Wali/The Torch and The Sword

A Canadian sniper in Ukraine: Numbers, deaths and homecoming

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

It was early morning and sniper Wali, his Canadian compatriot and two Ukrainian soldiers were in a trench at the far end of a wooded windbreak separating expansive farm fields in eastern Ukraine.

Huddled among leafless trees, they were essentially the point men in the defence of a village on the approaches to the strategic city of Mariupol. Russian troops and tanks were staging a measured advance across the fallow fields on three sides.

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National Archive/Wikimedia

Canada’s second major WWI battle

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

In May 1915, Canadian troops entered their second major battle of the First World War, on the western front near Festubert in the Artois region of France.

On May 9, the British had suffered 11,000 casualties attacking nearby Neuve-Chapelle. A week later, Field Marshal Douglas Haig ordered another attack involving two Canadian brigades, hoping for a breakthrough.

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Ministry of Defense Ukraine/Flicker

Canadian trainer watches efforts pay dividends in Ukraine

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Corporal Brian Tite, a Canadian signals specialist, served two tours training Ukrainian soldiers in the kind of technologies that are now contributing to their stout defence against invading forces from Russia.

The International Peacekeeping and Security Centre near the western city of Lviv was his home and office for more than a year in 2019 and 2021. It was destroyed March 13 by Russian cruise missiles; 35 people were killed and 134 wounded.

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MacEachern Family Archive/canada.ca

Canada’s first pararescue women

STORY BY SHARON ADAMS

It 1951, the Royal Canadian Air Force decided to include medical personnel in pararescue units.

The training course that followed included two doctors, nine medical assistants and five nursing sisters—Canada’s first pararescue women, nicknamed the Parabelles.

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