I was pleasantly surprised when I asked my oldest son today if he knew what D-Day was about. He knew about Juno and that Canadian soldiers were feared by the Germans for their superior fighting skills. I told him how impressed I was that they had studied it in school. He quickly corrected my misconception, it was the internet he had gotten his information from, not the school. He has been busy studying globalization in school, not history. On his own, he has researched our military history. Good for him! Shame on our schools. History is important and getting the perspective of people from 65 years ago is very interesting. Here is a radio report from way back in time.
A very quick summary of Canada at war will give you an idea of the valour of our troops.
The Canadians had to fight every step of the way to Caen and Carpiquet airfield. At one point they faced the elite 12 S.S. panzer division manned by young German fanatics commanded by experienced officers and non commissioned troops. But the Canadians Triumphed and on July 10th, Caen was liberated by Canadian and British forces.
They are not teaching this in school, even when I was in school years ago, our proud history as a fighting nation was not taught, luckily I enjoyed reading and a book (can't remember which one now) about the Battle of The Bulge and the Diary of Anne Frank, woke me up to the fact that socialism was a threat to freedom.
Much as I dislike CTV, today they provided really good coverage of the D-day ceremonies. I suspect that they were forced to because they wanted to cover Obama, and it just happened that PM Harper was there as well. Go and listen to both PM Harpers speech and President Obamas speech (On the right side you can select the videos).
Both speeches were very good, I noticed that PM Harper actually spoke from his heart. You know that he genuinely supports our troops and understands that we must stand strong as a nation against any terrorist threats.
President Obama, a noted orator, was speaking the words, but his delivery was flat. He read the speech that someone else wrote but there was no passion, no conviction, no fire.
I want to thank our veterans for keeping Canada safe. What an incredible job our troops do. Maybe Canada has never suffered from a terrorist attack because they know we are warriors at heart, and that we will never back down from a fight we believe in. That is why I get so upset about the NDP and the Bloc, they weaken our country by their sickening passivity. The Liberals only support something they think will gain them votes, that might be even worse than being pacifists.
To our troops from yesterday and those fighting today....THANK YOU.
18 comments:
Ditto everything you wrote.
I watched our PM and agree he had passion and was truly moved.
Somehow a teleprompter doesn't do it for O. Even visiting the death camps didn't bring emotion to his face.
Good thing Paul Martin and Gordon Brown were not in charge back then. Wrong country, day, and beach. What a gaffe Brown made today.
Watching those veterans getting those medals brought tears. How sad that one US veteran finally made it to see the memorials etc and then died in his sleep, 65 years to the day of the landing.
We must never forget our troops.
Good point!! It's almost as though we should be ashamed that Canadians are warriors. We were and are warriors...among the many other things that as Canadians, we are.
Completely off-topic but since you are a dog person, Hunter, and much more aware of the world of dogs that I am, I have a question.
Yesterday, I saw somebody walking a rotty and it struck me that some breeds are still having their ears cropped and tails docked. Why is this still legal? For me, I see it as an act of abuse to physically alter an animal for some human reason (eliminate the body language).
Good grief - there is this huge outcry against male circumcision (I am in favour of it, actually) but we still do this to dogs? It makes no sense.
As a side note, I've noticed that the loudest voices against male circumcision are female voices. That kind of defies logic but what the heck.
Hunter, do you know if the practise of cropping and docking is still allowed? Or if there is any kind of movement away from it?
"Maybe Canada has never suffered from a terrorist attack because they know we are warriors at heart, and that we will never back down from a fight we believe in."
Maybe, but it is probably because we are just not that important.
I am not sure where you went to school Hunter, but I remember being taught about Canada's role in the world wars. Maybe you just skipped that week??? :)
East of Eden, cropping is still allowed and for some dogs it's healthier for them. I know of one dog that had such a happy tail that they would constantly hit things with it, breaking it and making it bleed constantly, they finally docked it and the dog was much happier because he could wag it all he wanted without breaking it.
Gayle, you just make yourself look small and petty with comments like that.
yeah. Never mind the fact that I attended school in Edmonton and was taught about Canada's role in the world wars. Just concentrate on the rest of my comment.
Gayle, in true leftist fashion, is merely a condescending windbag, what with all of her 'the difference between you and me' and 'I don't know where you went to school' chest puffing.
Now Eskimo, Hunter does not like it when you only post in order to launch personal attacks.
Warriors at heart? When kind of crap is that?
The average Canadian is fat, out of shape, self-centred and lazy. We're ripe for the picking.
Faux neo-con opines...
"average Canadian is fat, out of shape, self-centred and lazy."
I agree 100% neo, you should see my fat lazy ass...whooee!
regards, matt bin
I agree neo (your ripe for the picking comment). It may only be a matter of time that West Edmonton Mall be a taget for an attack on 'western decandence' by some whacko terrorist group. The truth is we have become fat and lazy, partly because there's been 2 generations reared in Canada that have not had to fight a major war defending freedom. These two generations have coasted through life and got very complacent.
And to Gayle, you've reaped what you've sown what with your attitude and inferences that unless you're on the left side of the politcal spectrum, you are a wife beating, uneducated, toothless, knuckledragging redneck.
Enjoy your ignorance, 'Ms' Gayle.
You infer. I imply.
And if that is what you are inferring from my comments, I think you are being a bit defensive....maybe too defensive. Something you're not telling us?
Gayle, if you went to school today, you would be reading a textbook that more often than not is printed in the USA. It would contain a 'Cole's notes' precis of the wars Canada has fought in, and spends an inordinate amount of time on the internment of the Japanese and the pacifism of Quebec.That can hardly be construed as teaching our children about Canada's military past.Only here can we be made out to be the villain.
It is interesting to note that Norman Bethune and the Mac Paps are given ample space, disregarding the fact that Bethune was a Communist sympathizer, and the Mac Paps were fighting for a communist led Europe.
On another note...
As for the notion that Canadians were 'feared', perhaps they were by rearguard or ill trained German conscripts.Germans who had faced Canadians had a healthy respect for them, but that would only be a small percentage of forces facing them in Normandy after June 6th.
German veterans rotated in from the Eastern front (such as the well equipped and led 352nd inf div.) were not much phased by the allies after the severity of the fighting on the eastern front.
The Canadians faced for the most part on June 6th the 716th inf. div. comprised of otherwise unfit personnel for the eastern front, conscripts and eastern 'volunteers' mainly slavs from the former Russian army.
Perhaps after the close of the Falaise gap, Canadians would become more known to the German army, however up to that point, the units that they had fought in Italy were not in their theater of war and would have little influence on those that were.
Canada earned it's reputation against seasoned troops such as the fallschirmjager (paratroops) and the SS, whom we seemed to bump into from Normandy till the end of the war.
Your memories of Social Studies got me thinking Hunter and I think you are on to something.
I know I did learn about them in school but also as children, we had family that had served so of course, that aspect brought a different clarity.I am also older than you. (arrggh)
It would be interesting to know why this is not taught as part of Canadian history and when we transitioned.
Perhaps Social Studies is little more than Social issues or science?
That would suggest that a History degree would be rather insignificant for a Canadian?
As that is what Iggy possesses in a formal education sense, perhaps he can suggest something WORTHWHILE in form of a policy on his next opposition day?
Just a thought....
"...if you went to school today, you would be reading a textbook that more often than not is printed in the USA. It would contain a 'Cole's notes' precis of the wars Canada has fought in, and spends an inordinate amount of time on the internment of the Japanese and the pacifism of Quebec.'
Do you have anything to support this? Or are you just talking through your hat.
I don't talk through my hat.Go to any high school and ask for a copy of a history text..read for yourself.
You will be shocked.
You may want to contact the Dominion Institute as well, to get their opinion on the matter.
BTW, I regularly give lectures on military history to students (some at RMC) and you would be shocked at the level of knowledge displayed by these students.
Gayle, your comment to Hunter was rude - bordering on a personal attack. And we all know how you view personal attacks.
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