1 OCTOBER 1990
Two months after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Athabaskan (3rd) and HMCS Terra Nova sail out of Bahrain on their first Multinational Interception Force patrol. Along with HMCS Protecteur, the task force is part of the MIF in the Persian Gulf.

2 OCTOBER 1944
The 2^nd Canadian Division advances north of Antwerp, Belgium, and into the South Beveland isthmus. For the next few weeks Canadian troops will wage a costly struggle for control of the low-lying approaches to Antwerp along the Scheldt Estuary.

3 OCTOBER 1987
Canada and United States reach Free Trade agreement, although the deal is not ratified until later.

4 OCTOBER 1957
The CF-105 Avro Arrow is unveiled at Malton, Ont.

5 OCTOBER 1939
Major-General A.G.L. McNaughton is appointed head of 1^st Canadian Division.

6-7 OCTOBER 1944

The Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command, No. 6 Group Royal Canadian Air Force, stages its largest sortie of the Second World War.

8 OCTOBER 2001
The federal government sends the navy as Canada’s immediate contribution to the war on terror. Within nine days, Canadian warships are en route to the Arabian Sea as part of Operation Apollo.

9 OCTOBER 1958
The last Sabre jet rolls off the assembly line at Canadair for delivery to the German air force.

10 OCTOBER 1970
Quebec Labour and Immigration Minister Pierre Laporte is kidnapped and later murdered.

11-12 OCTOBER 1899
The South African War between Great Britain and the Boers of Transvaal and Orange Free State begins.

13 OCTOBER 1917
General Arthur Currie is called upon to deploy the Canadian Corps on the Passchendale front.

14 OCTOBER 1914
Canada’s first overseas contingent starts to disembark at Plymouth, England. For the next four months, the soldiers of 1^st Canadian Division will train on the rain-soaked and wind-swept Salisbury Plain.

15 OCTOBER 1950
The Royal Canadian Air Force Ground Observer Corps is established.

16 OCTOBER 1944
His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Annan and HMCS Loch Achanalt are patrolling as part of Escort Group 6 in the Atlantic when they pick up a radar contact from a surfaced U-boat. The two frigates open fire and several crew on Annan are wounded by returned fire. Annan fires two shallow depth charges that sink U-1006. Forty-six of the sub’s crew are rescued.

17 OCTOBER 1952
Canadian forces are involved in fierce combat on the strategically important Hill 355 in Korea. Despite heavy bombardment, the Canadians manage to hold on to the hill, dubbed Little Gibraltar.

17-18 OCTOBER 1944
His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Prince Henry and HMCS Prince David participate in the liberation of Greece.

19-20 OCTOBER 1943
Twenty-four die when 10 BR Liberator crashes in Quebec. It is the Royal Canadian Air Force’s worst air disaster to date.

21 OCTOBER 1942
Royal Roads on Vancouver Island is commissioned as the Royal Canadian Naval College.

21-22 OCTOBER 1944
First Canadian Corps assaults across the swollen Savio River to divert German attention from a larger American and British attack. The Canadians face thick mud, heavy rain and high water, making it difficult to get heavy weapons across. During the bridgehead’s vulnerable early hours Private Ernest Smokey Smith earns the Victoria Cross by single-handedly destroying a German counter-attack with a hand-held anti-tank weapon and a Tommy gun.

23 OCTOBER 1941
The Manning Depot For Women opens in Toronto. Roughly 150 women are enrolled in administrative courses.

24 OCTOBER 1962
HMCS Iroquois is paid off at Halifax.

25 OCTOBER 1941
First Eastern Air Command U-boat attack is confirmed. The bombs, however, failed to explode.

26-30 OCTOBER 1983
Following a multinational invasion of Grenada, Canada’s military helps evacuate Canadian nationals using Hercules and other aircraft.

31 OCTOBER 1975
419 Squadron is established at Canadian Forces Base Cold Lake as a training squadron.

For ‘ON THIS DATE’ November Events, come back to legionmagazine.com on November 1st, 2010