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New website documents over 150 years of Black military service in Canada
New website documents over 150 years of Black military service in Canada
At 17, James Post of Ottawa had already been serving two years overseas when he earned a Distinguished Conduct Medal for “conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty” during a 1917 attack on the First World War battlefield of Passchendaele.
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Lowering the Maple Leaf
Lowering the Maple Leaf
On Dec. 1, 2011, at a quiet ceremony in Afghanistan, the Maple Leaf flag was lowered for the last time in Kandahar as Canadian troops prepared to leave the wartorn region.
READ MORE
The first peacekeepers
The first peacekeepers
In mid-November 1956, 950 men of the 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, were flown to Halifax, where HMCS Magnificent was being prepared to carry troops and materiel to Egypt for one of the first United Nations peacekeeping missions, to quell the crisis at the Suez Canal.
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A multinational warship crew of the 16th century
A multinational warship crew of the 16th century
The crew of the Tudor warship Mary Rose was a diverse bunch, hailing from as far away as continental Europe, the Mediterranean and Africa, says new research that reinforces Britain’s long history as a society of multiple races and ethnicities.
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The threat of domestic extremism
The threat of domestic extremism
Domestic extremists, not foreign terrorists, pose the greatest threat to American security, says a new report that criticizes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for failing to adapt to an evolving environment since the 9/11 attacks.
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Killed by a roadside bomb
Killed by a roadside bomb
It was a grim November day when medical technician Corporal Dolorès Crampton escorted the body of her partner, Cpl. Nicolas Beauchamp, home from Afghanistan.

Beauchamp, 28, and Crampton lived in Pont-Rouge, west of Quebec City; both were with 5 Field Ambulance based in Canadian Forces Base Valcartier.
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Too young—and too old—to join the fight
Too young—and too old—to join the fight
Clifford Robinson Oulton was just 14 years old and baby-faced when he walked into a recruiting office in Moncton, N.B., on Feb. 1, 1916. The Great War was raging in France, Belgium and beyond and young Clifford wanted to be a part of it.
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Thayendanegea’s legacy
Thayendanegea’s legacy
This week, between Indigenous Veterans Day on Nov. 8 and Remembrance Day on Nov. 11, and after observance of the first Truth and Reconciliation Day, it seems fitting to remember one of the country’s first Indigenous military heroes, a man honoured by his own people, colonial allies and Europeans in the 18th century.
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Viking settlement predates latest discovery: archeologist
Viking settlement predates latest discovery: archeologist
A co-author of a groundbreaking study that pinpointed Viking activity in North America to the summer of 1021 AD says Norse explorers likely arrived at the Newfoundland site years before they cut the wood on which the finding was based.
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FRONT LINES

Defence Today
New website documents over 150 years of Black military service in Canada
At 17, James Post of Ottawa had already been serving two years overseas when he earned a Distinguished Conduct Medal...
Defence Today
A multinational warship crew of the 16th century
The crew of the Tudor warship Mary Rose was a diverse bunch, hailing from as far away as continental Europe,...
Defence Today
The threat of domestic extremism
Domestic extremists, not foreign terrorists, pose the greatest threat to American security, says a new report that criticizes the U.S....
Defence Today
Too young—and too old—to join the fight
Clifford Robinson Oulton was just 14 years old and baby-faced when he walked into a recruiting office in Moncton, N.B.,...
Defence Today
Lessons to learn
The fall of Afghanistan prompts a tough question: “Was it worth it?”   The Afghanistan government of Ashraf Ghani collapsed...
Defence Today
Viking settlement predates latest discovery: archeologist
“We don’t know how long before and after they were there.” A co-author of a groundbreaking study that pinpointed Viking...
Defence Today
Vikings settled Newfoundland centuries before Columbus sailed: new research
“The Vikings (or Norse) were the first Europeans to cross the Atlantic.” Vikings conclusively settled in Newfoundland nearly 500 years...
Defence Today
Militarization, not commercialization, is the problem in space
Recent jaunts into near space by entrepreneurs, actor William Shatner and the ultra-wealthy have inspired waves of criticism among those...
Defence Today
Russia, China flex muscles after Taliban takeover
American troops had barely begun their withdrawal from Afghanistan in August when Russia’s military began flexing its muscles near the...
Defence Today
UN fact-finders chronicle war crimes, crimes against humanity in Libya
A United Nations fact-finding team has gathered evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Libya, where militias, mercenaries...
Defence Today
Canada bids farewell to its first female general
Family, friends, commanders and colleagues gathered in Ottawa this week to bid a final farewell to Sheila Anne Hellstrom, a...
Defence Today
Early days: Canadian troops in Afghanistan 2002-2004
March 13, 2002 The 3PPCLI Battle Group launches Canada’s first combat assault since the Korean War on a mountain called...
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MEMOIRS

The man who skipped a line
He signed in the wrong place, but representing Canada at...
Letters to Mom
During the Second World War, 21-year-old Allan Coburn was one...
Cross Border Doctor
It can be extraordinary who and what you will find...
Pépère’s war story
Hormidas Odilon (Henry) Goulet enlisted with the 22nd Battalion in...
Battlefield doctor
My great-great-grandfather was a surgeon who treated soldiers at the...
Canada’s man in Havana
The story of a young Canadian diplomat spying on the...
Buried alive at the Somme
When I was a young child of four or five,...
My dad, the air force doctor
The nooks and crannies of my parents’ red-brick house in Halifax...
The Silent Ward
The author was a nurse in the First World War....
Not all Veterans wore uniforms
Story by Brian Purdy Son of Gordon Purdy Through the...
Tears of Remembrance
At the first strains of the anthem, backs straightened and...
Remembrance
On Remembrance Day or, for a naval veteran, Battle of...

MILITARY HISTORY

Military History
Lowering the Maple Leaf
Lowering the Maple Leaf
On Dec. 1, 2011, at a quiet ceremony in Afghanistan, the Maple Leaf flag was lowered for the last time in Kandahar as Canadian troops prepared to leave the wartorn region. The combat mission was at its end, but Canadians...
Military History
The first peacekeepers
The first peacekeepers
In mid-November 1956, 950 men of the 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, were flown to Halifax, where HMCS Magnificent was being prepared to carry troops and materiel to Egypt for one of the first United Nations peacekeeping missions,...
Military History
Killed by a roadside bomb
Killed by a roadside bomb
It was a grim November day when medical technician Corporal Dolorès Crampton escorted the body of her partner, Cpl. Nicolas Beauchamp, home from Afghanistan. Beauchamp, 28, and Crampton lived in Pont-Rouge, west of Quebec City; both were with 5 Field...
Military History
Thayendanegea’s legacy
Thayendanegea’s legacy
This week, between Indigenous Veterans Day on Nov. 8 and Remembrance Day on Nov. 11, and after observance of the first Truth and Reconciliation Day, it seems fitting to remember one of the country’s first Indigenous military heroes, a man...
Military History
Setting an exact border
Setting an exact border
Canada and the United States famously share the longest undefended border in the world—but the exact location of that border has been in dispute many times. One of those disputes ended with Yukon being cut off from sea access by...
Military History
The U.S. invasion of Grenada
The U.S. invasion of Grenada
The United States invaded Grenada in 1983, its first military action since the Vietnam War. Canada opposed the act alongside the majority of the United Nations. Grenada gained independence in 1974. In 1979, after a coup, the constitution was suspended...

HEALTH

Collateral benefits from COVID research
Collateral benefits from COVID research
Medical breakthroughs are a sad irony of great wars,...
Time heals
Time heals
Whether buying time or giving it time, the...
Medical Advances Behind The Line, Part 2
Medical Advances Behind The Line, Part 2
The odds of recovering from a wound in...
Research on family matters
Research on family matters
In May, Canadians will be asked to fill...
Looking for a good night’s sleep
Looking for a good night’s sleep
Looking for a good night’s sleep
Medical Advances Behind the Line, Part 1
Medical Advances Behind the Line, Part 1
The First World War spurred medical innovations that...
Legion Magazine
1/7 videos
1
Indigenous War Heroes
Indigenous War Heroes
2
The Fall of Hong Kong | Narrated by Stephen J. Thorne
The Fall of Hong Kong | Narrated by Stephen J. Thorne
3
Canadians in the Battle of Britain | Narrated by Stephen J. Thorne
Canadians in the Battle of Britain | Narrated by Stephen J. Thorne
4
Canadians in the Battle of Britain | Narrated by Stephen J. Thorne
Canadians in the Battle of Britain | Narrated by Stephen J. Thorne
5
Liberation of the Netherlands | Narrated by Roméo Dallaire
Liberation of the Netherlands | Narrated by Roméo Dallaire
6
William Shatner | Battle of Vimy Ridge
William Shatner | Battle of Vimy Ridge
7
The Dieppe Raid | Narrated by Alex Trebek
The Dieppe Raid | Narrated by Alex Trebek
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NEWS

Lytton Branch destroyed by wildfire
Lytton Branch destroyed by wildfire
Lytton, B.C., was devastated by wildfire on June 30.  The hospital, ambulance station and pharmacy were destroyed.The bank, museum, coffee shop, both grocery stores, all gone. And with them, Lytton...
The Immortal Poppy is digital art
The Immortal Poppy is digital art
The Royal Canadian Legion has digitized a real Flanders poppy to commemorate its 100th year as a symbol of remembrance.  Dubbed the “Immortal Poppy,” the project has created highly detailed...
Choose our cover for the January/February issue of <em>Legion Magazine</em>!
Choose our cover for the January/February issue of Legion Magazine!
Help choose the January/February cover of Legion Magazine! The next issue of Legion Magazine includes the attack on German dugouts at Calonne. It also includes the details of Operation Drumbeat, Battlefields...
Young artists showcase the will to remember
Young artists showcase the will to remember
Emily-Ann Alyward had three great-grandfathers and a great-grandmother who served during the Second World War, but they were not the inspiration for the work that earned her first place in the...
Choose our cover for the next issue of <em>Canada’s Ultimate Story!</em>
Choose our cover for the next issue of Canada’s Ultimate Story!
Help choose the cover for our next issue of Canada’s Ultimate Story! Since the first people arrived on this continent, the place that would be called Canada has been shaped by conflict and...
Choose our cover for the November/December issue of <em>Legion Magazine</em>!
Choose our cover for the November/December issue of Legion Magazine!
Help choose the November/December cover of Legion Magazine! The next issue of Legion Magazine includes a poignant look at how the poppy became a symbol of remembrance. It also includes the heartbreaking story...
RCMP needs “fundamental transformation” to end systemic racism, says report
RCMP needs “fundamental transformation” to end systemic racism, says report
Fundamental transformation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is necessary to end systemic racism, concludes a landmark report by the Commons public safety committee.   It recommends the RCMP transition...
Veterans’ tech training group plans Canada-wide recruitment tour
Veterans’ tech training group plans Canada-wide recruitment tour
After a year of successful socially distanced recruitment seminars, Coding for Veterans plans to begin a Canada-wide tour this fall.  The organization, which offers online retraining for veterans in skills...
Heroes And Villains
Osborn & Sakai
Osborn & Sakai
Sacrifice and atrocities in the Battle of Hong Kong WARRANT OFFICER JOHN OSBORN In October 1941, the Winnipeg Grenadiers joined the Hong Kong garrison as part of ‘C’ Force. British-born Warrant Officer John Robert Osborn was 42. He had been gassed on...
Face to Face
Was Canada’s decision to reinforce Hong Kong a mistake?
Was Canada’s decision to reinforce Hong Kong a mistake?
Richard Foot says NO Was Canada wrong to send soldiers to Hong Kong in 1941? Absolutely—if one weighs the question with the full benefit of history. On the other hand, if we examine it with an honest appraisal of what...
Heroes And Villains
Heroes And Villains: Bush & bin Laden
Heroes And Villains: Bush & bin Laden
George W. Bush’s war machine proved unable to eliminate Osama bin Laden GEORGE W. BUSH Just 45 minutes after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks started, President George W. Bush responded publicly from Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota,...
Face to Face
Should Canada boost its military presence in the Arctic?
Should Canada boost its military presence in the Arctic?
Ernie Regehr says NO Today’s Arctic is increasingly accessible, Russia is its most prominent military presence, and pundits are forecasting intensified big power rivalry. The question of boosting Canada’s Arctic military operations is prudent. But context matters.   Ongoing imperatives—such as...
Face to Face
Was the Newfoundland Regiment sacrificed at Beaumont-Hamel?
Was the Newfoundland Regiment sacrificed at Beaumont-Hamel?
John Boileau says YES It was a battle that should never have occurred.   There was no sound military reason for a British attack on the Somme at a location of no military importance. The British were unprepared for a...
Heroes And Villains
Harry Crerar & Benito Mussolini
Harry Crerar & Benito Mussolini
In Italy in 1943, both leaders failed at command Even heroes have flaws. General Henry (Harry) Crerar rose to lieutenant-colonel of artillery in the First World War, then commanded divisions and corps in the Second World War. Shortly after the...

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Front Lines is a weekly podcast produced by Legion Magazine, Canada’s leading military history publication. Join writer Stephen J. Thorne each week for fascinating stories and compelling commentary on Canada’s rich military past and present.

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Legion Magazine engages Canadians in commemorating the effort, bravery and sacrifice of those who served and continue to serve in Canada’s military. From the War of 1812 to modern armed forces missions around the world, Legion Magazine offers a blend of stories, photographs, graphics, maps and posters on Canadian military history and heritage, veterans’ issues and the Canadian Armed Forces. Legion Magazine is published six times a year in English with a French insert. Legion Magazine is published by Canvet Publications Ltd.

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