A photo reproduction of a painting by W. Avis depicts Bell-Irving and his observer engaging enemy aircraft on Dec. 19, 1915, between Lille, France, and Ypres, Belgium. [Public domain/City of Vancouver Archives]

High fliers: The legacy of Malcom McBean Bell-Irving and other Great War pilots

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Mention parasol and one might think of Mary Poppins floating among the chimneys of London or Impressionistic images of dainty Victorian-era ladies at refined picnics and garden parties hiding their coiffed heads from the English sun.

A “light umbrella,” the Oxford English Dictionary calls it. Delicate. Fringed with lace.

In First World War Europe, however, the Morane-Saulnier Type L Parasol was a French-built, two-seat monoplane—originally a scout aircraft that, once fitted with a single machine gun, became the one of world’s first successful fighter aircraft.

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Colonel David Grebstad is deputy commander of the Canadian Armed Forces Transition Group. [DND]

Walking “Civvy Street” with the Canadian Armed Forces Transition Group

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

“We had to do better,” remarked Colonel David Grebstad regarding the services available to military personnel transitioning out of the Canadian Armed Forces, particularly ill and wounded members, after the War in Afghanistan. “We had to.”

The process took several years and “several efforts,” he said in a Legion Magazine exclusive, to hone strategies that could help uniformed men and women preparing for “Civvy Street.” It was a process that culminated in establishing the Canadian Armed Forces Transition Group (CAF TG) in 2018, an organization that’s part of a broader effort to enhance care for veterans. The group became fully operational in April 2024, and now hosts nine units and 26 centres across Canada.

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• The British Home Children who fought for Canada
• Canadian veteran talks service at home and in Ukraine
• Persian Gulf War veterans’ fight for “past due” recognition

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