Tag Archives: WWII
Can’t Say It Now
Politicians today are subject to far more constraints than those of previous generations. People are quick to take offense, and God help you if you say something that doesn’t flow with the prevailing winds of society. It wasn’t always so though, as I was reminded on a visit to France in 2014. The words jumped […]
Government Lies
At some point this year I expect we will be discussing the nature of government messaging and its effect on our society and on us as individuals. Perhaps to foreshadow that, here’s a post from January 2015. In our post-modern world Truth seems to have become a relative where it once was an absolute. Perhaps […]
Remembering in 2022
I took time today to remember those Canadians who fought and died for democracy. Two minutes of silence at 11 a.m.isn’t much, but it is gesture with huge symbolic meaning. That sadly seems less fashionable as the years go by. Earlier this week I was walking on the campus of the Royal Military College in […]
The Long Wait
Today is the 78th anniversary of D-Day, the start of the battle to retake Europe from the Nazis. It seems appropriate to revisit one of my first posts, written at the site and posted in 2014. Today is also, barring unforseen circumstances, the last day of my trip I am looking forward to being back […]
Some Thoughts On War
The destruction in Ukraine contnues to be at the forefront of many people’s minds. Somehow it seems less rmote than the war in Syria did a decade ago. Perhaps that is becasue there are so many Canadians of Ukrainian background who have been asking for and offering help to their ancestral homeland. Today’s thoughts were […]
Different Time, Different Place
I keep telling myself that stretching my mind is good for me. Which explains why I read Until Leaves Fall in Paris when it was offered to me for review. I’m not the target audience for romance novels. I think it has something to do with my gender. It isn’t that I am not a […]
A Dwindling Generation
There are 30,000 of them left. Ten years from now there may be 5,000. In twenty years time, none. Canada’s Second Word War veterans are dwindling as age catches up with them. The European portion of the war ended 75 years ago today. It is a milestone anniversary, but there aren’t the big public celebrations […]
Voice of Tolerance
Sometimes there are little surprises. Ties to history you didn’t realize were there. I was walking along the main street of my wife’s ancestral home town, Lippstadt, in northern Germany. It was there I cam across this bust. I recognized the name, Martin Niemöller. I hadn’t realized he was from Lippstadt. Niemöller was a pastor […]
The Never-Ending War
I was looking back through the archives for a “Flashback Friday” post yesterday, and came across this one from September 2014 that I though was worth sharing again. A century later, it haunts them still. The last Canadian veteran of the First World War died in 2010, and I would imagine that is pretty much […]
A Newer Ruin
In a land where the ruins can be a couple of thousand years old, a 20th century relic doesn’t stands out. This German pillbox, part of the World War Two coastal defence system, is on the edges of Monterosso al Mare, one of the villages of Italy’s Cinque Terre region. It serves as a […]
random thoughts from lorne 
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