Inspection of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Coronation Contingent and Review of Musical Ride, April 1953.

PHOTO: LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA—PA144092

February 1, 1920

Legislation takes effect, merging the Royal North West Mounted Police and Dominion Police into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Soldiers in a armoured reconnaissance vehicle, Kandahar, Afghanistan.

PHOTO: SGT. GERRY PILOTE, DGPA/J5PA COMBAT CAMERA—ISD02-3013a

February 2-3, 2002

The first large contingent of regular troops begins landing in Afghanistan.

Defence Minister Douglas Harkness.

PHOTO: LEGION MAGAZINE ARCHIVES

February 4-5, 1963 

Defence Minister Douglas Harkness resigns after Prime Minister John Diefenbaker refuses to arm Canada’s Bomarc missiles with U.S. nuclear warheads. The next day the government falls after two non-confidence motions over nuclear weapons policy.

February 6-7, 1813 

Taking advantage of the frozen St. Lawrence River, U.S. Army Captain Benjamin Forsythe crosses into Canada and attacks Brockville.

February 7, 1867  

The first draft of the British North America Act is introduced in the House of Lords in Britain. Effective July 1, it creates the Dominion of Canada as a parliamentary democracy.

February 8, 1945

First Canadian Army joins the Allied Rhineland Campaign, piercing the Siegfried Line in the first two weeks.

February 9, 2004

Canadian Lieutenant-General Rick Hillier takes command of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

War brides and children, from left: Hilda Waisberg; Diane Fages; Hilda McKinley; Florence Jewell; Nancy Robertson and her daughter Eva; Evelyn Brooke and her daughter Una.

PHOTO: CANADIAN ARMY

10 February 1946

Four hundred war brides arrive in Halifax on the ocean liner Mauritania. By 1948, more than 44,000 women and nearly 21,000 children came to Canada, mostly from Britain.

February 11, 1978

A Pacific Western Airlines flight crashes at Cranbrook, B.C., killing 42 of 49 people on board.

February 12, 1947 

Canada and the U.S. sign an agreement to collaborate in defence planning. One result was development of a radar system in northern Canada, later dubbed the DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line.

February 13, 1945

The German city of Dresden is destroyed by Allied bombers.

Colonel By watching the building of the Rideau Canal, 1826.

ILLUSTRATION: LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA—C073703

February 14, 1826

Lieutenant-Colonel John By arrives in Hull to plan construction of the Rideau Canal.

February 15, 1839

A dozen leaders of the Lower Canada Rebellion are publicly hanged in Montreal.

February 16, 1968

No. 434 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron is formed at Cold Lake, Alta.

The Mad Trapper of Rat River, Albert Johnson (light haired man near tree-centre).

PHOTO: LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA—C039883

February 17, 1932 

The Mad Trapper of Rat River, Albert Johnson, is killed in a shootout with RCMP following a 240-kilometre, 48-day manhunt in the Yukon.

February 18, 1942  

Newfoundlanders rescue 185 from U.S. warships driven onto the rocks in a storm; 203 perish.

February 19, 1945  

U.S. Marines land on Iwo Jima Island in the Pacific.

February 20, 2004

Canada pledges $5 million in aid and joins a multinational mission to stabilize growing violence in Haiti.

February 21, 1916  

The Battle of Verdun begins. There will be nearly a million French and German casualties.

February 22, 1951 

C Company of 2nd Bn,, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry sustains the battalion’s first casualties in Korea.

February 23, 1959 

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first heavier-than-air powered flight in Canada, Royal Canadian Air Force members build a flight-capable replica of the Silver Dart.

Tommy Douglas

PHOTO: LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA—C036222

February 24, 1986

Former Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas, best known as the Father of Medicare, dies at 81.

Sergeant Aubrey Cosens, VC

PHOTO: LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA—PA166764

February 25-26, 1945

Sergeant Aubrey Cosens braves intense fire near Mooshof, Holland, to attack and capture enemy strongpoints and take prisoners. Killed by sniper fire, he is awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.

Canadians at Battle of Paardeberg.

ILLUSTRATION: LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA—E008319465

February 27, 1900

Moving silently through the darkness and under fire, the Royal Canadian Regiment secures a commanding position over Boer trenches, and opens fire at sunrise. The Boers shortly surrender, ending the Battle of Paardeberg.

February 28, 1991  

During the month of February, CF-18 pilots from the Desert Cats Squadron based in Doha, Qatar, (formed from the 416 and 439 Squadrons) carry out 56 bombing missions against Iraqi forces.

For ON THIS DATE March Events, come back to legionmagazine.com on March 1, 2013.