The PM looks like a much more natural shot than POTUS Barak Obama. But you be the judge.
Here is a picture of the Canadian Rangers posing with their Lee Enfield 4s:
Showing posts with label Canadian Forces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Canadian Forces. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Pastor Jacob Birch and PM Harper's Northern Tour 2013
A fixture of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's summers for the last 8 years have been his tours of northern Canada: The Yukon, Northwest and Nunavut Territories. Looks like today he and Minister of National Defence MP for Niagara Falls the Honourable Rob Nicholson got a chance to squeeze off a few rounds with the Canadian Rangers. Outstanding. They are firing the Lee-Enfield .303.. a WWI vintage weapon that is reliable in all weather conditions AND can stop a polar bear with 1 shot... two operational requirements in that part of the world. Lee Enfields were made in Wallaceburg, ON at one time if memory serves.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Pastor Jacob Birch and the Battle of Dieppe
71 years ago today the unit my grandfather Fred Robert Birch was part of was largely destroyed at the Raid on Dieppe, Operation Jubilee.
His regiment - the Essex Scottish Regiment - suffered grave losses in terms of deaths, soldiers wounded and/or captured. In fact by the end of the war no other Canadian regiment had suffered as many casualties as the Essex Scottish - over 2500.
The story as it came out over the years and years it took for him to share it with me and my father, was that during the Dieppe raid he was in hospital with jaundice. But for his hospitalization he would have went ashore not far behind the pipers of the Essex Scottish.
Can you imagine that? Motoring toward a heavily defended foreign beach with bagpipers playing as the shore guns blared, the machine guns chattered and the ramps lowered as your craft hit shore?
His regiment - the Essex Scottish Regiment - suffered grave losses in terms of deaths, soldiers wounded and/or captured. In fact by the end of the war no other Canadian regiment had suffered as many casualties as the Essex Scottish - over 2500.
The story as it came out over the years and years it took for him to share it with me and my father, was that during the Dieppe raid he was in hospital with jaundice. But for his hospitalization he would have went ashore not far behind the pipers of the Essex Scottish.
Can you imagine that? Motoring toward a heavily defended foreign beach with bagpipers playing as the shore guns blared, the machine guns chattered and the ramps lowered as your craft hit shore?
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