Early on the morning of May 3, 1915, John McCrae sat wearily near his
field dressing station, a crude bunker cut into the slopes of a bank
near the Ypres-Yser Canal in Belgium.
A Canadian military surgeon, he had been at the French line for 12 days
under incessant German bombardment, and the toll of dead and wounded
had been appalling.
From his position on the road along the canal running into Ypres,
McCrae wrote: “I saw all the tragedies of war enacted. A wagon, or a
bunch of horses or a stray man, would get there just in time for a
shell. One could see the absolute knockout; or worse yet, at night one
could hear the tragedy, a horse’s scream or the man’s moan.”
The previous night he had buried a good friend, Lt. Alexis Helmer of
Ottawa, blown to pieces by a direct hit from a German shell. Now, as he
sat in the early morning sunshine, he could hear the larks singing
between the crash of the guns. He could see the rows of crosses in a
nearby cemetery.
The field where the cemetery lay was thick with scarlet poppies,
their dormant seeds churned up by the guns, blooming despite—or because
of—the carnage. McCrae took in the scene and quickly wrote a 15-line
poem. Speaking as from the dead to the living, “In Flanders Fields” was
to become the most famous poem of the Great War—perhaps of any war...Continue reading...
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
The picture of 'Robert Christopher (Horse) McCoy' was scanned from the Saskatoon Star Pheonix in September, 2005.
SASKATOON -- A former Regina resident was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq this week, becoming Saskatchewan's first military casualty of the conflict.
Robert Christopher (Horse) McCoy, a member of the Thunderchild First Nation, who has dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship, was on his third military assignment in Iraq when he died in the bombing early Wednesday morning.
"This time he won't be coming back," said Thunderchild councillor Ira Horse.
"It's pretty traumatic. Everybody here is feeling for his family."
Horse, a distant relative of McCoy's, said people are in shock at Thunderchild, located 250 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.
"He risked his life and died standing up for something he believed in," said Horse.
She said McCoy comes from a lineage linked to the Cree Nation Warrior Society. It was their job to protect their people and lands, she said.
McCoy was apparently working as a private security agent for U.S. State Department officials.
He and three other agents were driving by car in Basra, Iraq's second largest city.
A roadside bomb went off, killing all of them. It was one of two bombings Wednesday in Basra. The other left 15 dead and 21 injured when a car bomb went off near a restaurant, officials said in reports.
McCoy's father is from Thunderchild, while his mother is from Texas. He's lived in Regina, North Battleford, and Texas. Saskatchewan family members were en route to Texas Thursday for the funeral there. A date for the burial has not been set.
"We are extremely proud of our young people and the commitment they make. There's no requirement for First Nations people to sign up (for military duty), but they do," said Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations vice-chief Lawrence Joseph.
"He does all First Nations people a great honour."
Last summer, McCoy was given a hero's welcome when he returned to Thunderchild for a visit. He and his great-grandfather George Horse, an 86-year-old veteran of the Second World War and the Korean War were honoured at a ceremony.
He had recently returned from a tour as member of the U.S. Marines. He said at the time he'd like to return this year on a private security contract.
McCoy said it could pay in the range of $175,000 US a year. That would allow him to buy a house in Calgary and start a family.
He also defended the highly controversial, American-led war, which Canada declined to participate in.
"I've never seen photographs like the photographs I've taken over there of the kids, the children, the families that were happy to have us over there," he said, adding those who opposed the U.S. presence were in the vast minority.
McCoy joined the Canadian army in 1998 but left a year later to join the U.S. Marine Corps.
In 2001, he got into the amphibious reconnaissance unit, the marine corps' elite equivalent to the Navy Seals.
"If you want more of a challenge than what you're already doing, amphibious reconnaissance is what you want," he said at the time.
After two years spent learning high-tech surveillance techniques and how to speak Arabic, McCoy was shipped to Kuwait. He remembers the "shock and awe" Patriot missiles soaring over his head on March 19, 2003, as he stood on the Iraq border waiting to enter.
In Iraq, McCoy travelled with a team of six special operations soldiers responsible for locating weapons caches and anti-aircraft guns.
During the day, the team interviewed children to find out where weapons were, and at night, they would get as close as they could to the fortifications. Using a laptop computer and a mini satellite dish, they would relay digital photos and grid co-ordinates back to headquarters.
McCoy said his team went undetected by Iraqi soldiers, which was fortunate because they were lightly armed and unlikely to hold off an entire unit on their own.
According to the Associated Press, the bombings that killed McCoy and others are fuelling fears the insurgency was taking deeper root outside Sunni-dominated territory. Attacks against Americans in Basra are rare. The U.S. has only a minimal presence in the area.
Also, Shiites, who are the dominant population in the south, have found themselves the political winners as new government structures take shape after the U.S.-led invasion.
McCoy will be honoured in late December when Thunderchild hosts an event for all First Nations veterans. There may also be something done in his honour at a powwow in North Battleford next weekend, Joseph said.
Thousands of Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns recently gathered for the
annual Bliss Dharma Assembly in remote China to mark Buddha’s descent
from the heavens. The gathering was held at the Larung Wuming Buddhist
Institute, widely regarded as the world’s largest and most influential
center for Tibetan Buddhist studies.--By Lloyd Young
The below-ground Bunker of The Oppidum will be the area in which
inhabitants can be isolated and protected from the threat of war,
disease, natural disasters, or personal threats ranging from terrorists
to zombies.
by Jim Dobson
It stands alone in a quiet valley in the Czech Republic, bordered by a
magnificent countryside. The estate is surrounded by high walls, and is
not visible at ground level. From the air, the compound appears to be a
large administration center. This is The Oppidum,
a massive 323,000 square foot property with plans for a spectacular
estate. What lies hidden beneath, carved deep in the mountain is the
largest residential doomsday shelter in the world.
The Oppidum will be more than an underground bunker for dangerous
times. It provides an above-ground residential estate in which the
owners can maintain a high standard of living in a secluded area above
ground during times of potential danger.
The compound is protected by multiple high-security systems (from
high walls and detection sensors to automated defense technology) and
strong communications with the outside world...Continue reading...
By 2019, the global shampoo market is expected to reach an estimated value of $25.73
billion. But deep in the mountains of southern China’s Guangxi
province, the women of Huangluo Village won’t be contributing a single
dime to the industry– because apparently, it’s not worth it … (sorry L’Oréal)...Read more, photos...
by jack
In 2011, a retired bricklayer found Jingjing, a Magellanic
penguin washed ashore and covered in oil. He nursed the penguin backed
to health and now the penguin returns every year to live with his friend
for up to 8 months before venturing back to the sea for its annual
migration. http://onemorepost.com/penguin-rescued-from-oil-spill/
Blazing CatFur:
I released this fawn about 1 month ago. The video was featured if you wish to see it . She returns to the house to play multiple times per day. I’ve rehabbed many deer over the years and a lot of them continue to come up to us. We live on a very large property so we’re not worried about hunters. http://www.blazingcatfur.ca/2015/11/05/rehabbed-deer-returns/
You might think this would be great news for all those scientists who
have been warning us over the last few years about the impending
horrors of “man-made global warming” but in fact they are not happy
about it, not one bit.
Here for example is Dr Jay Zwally, the
lead author of this week’s surprising Nasa study that confirms that the
Antarctic is gaining far more ice than it is losing.
“I know some
of the climate deniers will jump on this and say this means we don’t
have to worry as much as some people have been making out. It should not
take away from the concern about climate warming.”
Does that
sound to you like a neutral scientific opinion? Do you sense any relief
at the good news that the climate apocalypse of melting ice caps and
rising sea levels may not be quite so imminent after all? No, me
neither.
Rather it reminds me of the disappointment of Harold
Camping, the notorious American evangelist who solemnly warned his
listeners that the world was going to end on September 6, 1994.
When
that didn’t happen he decided Judgment Day had been postponed to May
21, 2011, and subsequently to October 21 of the same year. Still the
world survived and Camping (and the poor fools who believed him) was
left with egg all over his face.
Just like all those climate
doomsayers who have been making such a big deal of our supposedly
disappearing polar ice caps. If the climate alarmists weren’t such a
devious bunch I would almost feel sorry for them...Continue reading...
Related: 1. Russia’s Putin Says Global Warming Is ‘A Fraud’
2. 'Global warming the greatest scam in history' claims founder of Weather Channel
By: JTA
Jon Bon Jovi said at his first-ever concert in Israel that “I’ll come here any time you want.”
In an apparent swipe at the BDS movement, Bon Jovi made the vow at
the end of his performance on Saturday night in Tel Aviv before tens of
thousands of fans.
“We’re finally here. It took me long enough,” the American rock star said during the concert.
He dedicated a new song, “We Don’t Run,” released during the summer,
to Israelis, saying: “This one I think should be the fight song for all
of Tel Aviv. It’s called We Don’t Run.”...Continue reading...[link]
Lana, a young Labrador mix, touched hearts across the globe last month
after a photo emerged of her looking inconsolable after being returned
to a shelter in Toronto by her adoptive owner...Read more...
Say hello to the Beatles all over again.
A seemingly never-ending fountain of material, the iconic band is being celebrated with a new deluxe edition of the 2000 compilation album 1, a collection of U.S. and U.K. number one records.
The 27-track edition is also being paired with 50 restored
promotional films and videos the band dubbed "mini movies," many of
which were never commercially released. Back then, the Fab Four began
releasing the videos as a way to promote new releases once they stopped
touring...Read more...
