Monument to Canadian naval, army and air force personnel, Brantford, Ontario Photo by J. Gray Canada's Military Heritage Welcome to my site.  I am a proud Canadian, and former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, who has created this site to honour my country's military history and the generations of men and women who have fought and died as Canadians. If we are to believe Hollywood, we would think that only the Americans, and to a lesser extent the British, saved the world many times over.  The fact is, Canada has played a major role in two World Wars, the Korean conflict, both Gulf Wars, and countless peacekeeping missions around the globe.   Our military heritage begins in 1812, when the Americans believed invading Canada and annexing our land would be a "mere matter of marching".  For thirty months, Canadian militiamen and Native warriors loyal to Great Britain stood beside the troops of the British Army, repelling the U.S. invaders and launching attacks deep into the heartland of the United States.  The war gave birth to such units as the Glengarry Light Infantry, a regiment raised in Ontario, and made up of soldiers who were considered equal to the troops of the British Army.  In Quebec, the Canadian Voltigeurs, under the command of Canadian born Charles de Salaberry, defeated a larger advancing American army at Chateauguay. In the First World War, which raged from 1914 to 1918, Canada immediately volunteered to assist Great Britain and her allies.  A country of only seven million, nearly ten percent of the Canadian population enlisted in the armed forces during The Great War, and more than 60,000 were killed.  The Canadians, however, earned a repution as fierce fighters, and earned the respect of their German enemies.  As Irish reporter Kevin Myers wrote in 2002: "Canada's purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy.  The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle". A mere twenty years later, the world was again in conflict, and Canada immediately stepped up to defend freedom.  Canadian pilots, ground crews and artillery assisted in the defence of London during the Battle of Britain.  Canadian troops rushed ashore at the occupied French village of Dieppe, into a slaughter.  But the lessons learned through the spilling of Canadian blood may have saved thousands of Allied lives two years later at Normandy.  In the east, Two Canadian regiments fought a bloody, month long battle against seasoned Japanese troops, before Hong Kong fell, and those that survived would endure months and years of brutal treatment as prisoners of war.  Canadians were there again during the Italian Campaign, alongside Montgomery and the American armies, suffering massive numbers of casualties at such places as Ortona.  On D-Day, the Allies captured five beaches.... the Americans took two, the British took two.... and the Canadians took the last.  Perhaps the greatest Canadian contribution to the war was the Battle of the Atlantic, where merchant vessels, and naval escorts, ferried food, ammunition, supplies and fuel to Europe.  More than two thousand Canadian sailors lost their lives keeping this vital link open.  Again, in the words of Kevin Myers: "The Canadian Navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing half of the Atlantic against U-Boat attack". "More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone.  Canada finished the war with the third largest navy and fourth largest air force in the world". Following the Canadian victory at the Hochwald Gap during the liberation of Europe, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a letter to Canadian General Harry Crerar, said of Canadian troops: "Probably no assault in this war has been conducted under more appalling conditions of terrain than was that one.  It speaks volumes for your skill and determination and the valour of your soldiers that you carried it out to a successful conclusion". My site is in no way affiliated with the Government of Canada, or the Canadian Armed Forces.  The writing and most of the photography is my own work, and simply my way of honouring my country and its military, past and present. I hope you enjoy visiting my site, and feel free to contact me at canadianmilitary@yahoo.ca