JULY 1, 1916
On the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, 780 men of the Newfoundland Regiment attack; only 68 answer roll call the next day.

JULY 2, 1904
The Canadian Army Medical Corps is authorized.

JULY 3, 1951
The first postwar group of women military trainees arrive at the RCAF Manning Depot in St. Jean, Que.

JULY 4, 2007
Six Canadians are killed when their armoured vehicle hits a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.

JULY 5, 1950
His Majesty’s Canadian ships Cayuga, Athabaskan and Sioux leave Esquimalt, B.C., for Korea.

JULY 6, 1885
Louis Riel, leader of the North-West Rebellion, is charged with treason.

JULY 7, 2011
Canada’s combat mission in Afghanistan ends.

JULY 8, 1758
French Forces led by General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm defeat a British and American force attacking Fort Carillon on the shores of Lake Champlain.

JULY 9, 1944
Canadian troops start clearing Caen of snipers, mines and booby traps.

JULY 10, 1940
The Battle of Britain begins; the Royal Canadian Air Force joins the defence.

JULY 11, 1930
His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Saguenay launches.

JULY 12, 1812
American General William Hull invades Canada from Detroit in what is now Michigan.

JULY 13-14, 1943
During capture of Primosole Bridge near Sicily, Italy, 11 planes are shot down, including that carrying Warrant Officer James Jonathan Kunz from Sandwith, Sask.

JULY 15, 1958
Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret reviews Pacific Command navy fleet in Victoria, B.C.

JULY 16, 1954
Canadian fighter pilots are among the multinational military personnel taking part in Exercise Dividend, testing Britain’s air defences against atomic attack.

JULY 17-18, 1940
A liberal think-tank concludes the Nazis could target Canada and recommends discussions with the United States about a common defence of North America.

JULY 18, 1960
During Congo’s civil war, Royal Canadian Air Force North Stars begin food-aid flights to the United Nations contingent in the capital.

JULY 19, 1790
Manuel Quimper anchors in Esquimalt Harbour during an expedition in which he gives Spanish names to many British Columbia islands, seaways, harbours and mountains.

JULY 19-20, 1996
Flash floods force 16,000 people from their homes in the Saguenay-Lac-St.-Jean area of Quebec. Ten people lose their lives.

JULY 21, 1812
Black loyalist Richard Pierpoint persuades the government to raise a company of black troops to help protect the Niagara frontier.

JULY 22, 1876
J.F. Macleod becomes North West Mounted Police commissioner; he goes on to negotiate Treaty No. 7 with the Blackfoot, rout whisky traders and found Fort Macleod in Alberta.

JULY 23, 1944
Lieutenant-General H.D.G. Crerar takes command of the First Canadian Army in France.

JULY 24, 1534
The Gaspé Peninsula in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is claimed for France by explorer Jacques Cartier.

JULY 25, 1814
The American advance into Upper Canada is stopped by the bloody battle of Lundy’s Lane near Niagara Falls, Ont.

JULY 26, 1881
The first warship owned by the Dominion of Canada, His Majesty`s Ship Charybdis, arrives in New Brunswick..

JULY 27, 1953
The Korean Armistice Agreement is signed, ending three years of fighting.

JULY 28, 1951
The Canadian, British and Commonwealth brigades in Korea are formed into the 1st Commonwealth Division.

JULY 29, 1992
Canadians begin leaving Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; they’d secured the airport and held it open for food flights during the siege of the city.

JULY 30, 1974
Six army cadets are killed and 54 injured in an accidental grenade blast at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier Cadet Camp.

JULY 31, 1942
The Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service is established; by war’s end nearly 6,500 join up.

There’s more! For our August On This Date items, please see the July/August 2014 issue of Legion Magazine. Here’s a sample of what you’ll find:

AUGUST 4, 1914
Germany ignores an ultimatum to withdraw from neutral Belgium. Britain declares war on Germany, and when Britain is at war, Canada is at war.