In Part I, we followed the 9th Canadian Armoured Regiment (British Columbia Dragoons), of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division, down into the Foglia River valley to breach the German defences of the Gothic Line above Montecchio and into the highlands around Tomba di...
Breaching the Gothic Line – Part I
The Italian Campaign saw large contingents of American, British, Canadian, and other Allied forces—both army, air units—unite to liberate Italy from Nazi German control, advancing from Sicily to the Alps. The Apennine Mountains, like a spine down the country’s length,...
Major General Keller’s Weapons
One of Kelowna’s primary links to D-Day, June 6, 1944, is through the service career of Rodney Frederick Leopold Keller (1900-1954). [See Friendly Fire from Above at okanaganmilitarymuseum.ca for more about General Keller] Major General R.F.L. Keller CBE [Fig....
Across the Melfa River to Rome
Canadian troops were at the forefront during momentous events in 1944. Two British Columbia units, the Westminster Regiment (Motor), and the 9th Canadian Armoured Regiment (British Columbia Dragoons), of the 5th Canadian Armoured Division thrust through the breach in...
Nursing Orderly’s Badge Collection Tells Fascinating WW2 Story
Jeannie’s cape is like an autograph book!
Imagine how many fascinating people you have met this year alone. What tokens of those encounters do you still have, apart from your memories? This collection of cloth badges from the Second World War reads like an autograph book. Badges, removed from the uniforms of the many British, Canadian and other allied forces men, were given to Nursing Orderly Jean “Jeannie” Daisy Amos. She sewed them inside her nursing cape [Fig. 1] while working at the 106 (British) General Hospital from September 1941 to December 1946 in Peebles, Scotland, Bayeux, France and Antwerp, Belgium. She wore the British Red Cross Society Voluntary Aid Detachment badge like this one on her uniform. [Fig. 2]
Friendly Fire from Above
Major-General Rodney Frederick Leopold Keller C.B.EBCD-P-1123.21 Canadians, British and Americans landed in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Canada’s 3rd Infantry Division carried the flag for Canada inland towards Caen, France. Two months later, British and Canadian...