pferguson | May 5, 2020

The serious lack of food… In a few days time, 8 May 2020, the 75th anniversary of VE Day will be recognized. Prior to the declaration of peace, a ceasefire was established at 0800 HRS 5 May 1945. The people of the Netherlands were so very grateful to their Canadian liberators. The occupation of the […]

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Tags: British Empire Medal, Bronze Cross, Canadian Infantry Corps, Charles Foulkes, Corps of Military Staff Clerks, Cross of Merit, Food, Francis Roy Weatherdon, Humanitarian, John Eric Forbes, Leonard Hood, Netherlands, Operation Chowhound, Operation Manna, Order of Orange-Nassau, Philip Henry Tedman, Refeeding Syndrome, Rex Cowan, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Army Service Corps, Royal Canadian Artillery, Royal Canadian Engineers, Starvation, United States Army Air Force, VE Day, William Charles Conoche, William Preston Gilbride, William Scott Murdoch, William Smith Ziegler

pferguson | April 24, 2020

All the Following Days The tale of two soldiers…both runners (messengers) with the 72nd Canadian Infantry Battalion (Seaforth Highlanders of Canada). Some days prior to the famed attack, whilst in the line near Vimy Ridge, Privates Alexander Broadfoot (130245) and James Mucklow (160827) stood near. Private Mucklow was on duty this day, 1 April 1917, […]

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Tags: 1 April 1917, 420 (Snowy Owl) Squadron, 72nd Canadian Infantry Battalion, 82nd Canadian Infantry Battalion, Alexander Broadbent, American Army, Asthma, Bergen-op-Zoom Canadian War Cemetery (Netherlands), Bronchitis, Burnsland Cemetery (Calgary), Camp Funston (Kansas), Chat Hunting, Chats, Chatting, COVID-19, Eric Kennington, Etaples Military Cemetery, Film History, Gallipoli, Hastings Park, Hotel Lotus, Influenza, James Mucklow, James Mucklow Jr., John Mucklow, Joseph Acheson, László Mednyánszky, Lice, Married Man, Measles, Military Medal, Mucklow Family, No. 56 General Hospital, Passchendaele, Peter Weir, Pyrexia of Unknown Origin (P.U.O.), Rose Mucklow, Roy Mucklow, Royal Canadian Air Force, Runner (Messenger), Soldiers Hunting for Lice, Souchez, Trench Fever

pferguson | April 21, 2020

Camouflet a mine so charged and placed that its detonation will destroy enemy mining tunnels. 2a. an underground or subsurface explosion of a bomb or shell that leaves a sealed pocket of smoke and gas. 2b. a pocket formed in this way. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) I return this evening to a favoured online resource. As I […]

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Tags: 26 March 1917, 38th Canadian Infantry Battalion, Boezinge, Cadence, Camouflet, Charles Gordon Matthewson, Corporal Richard Rainford, COVID-19, David McCullough (Narrator), Dixmude, Dugout, Ernest David Ruffles, Gas, George Frederick Giddens, George Nicholls, George William Ewart Jemmett, Gus Sheff, Life Saving, Military Medal, Private Albert Ernest Carey, Private Harold Leslie Edwards, Sergeant Thomas Clifford Briscoe, Shelby Foote (Novelist-Historian), Souchez (France), Storytelling, Villers Station Cemetery, William Valentine, Yorkshire Trench

pferguson | April 16, 2020

The sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away. Captain Thomas Moore, British Army, 16 April 2020 Clang Clanger, Thump Thumplers and More The day has arrived at 7 PM. Watched clocks and timepieces have signaled an explosion of clang clangers about the block. Children join with parents as drums, pots […]

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Tags: 2020 Fundraising Walk, Burma, Captain Thomas Moore, COVID-19, Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding), Havercake Lads, National Health Service, Story, Storyteller, Theodor Seuss Gissel

pferguson | April 10, 2020

The Soldier 410457 George Gabriel Boland What’s he going to do this soldier – 410457? He was born in Wrexham, North Wales…served briefly in the U.S. Army…once was a sailor…with a Goddess of Liberty tattoo inked on his left arm. He stood 5’ 3.5”. At the time of his enlistment, in March 1915, George Gabriel […]

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Tags: 38th Canadian Infantry Battalion, Concertina, Cy Endfield, Field Punishment No. 1, Film History, George Gabriel Boland, Military Medal, Parapet, Passchendaele, Singing, Song, Stanley Baker, Zulu