The Briefing Archives - Legion Magazine

Documentarian Eric Brunt captures the last voices of Canada’s Second World War generation

Alex Bowers — Wed, 20 May 2026 17:00:53 +0000

Documentarian Eric Brunt isn’t in the business of irrefutable historical record. He has long understood that memories fade, that dates get lost to time and that details can be misremembered in recalling events from more than 80 years ago. Such is the nature of interviewing the last Canadian veterans of the Second World War, a …

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Marilyn Morawetz on a campaign to preserve Canada’s last surviving WW II prisoner-of-war camp

Alex Bowers — Wed, 13 May 2026 15:12:31 +0000

A community campaign to save Canada’s last surviving WW II-era prisoner-of-war camp has reached a new milestone, according to its stewards. The historic Camp 30 site in Bowmanville, Ont., has languished for years due to various complications. Now, plans are underway to preserve its former cafeteria building after the local council approved fundraising efforts, effectively …

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A conversation with Helmets to Hardhats

Alex Bowers — Wed, 06 May 2026 14:01:55 +0000

When military veteran Justin Curtis hung up his uniform after eight years of service, he asked himself the question that countless comrades throughout the history of the Canadian Armed Forces have asked before: what next? The challenges that others have faced in navigating civvy street were not lost on the former infantryman. Nevertheless, explained Curtis, …

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Veterans Ombud Nishika Jardine on defending veterans

Alex Bowers — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:15:11 +0000

“Being able to respond to individual complaints that come into us is the bread and butter of our office,” explained colonel (ret’d) Nishika Jardine, Canada’s veterans ombud. “That is the service we provide, a free and independent service for fairness for veterans and their families. That is our number one priority. It will always be …

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Historian Kathy Grant on preserving Canada’s Black veteran stories

Alex Bowers — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:25:32 +0000

It’s inevitable, though no less tragic, that Canada’s Second World War generation is beginning to fade from living memory, a testament to the passage of time more than 80 years after the guns fell silent. On March 26, 2026, Alvie Burden of Tisdale, Sask., died at age 104. Not only was he reportedly the oldest …

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Historian Carla-Jean Stokes on the man who photographed Vimy Ridge

Alex Bowers — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:01:37 +0000

The camera never lies, or so the saying goes. The reality, however, is in the eye of the beholder. In the 1860s, U.S. Civil War photographer Mathew Brady, renowned for capturing scenes of carnage and despair, was hailed—alongside his team—as a pioneer of the medium. Yet some of his depictions were served with a side …

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WW II’s HMCS Sackville to be formally recommissioned into the RCN

Alex Bowers — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:15:47 +0000

HMCS Sackville, the last-surviving Flower-class corvette of the Second World War, will soon be recommissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy, a symbolic gesture in recognition of its historic service. Spearheaded by the Canadian Naval Memorial Trust (CNMT), which has long preserved the now-museum ship, and facilitated by the RCN’s own commemorative endeavours, the ceremony will …

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Afghanistan veteran William MacDonald on being considered for the Canadian Victoria Cross

Alex Bowers — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:30:48 +0000

Retired master warrant officer William MacDonald remembers the Afghan heat and dust that enveloped his platoon on Aug. 3, 2006. Above all else, he recalls the maelstrom of Taliban fire amid the Battle of the White School. His comrade Corporal Chris Reid had been killed by an improvised explosive device that had devastated his vehicle …

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Historian Craig Baird talks Star Trek’s James Doohan and Juno Beach

Alex Bowers — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:13:17 +0000

“Beam me up, Scotty.” Those famous words are associated with Star Trek actor James Doohan—words, it must be noted, never once uttered (or at least in that precise order) on the sci-fi television show that ran from 1966-1969. There are several variations of the phrase, indeed a number of similar pleas from starship Captain Kirk—himself …

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An urban warfare historian on Canada’s forgotten Battle of Groningen, Part 2

Alex Bowers — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:39:33 +0000

Street by street, house by house, canal by canal, the Canadians clawed a foothold into the Dutch city of Groningen. It was April 15, 1945, and despite the German defenders having ceded sizable swaths of urban terrain, the struggle within persisted. Major-General Bruce Matthews, commander of the attacking 2nd Canadian Infantry Division (along with …

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