Warner Bros./Wikimedia

Runaway Bart Simpson balloons and rogue microwave ovens: NASA debunks most UFO reports

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

The world’s top space agency says American authorities have investigated about 800 reports of what it calls unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) in recent decades, but only a small number cannot be explained.

A NASA research panel has been looking into reported sightings of airborne phenomena “that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective.” It is expected to release a report in July.

Addressing the group’s first public meeting, which included a live broadcast online, panelist Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the U.S. Defense Department’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, said authorities receive 50-100 UFO reports a month. Only two to five per cent are “possibly really anomalous.”

READ MORE

More from Front Lines

• Drone on drone: Demolition derby of the skies over Ukraine
• Ronald Moyes: Tail gunner
• The incredible story of Captain William Dyess

Archives of Canada Library

The Trojan Horse of the 1700s

STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR

George Etherington was a man who took his military service seriously, spending the mid- to late-1700s climbing the ranks of the British army. But Etherington had one weakness—and that was for sports.

Born in Delaware in 1733, Etherington rose to the rank of captain in 1756 while serving in the Seven Years’ War. So, when he took command of Fort Michilimackinac, at the confluence of lakes Huron and Michigan, in 1762, he carried the confidence of British military superiority with him—but that wouldn’t last for long.

Etherington and his garrison were responsible for salvaging the tenuous relationship between the Brits, French and the Ojibwe and Sauk tribes, but even for Etherington, that was a big feat.

READ MORE

More from Military Milestones

• Vancouver’s ship killer
• James Forbes-Robertson and the Monchy Ten
• The Lion of the First World War

Learn More

Most popular on Legion Magazine

• Hughes-Hallett & Haase
• 5 war video games where you can play as a Canadian
• A Battle Remembered, Hill 70: A Battle Forgotten

Stephen J. Thorne

Tough talk: Advocates mince no words delivering inclusion message to Legionnaires

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

Addressing a longstanding bugaboo of one of the country’s most revered institutions head-on, a former regional president of The Royal Canadian Legion delivered a firm message to its grassroots membership in May.

Marion Fryday-Cook was Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command president from 2019 through 2021. She’s now a member of the Legion’s national committee on equity, diversity and inclusion. She didn’t mince words when presenting a report on the organization’s draft plan to address what some consider the Legion’s single-biggest challenge.

“We’re moving into a new world,” Fryday-Cook said before an all-white convention audience in Sydney, N.S. “Somebody once said, we’re all volunteers and the Legion sometimes tends to eat its own and go after its own.

READ MORE

More from Front Lines

• Drone on drone: Demolition derby of the skies over Ukraine
• Ronald Moyes: Tail gunner
• The incredible story of Captain William Dyess

CAF Image Gallery

The master lens of Darrell Jason Priede

STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR

“Like I say, only the good die young,” Roxanne Priede of Grand Forks, B.C., tells The Globe and Mail.

Roxanne is the mother of Master Corporal Darrell Jason Priede, a military photographer who stole the hearts of his family, friends and fellow military personnel with his quiet voice, fantastic listening skills and photographs that left the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) Regional Command spellbound.

“[His photography] was definitely more than a job…his pictures were top-notch,” said Lieutenant Brian Owens, public affairs officer at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown to The Toronto Star.

READ MORE

More from Military Milestones

• Vancouver’s ship killer
• James Forbes-Robertson and the Monchy Ten
• The Lion of the First World War

Canadian homeowners aged 55+ can access up to 55% of their home’s value without having to sell. As a proud partner of the Royal Canadian Legion, HomeEquity Bank offers Legion members $500 cash back* upon funding their CHIP Reverse Mortgage. Learn more at https://bit.ly/3ln5vfo

Learn More

Most popular on Legion Magazine

• Hughes-Hallett & Haase
• 5 war video games where you can play as a Canadian
• A Battle Remembered, Hill 70: A Battle Forgotten