Retired general Walt Natynczyk is a former vice-chief of Canada’s defence staff. He served on peacekeeping missions in Cyprus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and as deputy commanding general of III (US) Armored Corps, with which he deployed to Baghdad in 1998-99.[Stephen J. Thorne]

Rules-based order not working, says British field marshal

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

The rules-based system of international order that has existed since the end of the Second World War has not been a great success, marked by a series of recent mishaps that could usher in a return to the great power system of the past, says Britain’s former defence chief.

Speaking at a fireside chat ahead of the 35th conference of the Royal Commonwealth Ex-Services League (RCEL), Field Marshal The Lord Richards of Herstmonceux said the United States, Russia and China are steering the world order away from the system of political, legal and economic rules and institutions established by the Americans and their allies after 1945.

The rules-based order has been based on principles such as sovereignty, territorial integrity and dispute resolution through diplomacy. It aimed to promote stability, co-operation and predictability in international relations.

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• Canada Day is forever Memorial Day in Newfoundland
• Continental army barracks burned by British discovered in Colonial Williamsburg
• Pictures from my father’s wartime photo album

The award winning book, The Taste of Longing by Suzanne Evans, has been optioned by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Noura Kevorkian. [BTLBooks]

The Taste of Longing: A novelistic biography of WW II PoW Ethel Mulvany

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

“I wrongly thought the last thing you would want to think about,” admits author Suzanne Evans, “is food when you’re starving.”

But having discovered the Second World War story of Canadian Ethel Mulvany, her understanding of hunger changed.

On Feb. 15, 1942, the Imperial Japanese Forces landed on Singapore island and forced the surrender of an Allied garrison of 90,000. In what Prime Minister Winston Churchill considered the “worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history,” thousands of captured civilians, including Mulvany, were among those to be rounded up, separated between men and women—the latter with children—and imprisoned at Changi Jail. The ensuing years would be ones of misery and longing.

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• New children’s books shines light on Canadian military experience
• Chaplain historian highlights Canadian padres of WW II
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Archeologists working at Colonial Williamsburg in Virgina unearthed bricks that are believed to have been part of continental army barracks burned down by British forces during the American Revolution. [Colonial Williamsburg Foundation]

Continental army barracks burned by British discovered in Colonial Williamsburg

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Archeologists in Colonial Williamsburg, Va., are exploring the remains of a continental army barracks burned by the British during the Revolutionary War.

The researchers have unearthed bricks and artifacts, including parts of weapons, ceramics, a belt buckle and a glass button. They also found lead musket balls riddled with teeth marks left by bored soldiers who, unaware of its laundry list of health risks, would chew on the sweet-tasting lead.

Eighteenth-century maps of the 1.2-1.6-hectare site and other historical documents have long suggested that military housing existed near what is now a visitor centre. It wasn’t until they began excavating last year, however, that researchers found bricks from the buildings’ chimneys.

Built in the midst of the 1775-1783 war for American independence, the barracks could house up to 2,000 soldiers and 100 horses. But they didn’t last.

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• Canada to meet defence spending target by March 2026: Carney
• Dig this: The lowly shovel held in high esteem by soldiers

Author Ian Pegg’s book, Death and Heroes – Army Chaplains in World War 2 will be published in hardback in summer 2025. [Chiselbury Publishing]

Chaplain historian highlights Canadian padres of WW II

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

“What makes a man go to war without a weapon to serve on the front line in some of the harshest situations, sometimes giving up his freedom willingly, and in other times, making the ultimate sacrifice?” wondered author Ian Pegg about chaplains in the Second World War.

His curiosity for the answer led him to write, Death and Heroes: Army Chaplains in World War II, due to be released this summer.

The book is the British civil servant-turned-military historian’s debut. “I wanted to understand who these padres were as people,” noted Pegg. “I like personal stories.”

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• Veterans’ post-WW II experience examined in new Canadian War Museum exhibit
• Toronto’s Little Canada unveils Dutch liberation miniature
• British-born French resident honours locally buried Canadian airmen

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