Leonardo M-346 Visits Ottawa
Imagine you’re a military pilot at the top of your game about to transition onto…
Leonardo M-346 Visits Ottawa
Imagine you’re a military pilot at the top of your game about to transition onto 4th, or better yet 5th, generation fighters. Now, someone says to you,”How’d you like to go to the Mediterranean for training?”. Certainly a dream come true and the reason that Leonardo S.p.A has brought an M-346 advanced jet trainer to…
Imjin Hockey Classic – 2025
On October 4th, 2025, the PPCLI and the R22eR once again donned their hockey uniforms for the annual Imjin Hockey Classic, held at the Bell Sensplex in Ottawa and hosted by the Embassy of the Republic of Korea. This has been an annual event since 2013 commemorating hockey games played by Canadian soldiers on the…
Aero Gatineau-Ottawa – 2025
There aren’t many airshows in the national capital region so when one comes along, one goes. We’re lucky that the Aero Gatineau-Ottawa (AGO) organization manages to put one on annually given the expense of doing so including performers, guests, fuel, and let’s not forget the insurance costs along with the vagaries of the weather. This…
80th Anniversary of V-J Day
This year, militaries around the world are celebrating the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. War, in itself, is bad but one that involves the entire world is almost unimaginable. Yet it happened twice. The scope of a world war, along with the deaths and atrocities, both military and civilian, is…
National Peacekeepers’ Day 2025
On the 9th August, 1974, a United Nations Buffalo aircraft flying over Egypt was shot out of the sky by a Syrian air defence missile. On that plane were nine Canadian Armed Forces personnel involved in a peacekeeping mission who were killed on what was supposed to be a routine resupply mission to the presence…
Robert Hampton Gray Day
Canada has had many heroes emerge from the conflicts in which we have participated. Most of these people never sought recognition or glory but had it thrust upon them when they were confronted with overwhelming circumstances and chose to meet the challenge head-on rather than turn and flee. One such man was Robert Hampton Gray….
Elsa Lessard
For those of you who did not know, Elsa Lessard passed away on July 22nd, 2025, at home, having celebrated her 103rd birthday on July 2nd. I won’t go into Elsa’s background as many stories have already been written about her but she was a WWII veteran as a WREN and was employed intercepting German…
80th Anniversary of VE Day
The Second World War was fought in Europe from September, 1939, (if you don’t count the incursions of Germany on Austria and Czechoslovakia) until May 8th, 1945. The actual document of surrender was signed on May 7th, but the Soviet Union’s representative was deemed by Stalin to not have the authority to sign such a…
Panamerican Day 2025
The third Panamerican Day was held at the Sacred Space of Beechwood Cemetery on April 16th, 2025, where the Embassy of the Republic of Guatemala, in conjunction with the Latin American Soldiers Committee (LASC), hosted an event to celebrate the contributions of Latin Americans to Canada’s defence and security. To see pictures, CLICK HERE: Since…
CDAI 2025: Ambassador of Ukraine
On February 24th, 2022, Russia, illegally, without reason or provocation, invaded the sovereign country of Ukraine without warning. I say without warning but Russia had been amassing troops along the border for months (ostensibly for military exercises) and President Biden did publically warn the world that this was going to happen days before. Notwithstanding, Russia…
