>>>>>>>I must have missed that as well. I don't remember reading any messages downplaying or denying Canada's participation in WWII by anyone.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>And let's keep it that way. < GD&R >
>>>>>
>>>>>And let's not forget the tragic part Canadian troops played in "assessing" German response to invasion, in the form of their abortive Dieppe Raid in 1942. I must admit to only having first heard of this last summer, when visiting Newhaven Fort, near Brighton, the nearest UK port to Dieppe.
>>>>>
>>>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_Raid
>>>>
>>>>Diepee is also held as an example of England using the colonies as fodder. I've often wondered if command of Juno Beach was given to Canada as an apology for the Dieppe fiasco.
>>>
>>>It does look that way. The Aussies (part. Mel Gibson) have never forgotten Gallipoli. In WW I we also used Indian troops to fight on the Western Front. Many of them were hospitalised in Brighton, at The Royal Pavilion ( George IV's pleasure palace). The palace is designed as a mixture of Indian architecture and chinoiserie so, when the Indian troops woke up in it, after being taken from the front, they must have thought they'd died and woken up in Nirvana.
>>>
>>>http://www.asht.info/Royal+Pavilion
>>>http://www.black-history.org.uk/pavilionindian.asp
>>>
>>>Many of the dead Hindus were cremated on a funeral pyre, out on the Downs. A memorial marks the spot, called the Chattri:
>>>
>>>http://www.asht.info/Chattri+War+Memorial
>>>
>>>Ironically, the Indian Govt. donated to Brighton an ornate Indian gateway to the grounds of the Pavilion, in gratitude for the way they'd been looked after here. When I first heard this I thought, "Wait a minute! We drag them from their warm, pleasant country, throw them into the mud, muck, bullets and shells of OUR war, then when they've nearly paid the ultimate price they're cared for by us, and we get a memorial gateway as thanks!"
>>
>>It was a thanks for not throwing them back into the muck, bullets and shells. ;)
>
>I should hope that the brevity of your flippant reply does not reflect a cursory glance over the (interesting) citations :-)

Of course not. In fact, looking at the alienness of the structures reminded me of the pagoda in Kew gardens. I realise that the pagoda has nothing really to do with the war (or anything else being discussed here), and that it was actually architected and built at home, and not as a gift from the Chinese, but your citations, for whatever reason, just triggered the memory.

>
>>
>>>
>>>http://www.black-history.org.uk/gateway.asp