Resurrecting the memory of a WW II pilot

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

For years, it was my favourite photograph in the rather extensive album my father assembled chronicling his time overseas as a medical officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. I recently went back to it, this time conducting a more general search. It was not long before I found him, I believe: Flying Officer William Smith Johnston, a Mosquito pilot from Renfrew, Ont., 90 kilometres west of Ottawa.

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Stopping the panzers

Story by Marc Milner

Canada’s role following D-Day was vital to the success of Operation Overlord. The problem with the well-known story of Canada’s role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings in France in June 1944, is not what it says, but what it leaves out—just about everything that matters.

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June 6, 1944

Some 14,500 Canadians invade the beach code-named Juno, marking the beginning of the Allied invasion of Normandy in France.

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Two pictures, a thousand stories
and millions of lives

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

They say a picture’s worth a thousand words. These two pictures spawned a thousand stories and to this day, some 70 years later, they speak in profound reflection to two triumphs and the prices paid.

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal and Soviet Flag over the Reichstag by Yevgeny Khaldei are two of the most iconic photographs of the Second World War.

But their genesis and their evolution in the archive of immortal photographs have taken a long and circuitous route through history.

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The short heroic life of Buzz Beurling

Story by Don Gillmor

George (Buzz) Beurling was credited with 31½ “kills” in the Second World War, more than any other Canadian pilot, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross and two Distinguished Flying Medals. He was a gifted pilot, a superb marksman and fearless in battle. He died young, at 26. These qualities are usually enough to create a mythic figure, but Beurling failed to capture the public imagination the way First World War ace Billy Bishop did, and he wasn’t beloved by fellow pilots or his superior officers.

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May 30, 1814

The British are ambushed and defeated in a skirmish at Sandy Creek, N.Y.

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Who won the war in Europe?
Historians weigh in

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

History isn’t always what we might assume it to be, and there appears to be no consensus among nations over the question of which country contributed most to the Allies’ Second World War victory in Europe.The North American public tends to assume that the United States played the greatest role in bringing about VE-Day. But don’t tell that to a Russian.

Front Lines approached Legion Magazine’s stable of respected war historians with the question: Who played the greatest role in the Second World War’s Allied victory in Europe—the United States, the United Kingdom, or the Soviet Union? And why? Here are their answers:

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Prisoners of War
Stories by Sharon Adams and Todd E. Caissie

Canadians taken captive in the First and Second World Wars experienced brutality and starvation in prison camps, sometimes suffering years of confinement that compromised their health and sanity.

This new special web feature uncovers the true stories of Canadians who were captured in WW I and WW II through captivating narration and informed research on their experiences. The site also includes a bonus story on the fascinating treatment of PoWs on Canadian soil.

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May 24, 1944

Lieutenant-Colonel John Mahony successfully holds his company’s position amid counterattacks at the Melfa River in Italy. For these actions, he receives the Victoria Cross.

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