Monthly Archives: July 2025

The summer of ’44: Canadians from Normandy to the Dutch border

Leave a reply

An item from the Legion Magazine.
Front Lines
Front Lines

Eighty-one years on, a child frolics in the shadows of the Mulberry harbours deposited along Gold Beach at Arromanches, France, after June 6, 1944. [Stephen J. Thorne/LM]

The summer of ’44: Canadians from Normandy to the Dutch border

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Eighty-one years after Allied forces hit the beaches of Normandy and launched the campaign to liberate Europe from six years of Nazi tyranny, the history still lives.

The bunkers and fortifications that formed Hitler’s Atlantikwall still cast a weary yet ominous presence over the English Channel. The wind, rain and ominous skies that clouded the beaches on June 6, 1944, still rage. The walls of courtyards, houses and 1,000-year-old churches still bear the scars of WW II battles.

And, of course, the cemeteries are sobering testament to the cost.

The history is not all visual, either.

READ MORE
Big summer sale on Legion Magazine shop
The Briefing
The Briefing

HMCS Trentonian was sunk by U-1004 on Feb. 22, 1945, near Falmouth, England. Divers have since removed many artifacts from the vessel. [CFB Esquimalt Naval and Military Museum]

Canadian naval historian speaks out about retrieving shipwreck artifacts

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

More than 80 years after HMCS Trentonian sank in U.K. waters resulting in six deaths, a British diver has recovered—or removed—its bell from the wreck site.

Not everyone, suffice it to say, is happy about it.

The Canadian Flower-class corvette, launched in 1943, had an arguably short yet nevertheless storied wartime career, contributing to the 1944 Normandy invasion and additional Allied convoy escort duties before it was torpedoed and sank on Feb. 22, 1945.

Five went down with the ship, a sixth later succumbed to his wounds.

READ MORE

Member Benefit Partner
Red Wireless

Canadian homeowners aged 55+ can access up to 55% of their home’s value without having to sell. As a proud partner of the Royal Canadian Legion, HomeEquity Bank offers Legion members $500 cash back* upon funding their CHIP Reverse Mortgage.
Email sent to: mkbarbour@gmail.com

Canvet Publications Ltd.
86 Aird Place |
Kanata, Ontario | K2L 0A1 | Canada |
1-844-602-5737 | 613-591-0116 | magazine@legion.ca

Salute! July 2025

Leave a reply

A newsletter from Veterans Affairs Canada that may be of interest to some members.
July 2025

The latest issue of Salute! is now available.
Salute! online
Let us know what you think about Salute! by emailing us.

Sincerely,

Salute! Team

Veterans Affairs Canada
You’re receiving this email because you subscribe to Veterans Affairs Canada’s consultation and Salute! emails.

Veterans Affairs Canada
PO Box 6000
Matane, QC G4W 0E4

Half of Canadians say they would go to war for their country; youth, not so much

Leave a reply

An item from the Legion Magazine.
Front Lines
Front Lines

A First World War-era illustration depicts a Canadian soldier in action. [Canada in Khaki]

Half of Canadians say they would go to war for their country; youth, not so much

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

With the U.S. president threatening to economically bludgeon Canada into submission as the 51st state, just under half of surveyed Canadians (49 per cent) say they would go to war for their country.

Those most willing to lay it on the line, 55 per cent of whom said they were willing to fight, were over 54 years old. Among the 1,619 Canadians surveyed, those of fighting age—18- to 34-year-olds—were far less inclined to enlist.

In response to the question, “Could you ever foresee an armed conflict that would compel you to volunteer for military service in a combat role?,” just 43 per cent of the youngest group told the Angus Reid Institute they would.

READ MORE
The Sacred Canadian Sites of the World Wars
The Briefing
The Briefing

Sculptor Tyler Fauvelle poses with his monument of Fern Blodgett Sunde in Farsund, Norway, during its unveiling on May 8, 2025. [courtesy Tyler Fauvelle]

A duplicate of a Canadian war memorial at home in Norway

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

No one expected her to return from her initial voyage across the Atlantic. To make the crossing during the Second World War meant navigating mined waters in treacherous weather, knowing full well U-boats may lurk below.

But with a bucket nearby, Fern Blodgett Sunde made the trip 77 more times aboard the Norwegian merchant vessel Mosdale. Sunde was the first Canadian woman to earn a second class wireless operator’s certificate, and the first women to be a deep sea radio operator. She served until the war’s end, and 75 years later, her life and legacy was captured in a bronze public memorial in her hometown of Cobourg, Ont.

The same place she “watched the Great Lake ships go by, and dreamed of a career at sea, even though it would have been impossible for a young woman born at the end of the First World War.”

READ MORE

Member Benefit Partner
Red Wireless
Email sent to: mkbarbour@gmail.com

Canvet Publications Ltd.
86 Aird Place |
Kanata, Ontario | K2L 0A1 | Canada |
1-844-602-5737 | 613-591-0116 | magazine@legion.ca

You can double the impact of your wreath sponsorship!

Leave a reply

An item from the Wreaths Across America organization that may be of interest to some members.

HAYGOOD 5

Dear Michael Barbour,

 

I hope you received your copy of Wreaths Across America’s summer newsletter. It should have arrived within the last few weeks.

And I hope you were inspired reading about the impact you can make through WAA’s Sponsorship Group Program. Through this program, Wreaths Across America partners with nonprofits and veteran service organizations across the U.S. in supporting our nation’s heroes and thanking them for their service. And it’s only possible with the support of friends like you.

 

This month, we’re celebrating Giving in July. Through our Sponsorship Group Program, you can select a registered group(s) to support. For every $17 wreath sponsorship that you make through these groups, $5 will either be given back to use for their own program that provides healing, connection, and support for veterans, service members, and their families, or $5 will go forward to the sponsorship of another veteran’s wreath for placement this December. Either way, you are giving back to a local group making a difference.

Will you join us?
Sponsor Wreaths

I know that together, we can do even more to help our veterans, active service members, and military families keep moving forward.

 

Best regards,
HAYGOOD 7
karensignature-1

Karen Worcester

Executive Director

Wreaths Across America
Sponsor Wreaths
 
Wreaths Across America, PO Box 249, Columbia Falls, ME 04623, United States, 877-385-9504