October 2019 HMCS Haidia, the last surviving Royal Canadian Navy Tribal-class destroyer, has been called the “Fightingest Ship in the Royal Canadian Navy;” a ship that sank the most enemy surface tonnage of any other ship in the Royal Canadian Navy. Celebrated RCN Vice-Admiral Henry “Harry” DeWolf, CBE, DSO, DSC, CD, was the first commanding …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/canadas-fightingest-ship-hmcs-haida-now-a-floating-museum/
October 2019 About four miles north-west of the Borough of Allenwood, Pennsylvania, is the Town of Alvira. Now a ghost town, this once bustling community is now known as the home of the United States federal prison, Federal Correctional Complex, Allenwood. For urban explorers, there is a different reason to go to this deserted town: …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/the-lost-town-of-alvira-the-sad-story-behind-the-abandoned-bunkers-of-alvira/
October 2019 For the 6th year in a row, volunteers descended upon Pennsylvania’s “Lost Town,” the Borough of Centralia, a mostly-vacant borough with an underground mine fire that has been burning beneath it for 57 years and counting. Organized by the non-profit organization EPCAMR (Eastern PA Coalition of Abandoned Mine Reclamation), since its inception in …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/centralia-clean-up-a-popular-annual-event/
October 2019 Have you ever wondered what it’s like is jail, but didn’t want to go through the bother of committing a crime? Well, the good news is that there are many former jails and penitentiaries that are open for public tours. Some, like the former Carleton County Jail in Ottawa, Ontario, also double as …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/if-these-walls-could-talk-historic-county-jails-offer-an-insight-into-the-past-of-crime-punishment/
October 2019 Victory Village is a residential neighbourhood in Mississauga, Ontario, with a historic connection to Canada’s aviation industry. Situated in the former Village of Malton, next to Toronto Pearson International Airport, the neighbourhood had its beginnings during World War II, when Canada played a vital role in aircraft production for the war effort. In …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/victory-village-a-neighbourhood-with-a-historic-connection-to-canadas-aviation-industry/
September 2019 On a hill overlooking Centralia, Pennsylvania, a partially abandoned ghost town deep in Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region, sits Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church. While fans of the Silent Hill movies and video games will recognize the church as the fictional “Silent Hill” church, this church is actually one of …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/the-silent-hill-church-last-church-standing-in-centralia/
September 2019 The Port Dalhousie community of St. Catharines, Ontario, is home to a unique tourist attraction. For a century, visitors to Lakeside Park have been able to ride the Lakeside Park Carousel, one of only nine antique hand carved carousels still operating in Canada and one of approximately 350 in North America. The cost …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/port-dalhousies-lakeside-carousel-a-century-of-family-fun/
August 2019 In Confederation Park in Hamilton, Ontario, just off Van Wagners Beach, is a unique monument to the loss of two American schooners during the War of 1812. Looking like a small cemetery, there are in fact no bodies buried beneath the stones that bear the names of the 53 sailors that were claimed …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/memorial-to-two-lost-war-of-1812-schooners-on-hamiltons-waterfront/
August 2019 For centuries, going back to the days of ancient Rome, lighthouses have lined shorelines around the world to serve as a navigational aid and to warn boats of dangerous areas; like a traffic sign on the sea. Since 1858, a stone lighthouse has stood beside the Burlington Bay Shipping Canal, connecting Burlington Bay/Hamilton …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/shining-a-light-on-the-past-the-burlington-beach-canal-lighthouse/
August 2019 On 8 May 1968 at around 8:30 pm, the worst peacetime Canadian military training accident occurred at Camp Petawawa, 100 miles north-west of Canada’s capital city, Ottawa, Ontario. It was a cold and windy day that 26 paratroopers from the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment from Wollseley Barracks in London, Ontario, and …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/memorial-cairn-at-wegner-point-in-memory-of-paratroopers-killed-in-tragic-accident/
