by Stan Scislowski From top: The reflecting pool at Cassino War Cemetery, Italy; temporary markers rise above graves of Canadian soldiers killed near Ortona in 1943. Italy 1975: Spring, in all her splendour, bathed the lyrical Liri Valley in sunshine as I walked along a wagon-worn laneway to the Cassino War Cemetery. It was my first visit to the country since the war and a chance for me to visit some of the old battlefields, to walk over familiar ground on the heights and in the valleys, across farmland and through village streets where death...

Story and photographs by Natalie Salat From top: Mary George throws a wreath into the Channel; a delegate pays respects at Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery; delegate Kevin Carter carries the flag; delegates (from left) Mary George, Jean-Pierre Godbout, Kevin Carter, Patti Coates, Sean McLennon, Catherine Kelly, tour co-ordinator Pierre Allard, delegates Patsy Larsen, Paul Fox, Blake Seward, Dominion Vice-President Bob Gray, tour guide John Goheen and delegate Michelle Ouellet visit the ...

by Maureen Stephenson Today, just like every other Nov. 11th, there is a Remembrance Day ceremony downtown. It's usually a sparse gathering of brave souls huddled against the damp, cold winds blowing off the harbour. Each year, the ranks of aging veterans have grown smaller here in Victoria and elsewhere. But this morning, people have converged on the memorial from every direction. All around the legislative buildings, streets are closed to traffic. There's no parking for blocks. A huge crowd has gathered around the cenotaph and spreads over the lawns and up the stone steps of the buil...

by Madeline Shavalier They say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Mine began when I was called up for active service a year and a half after I signed up as a nurse with the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. I joined because I thought that I could be of some service somewhere in Canada. I certainly had no intention of going off to war. But at age 25 I was a single woman--a registered nurse in good health, and that met the requirements for the military. I soon became part of No. 14 Canadian General Hospital,...