Aero Gatineau-Ottawa – 2025
There aren’t many airshows in the national capital region so when one comes along, one…
Aero Gatineau-Ottawa – 2025
There aren’t many airshows in the national capital region so when one comes along, one goes. We’re lucky that the Aero Gatineau-Ottawa (AGO) organization manages to put one on annually given the expense of doing so including performers, guests, fuel, and let’s not forget the insurance costs along with the vagaries of the weather. This…
80th Anniversary of V-J Day
This year, militaries around the world are celebrating the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. War, in itself, is bad but one that involves the entire world is almost unimaginable. Yet it happened twice. The scope of a world war, along with the deaths and atrocities, both military and civilian, is…
National Peacekeepers’ Day 2025
On the 9th August, 1974, a United Nations Buffalo aircraft flying over Egypt was shot out of the sky by a Syrian air defence missile. On that plane were nine Canadian Armed Forces personnel involved in a peacekeeping mission who were killed on what was supposed to be a routine resupply mission to the presence…
Robert Hampton Gray Day
Canada has had many heroes emerge from the conflicts in which we have participated. Most of these people never sought recognition or glory but had it thrust upon them when they were confronted with overwhelming circumstances and chose to meet the challenge head-on rather than turn and flee. One such man was Robert Hampton Gray….
Elsa Lessard
For those of you who did not know, Elsa Lessard passed away on July 22nd, 2025, at home, having celebrated her 103rd birthday on July 2nd. I won’t go into Elsa’s background as many stories have already been written about her but she was a WWII veteran as a WREN and was employed intercepting German…
80th Anniversary of VE Day
The Second World War was fought in Europe from September, 1939, (if you don’t count the incursions of Germany on Austria and Czechoslovakia) until May 8th, 1945. The actual document of surrender was signed on May 7th, but the Soviet Union’s representative was deemed by Stalin to not have the authority to sign such a…
Panamerican Day 2025
The third Panamerican Day was held at the Sacred Space of Beechwood Cemetery on April 16th, 2025, where the Embassy of the Republic of Guatemala, in conjunction with the Latin American Soldiers Committee (LASC), hosted an event to celebrate the contributions of Latin Americans to Canada’s defence and security. To see pictures, CLICK HERE: Since…
CDAI 2025: Ambassador of Ukraine
On February 24th, 2022, Russia, illegally, without reason or provocation, invaded the sovereign country of Ukraine without warning. I say without warning but Russia had been amassing troops along the border for months (ostensibly for military exercises) and President Biden did publically warn the world that this was going to happen days before. Notwithstanding, Russia…
CDAI 2025: Protecting NATO’s Northern Flank
For those who insist that climate change is not real, they should talk to NATO to see if they feel the same way. In the past, the northern flank of NATO was not given much attention as the main threat, so it was felt, was a land/air threat as Russia came through central Europe. NATO…
Conference on Security & Defence
Last week the Canadian Defence Association Institute (CDAI) hosted the 93rd edition of the Ottawa Conference on Security and Defence which I attended on behalf of Esprit de Corps Military Magazine. The conference consists of keynote addresses and panel discussions centering round the spectrum of global security and defence matters, through keynote speaker addresses, presentations,…
