Season 2, Episode 9 This episode brings to light an extraordinary story of courage, heroism, and fate. The episode was recorded during Remembrance week 2021 and is dedicated to the memory of Lieutenant Mitchell Sterlin, 16 platoon commander, during The RCR engagement on the outskirts of Ortona (Ital…
RCRM Speakers Series - Season 2
by The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum
Season 2 of the RCRM Speakers Series explores various aspects of loss in the context of military conflict. When this topic attracts scholarly attention, the unthinkable is often revealed. Complex facets of the dynamic between mourning and commemoration, deprivation and rejection or disposal of war by-products surface. All of it leaves undeniable traces on the communities found in the path of the clash. The series ran in two parts: from January to June and after a two-months summer break, from September to November 2021. Each talk premiered on the museum YouTube channel, followed by a podcast episode released three weeks later.
Latest Episodes
Season 2, Episode 8 This episode focuses on the transition from burying the fallen in graves near the site where they fell to the repatriation of bodies, by comparison a relatively recent practice that has seen ramp ceremonies on the tarmac, attended by family members and senior military or governme…
Season 2, Episode 7 In this episode, Michael Baker discusses war memorials in southwestern Ontario and what has happened to these memorials, now that many years have passed since the end of those two conflicts. While most Canadians are familiar with the cenotaph, they are but one type within a range…
Season 2, Episode 6 In this episode, Brian McClure explores the history of the wooden battlefield crosses, grave markers placed at the burial sites, the debates over their replacement with headstones, and the decision that saw them shipped across the British Empire to next-of-kin or units to which t…
Season 2, Episode 5 When the Second World War ended, a major disposal crisis emerged as much of this material became surplus. These assets had all been acquired with public funds, so the government enacted a disposal strategy to divest its surpluses to the best advantage of the Canadian state. With …
Season 2, Episode 4 Sean Campbell follows the displaced soldiers of Poland who were on a personal journey of redemption. In the British Army, they found themselves contributing to the Allied cause on several fronts from Bomber Command's air war to the Invasion of Italy of 1943. In " Hussar: My Grand…
Season 2, Episode 3 The legacy of the Battle of Hong Kong was shaped by bitter political clashes, allegations of a conspiracy to sacrifice Canadians in a far-off British colony, and a pattern of government negligence in the treatment of veterans combined with the rejection of the official commemorat…
Season 2, Episode 2 Chad Martin shares his findings about Arthur Leith Ross, a "small-town kid" with aspirations of adventure and military glory. An avid researcher, mostly of his hometown, Palmerston, Chad's love of history led him on journey through schooling at Wilfrid Laurier University and Sir …
Season 2, Episode 1 This presentation explores the trajectory of and motives for the shift in the church's discourse between the two world wars (1919-1939). The presentation demonstrates that the shift in perspective was a result of a number of influences, a primary one being the unprecedented and t…