Latest news with #Rifles
Hindustan Times
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Kangra Agniveer dies in Kargil landslide
A 25-year-old Agniveer from Himachal's Kangra district died in a landslide while he was on duty in the Drass sector of Kargil, officials said on Wednesday. According to officials, Naveen Kumar, a resident of Halun village in Thural panchayat of Sulah assembly segment, was serving with the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles and lost his life in a landslide on May 20. The mortal remains of the deceased soldier are expected to reach his native village on Thursday, where his last rites will be conducted with full military honours, they said. Vandana Kumari, head of Thural panchayat, confirmed the incident and expressed her condolences. 'We were informed by a soldier from the area. The whole village stands with the grieving family,' she said. Naveen had joined the army two years ago through an open rally recruitment under the Agnipath father, Rajmal, also served the nation as a Havildar in the 13 JAK Rifles and passed away four years ago due to cancer. According to family, Naveen had spoken to his mother over the phone on the morning of May 19. He had last visited home in July 2024. Himachal chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu expressed grief over the incident and prayed for strength to the bereaved family. Deputy chief minister Mukesh Agnihotri also expressed grief over Kumar's demise. Agnihotri conveyed his condolences and prayed for peace to the departed soul. With PTI inputs
Winnipeg Free Press
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Proud history of honouring returning service people
Winnipeg has a tradition of joyously celebrating the end of Canada's wars and jubilantly greeting its returning soldiers. In 1885, when the 90th Winnipeg Battalion — later known as the Royal Winnipeg Rifles — returned from the North-West Rebellion battlefields, the celebration was 'the biggest day Winnipeg has ever seen.' Streets and businesses were decorated, a victory arch was erected and troops paraded down thoroughfares. On Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918, the Free Press's front page headline read, Winnipeg Celebrates Victorious End of War With Every Manifestation of Joy and Pride. Even the city's sober and solid citizenry 'vied with the younger element making the occasion one that will never be forgotten,' the newspaper reported. As well, on Peace Day (July 19, 1919), a holiday declared throughout the British Empire to recognize the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, Winnipeggers, from dawn to dusk, enjoyed 'the greatest joy possible for human beings to experience … in peace celebrations.' Anticipation had been building in the city for many days as the end of the Second World War approached. In early May 1945, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that hostilities would cease within a week; Italy had surrendered and its fascist dictator Benito Mussolini had been executed; Germany's capital Berlin had fallen to Soviet Red Army troops; the German Führer Adolf Hitler was dead by suicide and his armies were surrendering en mass across Europe. The news that thrilled Winnipeggers the most, wrote Free Press war correspondent Maurice Western on May 5, was that in Holland 'powerful German forces, totalling perhaps a hundred thousand fighting men are turning in their arms to veteran Canadian units.' Winnipeg soldiers would soon be coming home. The Rifles had courageously fought on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and then advanced across France into the deadly and gruesome battles of October 1944 to take the Scheldt Estuary and liberate the strategic port of Antwerp, Belgium. During the winter of 1944-45, the Rifles took up positions near the Dutch city of Nijmegen and then advanced toward the Rhine River in Germany. In April and May, they fought their way through northern Holland and helped liberate the Netherlands. The Rifles' War Diary banally describes the regiment's last war days: Friday 4 May 1945 — Sunshine but cool wind. After a very quiet night everyone looks none the worse for their night in the great out-doors. We got the information from Brigade that the city of Aurich had surrendered. This news made us all feel very happy because we had expected to have to assault and take the place. We arrived in Holtrop. We had no sooner arrived than we got two written messages. One was the very sad news that Maj. D.B. Robertson had died of wounds yesterday morning. (Winnipeg's Brian Robertson, who was one of the first to enlist in the Rifles, was the last member to die in Europe.) The other message said that no further offensive action by Infantry including patrolling would be taken. At 2030 hrs we heard over the BBC that resistance had ceased in HOLLAND, NW GERMANY, DENMARK and the FRIESIAN ISLANDS. Brigade sent us the following message at 2250 hrs: CEASE FIRE with effect from 0800 hrs. During the Rifles' time in action in the Second World War, 3,700 men served with 2,339 suffering casualties including 512 deaths. On Monday, May 7, 1945, the Free Press wrote: 'Thousands of Winnipeg citizens went mildly mad Monday morning when the Free Press sirens (which could be heard across the city) announced that victory in Europe has been won.' The paper noted VE-Day would be celebrated the following day, and that the city's beer parlours and liquor stores would be closed for two days. Police announced that drunks locked up in the city jail would be granted 'amnesty' and set free. 'We expect people to celebrate today,' said Winnipeg's deputy police constable, 'and those locked up should be allowed to celebrate.' He added police 'would allow latitude in the celebrations … so long as there is no wilful damage, there will be no trouble. Only when they go too far will there be any interference.' As the 80th anniversary of VE-Day nears, D-Day veteran Jim Parks, now 100, is the last of the Rifles veterans who fought in the Second World War. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of VE-Day in 1995, a Free Press editorial reminded us that, 'The world is still not a perfect place. Buchenwald and Auschwitz may now only be monuments to the memory of evil, but there are other places where what they represent still exists. And while the world may not be perfect, it is a far better place because Canadians and others fought the Second World War. More people in more countries live in freedom, a freedom bought with blood, because Canadians went to war. It is important that the children today remember what their fathers and their mothers did and endured so that we can live in a better world.' This is as true today as it was then. Ian Stewart is a Winnipeg historian.
Toronto Sun
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
Licensed gun owners 'worried' about what Carney Liberal victory means for them
Five years after the Liberals' sweeping May 2020 order-in-council, Canada has spent over $67 million without confiscating a single gun Rifles line a Ottawa hunting store's shelves on Tuesday, May 16, 2006. Photo by Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — Devastated and concerned. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account That's how Canada's licensed firearm owners are feeling after Monday's Liberal victory, which dashed hopes of a new government reversing the Justin Trudeau-era gun grab and starting to focus its crime-reduction efforts on criminals rather than law-abiding citizens. 'It's been a hell of a battle for gun owners for 10 years, we've done nothing to deserve this,' said Tracey Wilson with the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights. Speaking with the Toronto Sun on the fifth anniversary of the former government's 2020 order-in-council that set in motion an unprecedented gun grab as means to fight crime — despite most experts and police officials agreeing Canada's gun crime epidemic stems from prohibited weapons smuggled into Canada from the United States. 'Everyone's still got those guns, they're all locked up,' Wilson said. 'They then banned more, but we've still got those too — blood hasn't run through the streets, everything's fine.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. With prime minister-elect Mark Carney demonstrating the ability to walk back the controversial policies of his predecessor, Wilson's hoping he'll listen to reason and not move forward with disarming millions of law-abiding Canadians. Read More Firearms policy expert Tim Thurley wasn't as optimistic. 'The tone of (Carney's) campaign was discouraging,' he said. 'The Liberal campaign sought to exploit fears of American-style gun laws despite the fact that Canada had an efficient, multi-partisan, made-in-Canada consensus system of controlling firearms that was harmed by the Trudeau government's changes.' One bright spot is that the Liberal anti-gun rhetoric didn't seem to find an audience, he said, leaving a chance Carney may go in a different direction — but don't count on seeing the end of a government disarming program, he added. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. As of last September, $67 million had been spent on the program without confiscating a single gun. 'That money and time would be better spent on law enforcement and addressing the root causes of crime, as police associations across the country have requested,' he said. RECOMMENDED VIDEO Policy analyst and editor Nicolas Johnson said promises during the campaign to escalate gun-control measures are what resonate in the minds of gun owners. 'Carney was quite up front during the campaign, reiterating plans to expand prohibitions, 'reinvigorate' mass confiscations, toughen firearm licensing,' he said, referring to the Liberals' federal election platform. 'The Liberals are working to eliminate Canada's gun culture, traditions and heritage and weaken security and defence.' Johnson said the federal government may run into problems with the provinces thanks to Alberta and Saskatchewan passing laws meant to block confiscation efforts. 'People are worried and angry,' he said. 'Nobody wants a police raid on their home to seize their property — what could go wrong!?' bpassifiume@ X: @bryanpassifiume Toronto Maple Leafs Editorial Cartoons Toronto & GTA NFL NHL
