CBC covers the Battle of Carpiquet

Story by Sharon Adams

War correspondent Matthew Halton covered the Second World War for the CBC. Here is an extract from a recording of what he saw and heard during the Canadian attack on Carpiquet village and airfield July 4, 1944.

“This is Matthew Halton of the CBC speaking from France.

“It’s two minutes to five in Normandy and the sun hasn’t risen yet over us or over the Germans 800 yards away. It will rise on a fearful scene because at 5 o’clock precisely the Canadians are going to attack. And they’ll attack with the most enormous concentration of fire ever put down on a small objective….

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Last men standing

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

More than a million Canadians served in the Second World War. As of March 31, 2018, just 41,100 of them remained, according to Veterans Affairs Canada. They averaged 93 years old.

Some 25,000 Canadians served in Korea. Sixteen months ago, 7,200 survived, average age 86.

Here are the last surviving veterans of Canada’s previous wars:

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July 3, 1931

The first ships built for the Royal Canadian Navy, HMCS Saguenay and HMCS Skeena, complete their maiden voyages to Halifax from Portsmouth, England.

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Ted Martens: Dutch resistance fighter

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

Ted Martens did whatever he could to derail the Nazi war machine while serving with the Dutch resistance during the Second World War—then the Nazi war machine derailed him, but only briefly.

Martens was captured early in 1942 and came within a hair’s-breadth of torture and execution at the hands of German troops. But the strapping Dutchman staged a daring escape and later joined British forces in the drive to liberate his homeland from Nazi tyranny.

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The sinking of the Llandovery Castle

Story by Sharon Adams

On the night of June 27, 1918, 14 nursing sisters, all but two Canadian, died, victims of a war crime.

The Canadian hospital ship Llandovery Castle was on its way back to England after delivering recovering soldiers to Halifax. It was running with full lights, its Red Cross clearly illuminated, when it crossed the path of a German U-boat about 200 kilometres from the Irish coast.

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June 29, 1922

France grants Canada land surrounding Vimy Ridge for a memorial park; the Canadian National Vimy Memorial is unveiled there in 1936.

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