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Last gasp: The war horse in WW II

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Izbushensky is a hamlet in the west Russian oblast of Volgograd, roughly on the same latitude as Lethbridge, Alta. Its population in 2010 was just 14 people.

If you look for pictures of Izbushensky via Google, you won’t find golden waves of wheat blowing in the wind, thatched-roofed dachas or quaint old Russian ladies wrapped in babushkas.

No, find Izbushensky and you’ll find horses.

It was here, sometime after 3:30 a.m., on Aug. 24, 1942, near the junction of the Don and Khopyor rivers, that Italy’s Savoia Cavalleria drew their sabres and launched what some consider history’s last major cavalry charge.

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www.veterans.gc.ca

Memoir of a Japanese PoW

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

At the outset of the Second World War, Don MacPherson and his brother-in-law Wilf Barrett set off with two friends from Miniota, Man., intent on joining the air force.

But on their way, they passed a Winnipeg Grenadiers recruiting office and were persuaded to enlist.

After training in Winnipeg, they were sent to Jamaica where their main duty was guarding German and political prisoners.

“We spent 16 months there enjoying life, but wishing we were in action,” recalled MacPherson.

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• The first Canadian to go to space heralds the importance of celestial travel
• Life in the trenches
• Patrol ship dedicated to Black Victoria Cross recipient

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