Military Heritage Vignettes
The War Amps two-minute vignettes provide a glimpse into our unique Canadian military heritage and several of them reflect the full-length documentaries in our Military Heritage Series.
Battle of the Scheldt
In the fall of 1944, the First Canadian Army was assigned a daunting task – to clear Hitler’s troops from both sides of the Scheldt Estuary between Belgium and Holland. This would allow Allied supply ships to enter the port of Antwerp. For the Canadian volunteers, it was a battle against all odds.
Awards:
Bronze Award - 2010 WorldFest-Houston (Texas)
Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy
Lt-Col Jeff Nicklin was an all-star with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who was killed in action while leading the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion on the drop into the Rhineland in March ’45. After the war, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Association created the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy which is awarded by the Canadian Football League to the most outstanding player in the Western Conference. The Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy will, for all time, stand for courage and honour on the gridiron and on the battlefield.
Awards:
Gold Award – 2008/2009 Mercury Awards (Ossining, New York)
Silver Award – 2009 Worldfest-Houston (Texas)
Andy Mynarski, VC
Pilot Officer Andy Mynarski of Winnipeg was a mid-upper gunner with 419 Squadron, Bomber Command. When Mynarski’s Lancaster was hit, he put his own life in jeopardy trying to save the life of his crewmate. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for outstanding courage.
Canadians in Bomber Command
Younger generations may wonder how the bomber crews ever did it – flying through enemy territory night after night. Most veterans would tell them that the bombing war was a dangerous job but that it had to be done. It was part of a total commitment to defeat the enemy.
DIEPPE
The raid on Dieppe has been the subject of many books and films. Most of them have labelled the assault, carried out primarily by the Canadian 2nd Division, as a monumental failure. The War Amps tells how the lessons of Dieppe saved thousands of Canadian lives on the D-Day invasion of Normandy nearly two years later.
Juno Beach
June 6, 1944 – Canada’s job was to take one of five beaches along the northern coast of France. It took two hours of brutal fighting for the beach defence system to be shattered. Canadians got further inland on D-Day than any of the other forces in Normandy.
Vimy Ridge
On April 9, 1917, a corps of Canadian soldiers captured the strategic Vimy Ridge in France. This marked not only a significant Allied victory, but also the first time Canadians had fought as an independent force and not as part of the British Army.
Awards:
Bronze Award - 2008 Worldfest-Houston (Texas)
The Blue Puttees
The Royal Newfoundland Regiment was “raised from scratch”. This band of volunteer soldiers who travelled to the battlefields of France in 1916 as virtual unknowns earned itself the reputation as one of the best fighting forces of the First World War.
No Man’s Land
Canadian artist Mary Riter Hamilton spent three years in the battlefields of Europe after the First World War Armistice to paint the scenes of destruction left behind by the war. Her work represents not only a chapter in Canadian history, but also a more universal message about the futility of war.
Canadians in Korea
Canada’s participation in the First and Second World Wars is well documented, yet many Canadians are unaware of the contribution our country made to the Korean War. It is important that the true story of Korea be told by those who were there, namely Canada’s veterans.