by Natalie Salat PHOTO: CANADIAN FORCES From top: Canadian Forces members in Bosnia give the thumbs up next to a banner of support sent by Norwood, Ont., Branch and the community; a soldier at Camp Julien in Afghanistan gets a pleasant surprise for Canada Day; a box of 24 granola bars came with every gift package to CF members in Bosnia and Afghanistan. The sight of an empty donation box at the Legion made Doug Willoughby do it. When the retired businessman and member of Norwood, Ont., Branch, noticed that the box—put there last November by a lady from the nearby seniors home seeking donations for local troops—remained bare, “I just went ballistic,” recalled Willoughby. “It was a flimsy box, and the message on it wasn’t quite clear, ...

by Natalie Salat The Department of National Defence wants the readers of Legion Magazine, and particularly World War II veterans—to help identify where thousands of tonnes of chemical and biological (CB) warfare agents were dumped off Canada’s coasts at the end of WW II. Nearly 60 years on from the war’s end, these deadly agents, such as mustard gas and lewisite, remain under the sea. During WW II, Canada was one of the world’s leading producers of CB weapons (it no longer produces them). Though the military subjected its own soldiers to mustard gas and other chemical weapons experiments, it did not actually use them on the enemy. The country was left with untold amounts of toxic munitions after the war, which...

Do you have a hankering for the culinary delights enjoyed by Canadian soldiers during World War II? Do you have $17.50 (U.S.)? Thanks to some “out-of-shape, thirtysomething guys” in Oregon who share a love of British military history, authentic reproductions of Canadian, British, American, Australian and Russian combat rations from WW II are being sold over the Internet. And business at the “Knacker Squaddies Quartermaster Depot” is surprisingly brisk. The part-time business (http://17th division.tripod.com) was launched when one of the founders, who worked for a veterans’ organization in Oregon, was queried by a veteran’s son about the types of in-flight rations available to B-17 bomber crews during WW II. Because of his connections within the military-memorabili...

by Pat Sullivan PHOTOS: CANADIAN FORCES Rations are introduced (inset) and sampled. History credits Prussia’s Frederick the Great with defining an army as a “group of men who demand daily feeding.” Nicole Bélanger-Drapeau knows exactly what he meant. As project director for the Canadian Forces’ combat rations program, the Ottawa-based dietitian oversees the in-the-field nutritional needs of 55,000 military personnel. Not only is she responsible for selecting the one million to 1.5 million Individual Meal Packs (IMPs) the Department of National Defence buys every year, but she has to ensure that military personnel like them. And Canadians’ evolving taste buds mean this is not a simple job. When she started her work ...

by Ray Dick The Mounties are there with their scarlet tunics and Stetson hats, the wail of the bagpipes echoes through the sculpted gardens of a posh resort, a huge cake with a Canadian Maple Leaf takes centre place as some 500 celebrants listen to patriotic speeches and mingle with food and drink in what would seem a typical Canada Day celebration. The difference at this July 1 event, however, is that it is in Colorado Springs, Colo., home of Norad, the joint Canada-U.S. aerospace defence command, and the celebrants are part of the large Canadian military and civilian community of roughly 800 who each year go to great lengths to celebrate Canada’s birthday with their American neighbours and co-workers. “We think it’s one of the biggest Canada Day bashes outside o...

by Ray Dick PHOTOS: RAY DICK Pike's Peak looms over Colorado Springs; the entrance to Norad's nerve centre inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. It’s a short flight from Denver, Colo., to Colorado Springs, and at first glance there is little to indicate that this community nestled on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains is anything but a popular destination for tourists to experience the attractions of this high desert country. But a different scene unfolds as the plane loses altitude to land at this expansive and ultra-modern civilian airport. On the southern outskirts is the busy Peterson Air Force Base, headquarters for Norad, the joint Canada-U.S. aerospace defence command, the U.S. Northern Command and the Bi-national Planning Group of defence experts...