On March 30th, 1918 in a Battle lead by General Seely, Canadian forces including the Lord Strathcona’s Horse fought for Moreuil Wood against the Germans. Despite crippling odds, the Canadian troops fought both mounted on horses and in hand to hand combat, at the end of the day victorious with hundreds of thousands killed, wounded or missing. The battle of Moreuil Wood is one that I am sad to admit I would have known nothing about had it not been for my husband’s job.  For a member of Lord Strathcona’s Horse (RC), the battle marks an important piece of Regimental history and includes a Parade and for some, Mess Dinners and other festivities. The history of the battle, the key players, the victories and the losses, are usually read out at a parade by a solider assigned.  The famous rallying cry of  Lt Gordon Flowerdew rings out over the parade hall acoustics: “It’s a charge, boys, it’s a charge!” The losses of the battle are staggering, with over 200 000 allied forces killed, wounded or MIA.  And Lt. Flowerdew, who was killed in the battle with his men, received his Victoria Cross posthumously. And yet, it was a victory and the war was won and that means that on Saturday night I sat at a formal dinner surrounded by soldiers who ate and drank and reminisced. And I wonder if those men on that battlefield, the only 51 soldiers from LdSH(RC) left still standing when the dust settled, could have imagined that this is how we would remember.  With our dressiest clothes and fanciest silverware, fine food and Port to toast the fallen. I’m sure they did not.  In…

Canada’s war effort in Afghanistan ends this week. It seems like it really ended a while ago.  In 2011 the combat portion of our commitment to the war ended, and since DH is a combat soldier, that was when it all changed for us. But this week, this week we are going to hear all the opinions as the ‘last’ Canadian soldiers come home. I say ‘last’ because there are still some there.  And still some heading there.  And I hate that those families will watch these ‘Final Homecomings’ on TV while wondering why they don’t apply to them.  And for the next 6 months or however long their loved one is deployed, they will answer to everyone as they say to them ‘but I thought the war was over?’ If you watch any TV or read any news, you will see the mini reports and the specials about what it has all meant. And you might, I won’t assume you will but you might do as as many, many others have over the past while, and ask us what we think of it all. And if you do there’s a good chance that because it will take me a while to respond, you will probably tell me how I feel. You will tell me how thrilled I must be now, knowing that it’s “all over”. You might even tell me that you ‘Support the Troops‘ but are happy that this war, that never should have started, is all done so that we can move on. And that’s funny, because I was there in 2001 when those planes hit and many of…