02/11/1940
Governor General Lord Tweedsmuir dies.

02/11/1944
A Wellington bomber of 407 Squadron, RCAF, piloted by Flying Officer P.W. Heron, sinks U-283 in the North Atlantic. Heron is awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

02/12/1990
A huge fire erupts in a pile of 14 million tires in Hagersville, Ont. The town is evacuated, and the fires burns for 17 days.

02/12/1942
German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen slip through the Straits of Dover to Germany.

02/13/1945
First Canadian Corps launches Operation Goldflake by moving to the Italian port of Leghorn for transport by ship to the south of France and by rail to the Netherlands, reuniting them with 2nd Corps and making 1st Canadian Army wholly Canadian again. The reunification was a matter of national policy in mid-1944, but not resolved until the New Year because of shipping shortages and reluctance to part with the successful Canadians at Allied headquarters in Italy.

02/13/1988
Official opening of the Calgary Winter Olympics.

02/14/1945
The Canadian 29th Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla, stationed at Ostend Harbour, Belgium, is decimated by an explosion, the result of a high-octane fuel leak. The flotilla loses 26 sailors and five of its vessels are destroyed. An estimated 35 British sailors die and seven Royal Navy vessels are lost.

02/15/1965
Canada’s new national flag is raised over the peace tower above the Parliament Buildings for the first time. With this the Maple Leaf becomes synonymous with Canada.

02/16/1945
The Canadian frigate HMCS Saint John sinks U-309 northeast of Scotland.

02/17/1919
Former Canadian prime minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier dies in Ottawa.

02/17/1926
Saskatchewan becomes the first province to ratify the Legion’s constitution and form a command.