1 MAY 1961

No. 415 Maritime Patrol Squadron, RCAF is formed, based in Prince Edward Island.

The Surrender of Poundmaker to Major-General Middleton at Battleford, Saskatchewan, on May 26, 1885.

2 MAY 1885

In the Battle of Cut Knife, Chief Poundmaker’s Cree warriors deal Canadian troops their last defeat of the Northwest Rebellion.

3 MAY 1917

Nearly 500 Germans are captured as Canadians attack at Fresnoy, east of Vimy Ridge.

4 MAY 1910

The Royal Canadian Navy is established.

Credit: Canadian Army Photo Brigadier Charles Foulkes.

5 MAY 1945

Canadian Gen. Charles Foulkes accepts the German surrender in the Netherlands.

17 November 2000. Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan: Captain Maryse Carmichael, a Challenger pilot with 412 Squadron in Ottawa, has been selected as one of the Snowbirds newest pilots and the first woman ever to perform on Canada’s National Aerobatic Team.

CF Photo

Lt.-Col. Maryse Carmichael becomes the first female commander of the Canadian Forces Snowbirds.

7 MAY 1944

A U-boat sinks HMCS Valleyfield in the Atlantic Ocean; 125 perish.

8 MAY 1915

The Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry helps prevent a German breakthrough in the Ypres Salient.

9 MAY 1813

Maj.-Gen Henry Procter and Tecumseh are forced to end a 10-day siege at Fort Meigs in Ohio.

10 MAY 1990

The Canadian Space Agency is created.

Canadian forces advancing from the Gustav Line to the Hitler Line – carrier in the foreground coming up steep hill with tanks in background – Sherman in foreground is hung up on the edge. 24 May 1944, Liri Valley, Italy.

LAC

Canadian tanks support the attack on German lines in Italy’s Liri Valley.

12 MAY 1942

The Battle of the St. Lawrence begins with a U-boat sinking two steamers off the Gaspé coast.

13 MAY 1861

Queen Victoria asks her subjects to remain neutral in the U.S. Civil War.

14 MAY 1943

Trainee navigator Kenneth Spooner takes over for an unconscious pilot, saving three lives, but crashes. He is posthumously awarded the George Cross.

15 MAY 1923

Canadian air force pilot training, in hiatus since 1918, resumes at Camp Borden, near Barrie, Ont.

16 MAY 1961

U.S. President John F. Kennedy visits Ottawa.

17 MAY 1963

Work begins on the first Canadian military hydrofoil, HMCS Bras d’Or.

18 MAY 1915

Canadians launch initial attacks at Festubert, France.

19 MAY 1845

John Franklin departs England in search of the Northwest Passage.

20 MAY 1980

Quebec votes against negotiating sovereignty-association with Canada.

21-22 MAY 1990

Lucien Bouchard resigns from cabinet over Meech Lake Accord constitutional amendments, subsequently forms the Bloc Québécois.

23 MAY 1914

SS Komagata Maru arrives in Vancouver, but 352 Sikh, Muslim and Hindu refugees from India are turned away.

24 MAY 1968

FLQ separatists bomb the U.S. consulate in Quebec City.

25 MAY 1941

The first seven corvettes for the Newfoundland Escort Force arrive in St. John’s.

26 MAY-4 JUNE 1940

Civilian barges, yachts, motorboats, fishing boats and ferries make possible the rescue of 340,000 mainly British troops being shelled on the beaches of Dunkirk, France.

27 MAY 1812

The British retreat to Burlington Heights, Ont., abandoning Fort Erie.

28 MAY 1934

The Dionne quintuplets are born in Callander, Ont.

29-30 MAY 1951

In Korea, six Canadian troops are killed and 54 wounded in an attack on Kakhul-bong (Hill 467).

30 MAY 1942

More than 500 Canadians take part in the first 1,000-plane bomber raid over Germany.

31 MAY 1902

The Boer War ends. Canada’s contribution: $3 million and 7,368 troops.

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