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Indigenous soldier to be commemorated with plaque in Flanders

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

A grassroots project to commemorate the life and death of a Cree soldier killed during the First World War is expected to come to fruition in November 2024 when a plaque is erected at the site where he died outside Passchendaele, Belgium.

Alexander Wuttunee DeCoteau, born on Red Pheasant Indian reserve south of Battleford, Sask., was a farmhand, blacksmith, police sergeant and soldier. He was also a star runner who competed at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm.

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• From Napoleonic-era ostentation to itchy fatigues: How uniforms evolved in WWI
• The Langemarck Myth: How WW I Germany turned loss into propaganda victory
• Passchendaele Museum locates sites where unknown WW I soldiers died

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Kosmic debris

STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR

Fallout from the Cold War ranged from economic and social ramifications between geopolitical rivals to space debris left behind by space-race projects. It was 46 years ago that radioactive pieces of the Soviet Union’s satellite Kosmos 954 crashed in Canada’s North. Still, the impact remains little known despite having far-reaching impacts on rural communities and the environment.

In mid-September 1977, the Soviets launched the uranium-powered. Its most likely purpose was the long-term monitoring of naval activity of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and United States. Only two months later, though, Kosmos became unstable, its orbit unpredictable. Despite Cold-War tensions, the Soviets met with the Americans to discuss the satellite’s anticipated crash—expected to come down in North America. Some officials predicted its uranium would cause worse nuclear contamination than an atomic bomb.

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More from Military Milestones

• Canadian women in the Persian Gulf War
• The Second World War’s strangest weapon
• The five-minute flying ace

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