March 2020 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. The Queen’s Wharf Lighthouse is a wooden, 36-foot octagonal lighthouse, sitting on a small plot of …
Category Archive: Things From My Travels
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/shining-a-light-on-the-past-queens-wharf-lighthouse/
Feb 24 2020
Ghosts of the past – The St Thomas Psychiatric Hospital
February 2020 On Elgin County Road 4, south of St. Thomas, Ontario, sits a complex of vacant, inter-connected Queenston Limestone, Art Deco buildings, done in a Pavilion Plan style, on a 650-acre property. This is the former St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital. Opened in April 1939 as the Ontario Hospital – St. Thomas, the facility already …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/ghosts-of-the-past-the-st-thomas-psychiatric-hospital/
Feb 14 2020
Old CPR Roundhouse the centrepiece of Toronto’s railway-themed park and museum
February 2020 In the early part of the 20th century, the railway ruled the Toronto waterfront. Locally known as the “Railway Lands,” was once the home to a large railway switching yard, featuring two large roundhouses, the Canadian National Railways (CNR) Spadina Roundhouse, built in 1928, and the Canadian Pacific Railways (CPR) John Street Roundhouse, …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/old-cpr-roundhouse-the-centrepiece-of-torontos-railway-themed-park-and-museum/
Jan 28 2020
Worthington Park – A tribute to a man and his legacy
January 2020 Major-General F.F. Worthington Memorial Park, also referred to as the “Tank Park”, serves multiple functions at Camp Borden, a military training base north of Toronto. As a part of the Base Borden Military Museum complex, it serves as an armoured vehicle museum, with armoured vehicles and artillery pieces from Canada, United States, England …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/worthington-park-a-tribute-to-a-man-and-his-legacy/
Jan 25 2020
Monument pay tribute to Merchant Marine sailors from Quebec who died in WWII
January 2020 During World War II, supply lines from North America to the United Kingdom and Europe were vital to the ultimate victory for the Allies. To accomplish this task, Canada formed the Canadian Merchant Navy, as did other Commonwealth countries. Civilian cargo ships were pressed into service to transport supplies for the war effort, …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/monument-pay-tribute-to-merchant-marine-sailors-from-quebec-who-died-in-wwii/
Jan 22 2020
Retired Royal Canadian Navy submarine now a tourist attraction in Port Burwell
January 2020 The Town of Port Burwell in southern Ontario has a unique military museum featuring a Cold War relic as the centrepiece. HMCS Ojibwa was an Oberon-class submarine that served in the Royal Canadian Navy from 1965 until it was decommissioned in 1998. Powered by a two shaft diesel-electric system, equipped with two ASR …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/retired-royal-canadian-navy-submarine-now-a-tourist-attraction-in-port-burwell/
Jan 16 2020
William L. Moore – A forgotten advocate for civil rights and mental health issues
January 2020 On 23 April 2010, a memorial plaque was unveiled outside the Greater Binghamton Transportation Center bus terminal in Binghamton, New York, in honour of a mostly forgotten civil rights and mental health advocate who was murdered on that day 47 years prior. William Lewis Moore, born in Binghamton on 28 April 1927, was …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/william-l-moore-a-forgotten-advocate-for-civil-rights-and-mental-health-issues/
Jan 13 2020
A small cluster of buildings once played a role in the treatment of war veterans
January 2020 In the south-east corner of the Parkwood Institute Mental Health Care property in London, Ontario, sits a cluster of four buildings; three that are still in use and one boarded up and deteriorating, along with a small, dilapidated guard shack. This is the remains of the Western Counties Health and Occupational Centre. Formerly …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/a-small-cluster-of-buildings-once-played-a-role-in-the-treatment-of-war-veterans/
Jan 12 2020
The Whistler’s Mother Statue – Coal mining town honours their mothers
January 2020 In 1937, the Ashland Boys’ Association in the anthracite coal mining town of Ashland, Pennsylvania, came up with a unique way of honouring their mothers and mothers across America: an eight-foot bronze statue sitting on a hill overlooking the downtown area of Ashland. The statue is based on an oil painting by James …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/the-whistlers-mother-statue-coal-mining-town-honours-their-mothers/
Jan 09 2020
RIP Zenith TV – 1989-2020
January 2020 Today, I said goodbye to a friend I’ve had since my second year in university. My Zenith 19” TV. I have many fond memories of Zenith. I watched many great movies and television shows on this radiation box, including the very first episode of The Simpsons. Zenith moved with me from city to …
Permanent link to this article: https://militarybruce.com/rip-zenith-tv-1989-2020/

