unaccounted for from the conflict.

Author and Historian Robert J. Laplander, Managing Director of the Doughboy MIA project of the Doughboy Foundation, will explain the reasons why so many are still unaccounted for, and why the search for them is being carried on by volunteers.

“A Man is Only Missing if He is Forgotten” is the slogan of Doughboy MIA, and after this webinar you’ll understand the efforts to ensure that all the MIA are properly remembered, and how you can be a part of the effort.

Featuring

Robert J. Laplander Independent Historian and Author

Special Guest

SHORT DOCUMENTARY BONUS

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, most American Indians were not citizens and thus not subject to the conscription law drafting men into military service.

There was also long-standing hostility between Native Americans and the U.S. government. Despite this, approximately 12,000 Native Americans would ultimately serve in World War I, with the Onondaga and Oneida Nations formally declaring war against Germany.

This 6 minute documentary short from our “How WWI Changed America” Series examines this from a variety of perspectives.

Building the National WWI Memorial
In Washington, D.C.

“Doughboy MIA”
The Who, The Where, The Ways and Means

Robert J. Laplander
Independent Historian and Author