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Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Climate
- Bloomberg
What D-Day Tells Us About How Tech Goes from Niche to Mass
Today is the 81st anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of France that began the liberation of Western Europe. I always mark the date, but this is the first time I've been able to commemorate it so personally: Last week, I fulfilled a lifelong dream of hiking the Normandy beaches stormed by those unimaginably brave American, Canadian and British soldiers. Like most who visit, I've tried to imagine how they must have felt. Unlike most, I suspect, I also spent the walk thinking about weather forecasting. Why? The first and most important decision of D-Day wasn't made on D-Day. It was made two nights before — based on the weather forecast. And the role it played has something to teach us about how revolutionary innovations change the world.
Globe and Mail
26-05-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
Second World War scrapbooks bring memories back to life for Globe readers
The black and white photograph has faded over the years, but it's not hard to make out the nine Canadian soldiers smiling for the camera, many with their arms draped across each other's shoulders. They're standing in a field somewhere in Italy near the end of the Second World War. There's a tiny 'x' above one of the men, with an arrow leading to a flowing signature – 'David Lloyd Ferris 64 Victoria St., Simcoe Ont Canada'. His son, David Ferris, saw the photo for the first time this month – 80 years after it was glued into a scrapbook by Klaas Nieborg, a 25-year-old school teacher in Groningen, the Netherlands. Mr. Nieborg compiled two scrapbooks in the spring of 1945 as Canadian soldiers drove the German army out of Groningen. The books – comprising 250 pages of photographs, signatures and mementoes from hundreds of Canadian servicemen – were donated to a local archive a few years ago by Mr. Nieborg's son. This month, the archives posted digitized copies online as part of the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. A recent Globe and Mail story about the scrapbooks led many readers to scour the pages to learn more about loved ones who served in the Netherlands. For some, just seeing the signature of their father or grandfather brought memories back to life. Others, such as Mr. Ferris, got to see images of their dads as young men, frozen in time. 'I was absolutely amazed to see that photo,' said Mr. Ferris, 73, who lives in Simcoe. He also spotted the signature of another soldier from the community: his father's buddy, Stan Frankis. 'He was their sergeant,' Mr. Ferris said. 'They remained friends after the war.' His father, who died in 2009, never mentioned serving in the Netherlands. He'd joined an artillery regiment and was among the Allied troops who landed in Anzio, Italy, in January, 1944. Mr. Ferris said his father spent several months in Italy before his regiment was attached to the American Fifth Army, which made its way through France and Germany. Mr. Ferris has no idea how a photo of his dad ended up in Mr. Neiborg's scrapbook. 'I never heard him say that he was in the Netherlands, but once they convoyed out of Germany, I suppose they could have touched up there.' The scrapbooks brought back complicated memories for Dara Legere – that of an unexpected phone call in 2002 informing him that he had a half-sister in Rotterdam. The caller, John Boers, was from the Association of Liberation Children. He shared that Mr. Legere's dad, Philip, had fathered a daughter while stationed in the Netherlands in the summer of 1945. The organization estimates that as many as 7,000 Dutch children were conceived by Allied troops during that period. 'We didn't know anything about her,' Mr. Legere said from his home in Joggins, N.S. Philip grew up in Joggins and joined the army in 1942 at the age of 18, largely to avoid working in the local coal mines. He spent a couple of years in England and landed in France just after D-Day in the summer of 1944. His regiment was among the Canadian troops that liberated the Netherlands in April, 1945. After coming home, Philip worked at an aircraft factory in nearby Amherst, married Patricia St. Peters and raised three children. He died in 1977; his wife passed 20 years later. Mr. Legere said it was only through the Dutch organization that his family learned of their sibling, Yvonne Fraaye, who was born in March, 1946. They were told that Philip got into an accident while driving a military truck and spent time in an Amsterdam hospital run by the Canadian Forces. While recovering, he had a romantic liaison with a nurse, Huibredina van Gurp, before he was shipped back to Canada in August, 1945. Dutch family's WWII-era scrapbooks keep the names and exploits of Canadian soldiers fresh on the page According to Mr. Legere, Ms. van Gurp had no way of contacting Philip. All she had was his name scribbled on a matchbook, along with a mailbox address in Ottawa that was used by the Canadian Army. Philip never spoke about the truck accident or his relationship. 'Nobody knew. Not even his best friends who were all in the war together,' Mr. Legere said. He and his brother were introduced to Ms. Fraaye on a Dutch television show in 2004. In an e-mail this week, Ms. Fraaye said she was seven years old when her mother, nicknamed Dien, told her about her Canadian father. Philip had wanted to take Dien to Canada and marry her. 'This was not approved by Dien's father, and Phil went back to Canada alone,' Ms. Fraaye wrote. 'After that, Dien had no more contact with Phil, but this could be because Dien's father intercepted Phil's mail.' She added that, 'I have been searching for my father ever since.' She and the Legeres have met several times, and they keep in regular contact. 'I don't see the resemblance, but other people who have met her say, 'My God, you can tell she's your sister,' ' Mr. Legere said. There's another faded photograph in the scrapbooks that Jan Davis spotted. It's a shot of her father, William Briant, leaning against a tree next to another soldier identified as V.H. Perry of Toronto. 'I've not seen that one at all,' Ms. Davis said from her home in London, Ont. 'Seeing my dad's signature and photo was lovely.' Mr. Briant grew up in Indian Head, Sask., a small town 70 kilometres east of Regina. On July 20, 1940, he joined the 17th Field Regiment of the Royal Canadian Artillery, Fifth Canadian Armoured Division. He was 17 years old. After training in Canada and England, he was part of the Allied force that landed in Naples, Italy, on Nov. 8, 1943. His regiment moved through Italy, France, Belgium and the Netherlands, where they spent V-E Day after Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945. Mr. Briant was discharged in November, 1945, in Regina. He moved to Toronto and worked as a draftsman. Ms. Davis said her father, who died in 2000, hardly spoke about the war. 'He didn't want to relive all the stuff that happened. They saw a lot of garbage, and then they never got any help afterwards. So I think it affected them quite a lot.' She did come across a notebook where he'd written down some wartime memories. In one passage, he recalled heading off with another soldier named Bansecu to repair a radio wire that had been severed during a battle in Italy. As the two men fixed the wire, Mr. Briant noticed a German patrol heading their way. The pair hid in a thicket of trees. 'Bansecu whispered, 'What do we do?' ' Mr. Briant wrote. 'I said, 'Not a Goddam thing.' ' The Germans passed by without noticing them. 'I'll tell you I am sure glad that clump of trees grew where that break in the wire was,' he wrote. Then he added, 'I'm sorry to say Bansecu was killed later on in the war.' The Dutch archives have heard from other Canadians wondering whether their relatives are among the hundreds of soldiers mentioned in the scrapbooks. Business operations manager Anniek van Dijk-van Leeuwen said archivists are hoping to work with an Ottawa-based non-profit group called the Canadian Research and Mapping Association to develop a searchable database of the names. 'It's not going to end here,' she said. 'We really want to make a project out of this.'
CBC
08-05-2025
- General
- CBC
London history students reflect on VE-Day from battlefields of France
A group of history students from King's University College are reflecting on the end of the Second World War from the battlefields where many Canadian soldiers give their lives. Thursday marked the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day as ceremonies were taking place at war memorials across the region. "When we learn about World War I and World War II in class, we learn about the numbers of soldiers who went over, but this so far has been a very personal trip," Keegan Rudman said Thursday as the group was travelling near the Somme, a major First World War battle ground. "So far this has been a very emotional experience." The students are enrolled in an experiential learning course about the wars that received $27,000 from the Canadian Battlefields Foundation and the Legion National Foundation. The money helped subsidize a two week trip to visit war memorial sites in France and Belgium. One piece of homework for the students was to learn about a soldier, and present the information about their life to the group, an exercise that had greater significance after visiting graves and seeing where the person fought and died. "I chose someone from London, Ont. and he went to Central High School. His name is Major Charles Edward Sale," student Mia Fayle said. "I thought it would be important to remember someone from where I grew up. I have my presentation tomorrow and I feel it will be very emotional." The students said seeing the battlefields, and walking through the trenches near Beaumont-Hamel, now a memorial site dedicated to the Newfoundland Regiment that was nearly wiped out there during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, has brought history to life. "Being able to see the actual trenches and finally picturing it from that rather than just comparing photos, I think was quite impactful," Fayle said. Both Rudman and Fayle want to be high school teachers when they finish their studies at King's and believe this experience will make them better teachers one day. "I have my own photos, my own stories from these battlefields that we learned so much about," said Rudman. "I've now been to places like Bény-sur-Mer, [a place] that was never really talked about, and that's a grave site of 2000 Canadian soldiers who died in the Battle of Normandy." The group is heading to Ypres, Belgium next, to attend the Menin Gate Ceremony to commemorate the fallen soldiers of World War I. They will be laying three wreaths at the memorial on behalf of those that helped make the trip possible.
BBC News
08-05-2025
- BBC News
South commemorates VE Day
In pictures: World War Two in Weymouth In Dorset, seaside resorts like Weymouth lost their holiday atmosphere, with guest houses closed and barbed wire placed on beaches to prevent a potential Nazi invasion. Weymouth became a billeting town for US and Canadian soldiers during the build-up to D-Day. Many were part of the US 1st Division, known as the "Big Red One", who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. Several hospitals were also set up in Weymouth to receive casualties who were evacuated from Normandy. A memorial stands on the Esplanade, dedicated to the American soldiers who embarked through Weymouth. , The seaside town of Weymouth effectively became a military barracks in the run up to D-Day , Weymouth became a billeting town for US and Canadian soldiers
