Happy Canada Day to Our Friendly Neighbors

Canada has been a pretty good neighbor, and so to them I wish them a happy Canada Day.  I must confess that  I rather like their national anthem, and having heard it many times as a hockey fan, know it pretty well,

I did not know much about the history of New Foundland- that it was not originally part of Canada, but it's own Dominion of the Crown.  It raised a battalion to fight in WWI in the British Army, and that battalion, the St. Johns Regiment, had the misfortune to be part of the British 29th Division at Beaumont-Hamel, and in the battle of the Somme, suffered 80% casualties, essentially destroying the Regiment.

Thanks to Fr. Brad Sweet, I also found out about the memorial to their ill fated destiny in that battle, and as a fan of good monuments, am sharing it here with you- After the war, and thanks largely to Lieutenant Colonel Tom Nangle, the former Roman Catholic Priest of the regiment, a tribute to their courage was erected at the site of the battle- The Beaumont-Hamel New Foundland Memorial- 
It consists of a bronze Caribou rising proudly up off a prominence of New Foundland Granite and native New Foundland plants, overlooking the battlefield where they paid such a heavy price.

Clearly not the happiest event in Canadian history, but one that marks their valor, and thanks to the memorial, their fine aesthetics.

3 comments:

Grim said...

Did you know that the United States Army once threw off a ethnic Irish splinter force that staged an invasion of Canada? This was meant to draw the Crown's attention away from the Fenian uprising in Ireland itself (which, sadly, failed due to careful infiltration by British agents).

Grim said...

By the way, let me know where you want these books sent, and how many. I think they're finally worthy.

Gringo said...

BTW, Newfies are common butts of jokes in Canada.

Newfie jokes.