http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2780483724942444910&hl=en#

A official documentary movie about the misson of the US forces on an island of the Aleutians, from which US bombers are attacking the Japanese occupied island Kiska. The movie includes footage from a bombing raid over Kiska with B-17 and B-24 bombers.

Sgt Sam Magee of FSSF  from Oshawa was involved in this invasion

A collection of pictures of parade and event in Oshawa

This 1940s wartime newsreel shows the food shortage in Nazi-occupied countries that have been forced to hand over their farm produce to Germany, leaving their own populations hungry. Part of the Canada Carries On series.

I found a great educational resource today developed by the founder of Wikipedia, Dr. Larry Sanger

The site is called Watchhow

The site states..

…imagine collecting all the best free educational videos made for children, and making them findable and watchable on one website. Then imagine creating many, many more such videos.

Just think: hundreds of thousands of great short videos, and other media, explaining every topic taught in schools, in every major language on Earth.

Http://www.watchhow.org

World War One History

The link to World War I videos and slideshows are at
http://www.watchknow.org/Default.aspx?content=2bdd8622-4736

World War Two History

http://www.watchknow.org/Default.aspx?Category=980

Private Snafu learns about the hazards of enemy booby traps the hard way.

This is one of 26 Private SNAFU (‘Situation Normal, All Fouled Up) cartoons made by the US Army Signal Corps to educate and boost the morale the troops. Originally created by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Phil Eastman, most of the cartoons were produced by Warner Brothers Animation Studios – employing their animators, voice actors (primarily Mel Blanc) and Carl Stalling’s music.

http://www.archive.org/details/booby_traps

Also
Private Snafu imagines the good times his family is having back home while he’s stationed in the Arctic. Technical Fairy First Class shows that even his family is helping with the war effort – his dad building tanks, his mom planting a Victory Garden, Grandpa riveting battleships, and his girl joining the WAC’s and even the family’s horse is pitching in.

This is one of 26 Private SNAFU (‘Situation Normal, All Fouled Up) cartoons made by the US Army Signal Corps to educate and boost the morale the troops. Originally created by Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss) and Phil Eastman, most of the cartoons were produced by Warner Brothers Animation Studios – employing their animators, voice actors (primarily Mel Blanc) and Carl Stalling’s music.

http://www.archive.org/details/home_front

London 1940
A news reel illustrating how French Canadians soldiers replaced the Welsh Guards at Buckingham Palace

source: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/022/f1/e002343046.jpg

An amazing project  is called the  War Graves Photographic Project  which  aims  to photograph every war grave ,  individual memorial,  MoD grave and family memorial of  serving military personnel from WW 1 to the present  day.

The goal is 1.75 million graves and memorials from commonwealth veterans.

To volunteer  your time to help

Contact directly

steve@twgpp.org or derek@twgpp.org

Canadian  coordinator  is Vernon Masterman

http://www.twgpp.org/

During the Suez Crisis of 1956, Secretary of State for External Affairs Lester B. Pearson – later Canada’s 14th Prime Minister brought into common use the  term peacekeeping

Since 1947, Canadian Forces have been involved in 72 international operations leading up to the declaration of the Peacekeepers’ Day in Canada falls on 9 August

PA Daniel, Oshawa Resident served in Korea and Gaza as a peacekeeper during his 35 year career with the Canadian Military.  He provides a short story while serving in Gaza

Canadians as Peacemakers

New missions – The Cold War’s end signalled a new era of international co-operation at the United Nations. In the five years ending in 1996, the UN set up 24 new peacekeeping missions – six more than the total for the previous 43 years. UN peacekeeping hit an all-time high in late 2006, with more than 80,000 peacekeepers serving on 18 different missions.

New conflicts within states – Traditional peacekeeping took place between states, monitoring peace treaties to which all parties had agreed, and patrolling contested borders. Lately, more conflicts have been internal. Their sides are ‘non-state actors’, not governments. They are harder to define, making it harder to identify who should participate in peace negotiations. Also, there is often no clear area of conflict – fighting is spread through a country’s entire territory. In these cases, the international community is asked to create basic structures for peace and security, and take on responsibilities that used to be internal affairs of the state.

New actors: Conflict resolution is no longer the exclusive job of the UN. Regional organisations such as NATO, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the Organisation for African Unity are also involved. In addition, a wide range of other civil and NGO organisations plays key roles in peace operations.

New skills – Because we now face more complex crises, we’ve begun to send people with a greater mix of skills. Military personnel now work with police and other experts to return conflict societies to security. These experts may include regional and municipal administrators; judges and prosecutors to develop judiciaries and run courts; media, health, tax and social policy advisors; child protection experts; facilitators and mediators; and even people to manage basic services such as sewage treatment plants or railways.

Canadian peacekeeping policy is evolving in new directions to meet changing conditions. This site explains how Canada has responded to these challenges to carry out today’s peace operations.

Source:

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/youth/sub.cfm?source=teach_resources/peacefact

Oshawa Plaque at Oshawa Memorial Park

Resources

http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/department/history/Pearson-en.asp

http://www.unac.org/en/link_learn/fact_sheets/index.asp

http://www.forces.gc.ca//ite/operations/current_ops_e.asps

http://gmcknight.webng.com/Peacemakers