Stephen J. Thorne

How we talk about war and remembrance

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

The language of war and remembrance is couched in euphemism, hyperbole and a healthy dose of gilded lilies. In short, a lot of overused words and hackneyed phrases that tend to glorify and obfuscate, comfort and satisfy.

In war, politicians and military mucky-mucks use alternative language to soften the reality of, or maintain support for, humankind’s greatest failure—phrases or words such as “collateral damage” for civilian casualties, “enhanced interrogation techniques” for torture, “ethnic cleansing” for genocide, and “conflict” for war.

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CWM

Canada’s early naval struggles

STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR

“This is going to be an awful trip,” sailor James Reeves reflected in a letter to his wife.

Reeves was by no means a complainer, and his sentiment, echoed by his mates, was prophetic. The crew of HMCS Galiano were set to sail “the Triangle,” a body of water between B.C.’s Cape Scott and Cape St. James deemed the “worst piece of water on the Pacific Coast.” The ship traversed the foreboding stretch in an attempt to provide Triangle Island residents with supplies and gasoline during a wicked October storm.

“I don’t think we will be home until the end of November,” fellow shipmate James Aird commented. “I dread the Triangle.”

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• Builders of the Alaska Highway
• Nellie McClung, a military mother
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