Books on the Go: The Fighting Padre, the Great War Letters of Pat Leonard
I made the mistake of browsing the excellent Pen and Sword website recently and in due course three books arrived in the post (trans-Atlantic mail has improved remarkably since the start of Covid) […]
Faithful Till The End: Canadian Military Chaplains in the Last Days of the Great War
No Canadian scholar knows the history of Canadian military chaplaincy in the Great War better than my friend, Dr. Duff Crerar. In these notes which Duff kindly shared with myself […]
Remembering Canada’s First Black Military Chaplain
A colleague here at the Canadian Forces Chaplain School and Centre was reviewing our new chaplain history curriculum and asked me why our first African-Canadian chaplain was not included. Because […]
Tubby Clayton: A Commission From Tim Godden
In my previous post I mentioned the British artist Tim Godden, who specializes in images of the Great War and of Edwardian sports figures. His style captives me – there’s […]
Remembering Canadian Great War Chaplains in the Hundred Days
The text below is from an email sent by my friend and colleague, Dr. Duff Crerar, author of Padres in No Man’s Land (McGill Queen’s 1995, 2nd ed 2014). Duff regularly […]
Remembering a Canadian Great War Chaplain: Donald MacPhail
I owe this chaplain story to my friend Dr. Duff Crerar. I had never heard of Padre MacPhail or of the Llandovery Castle until he told me the story. The […]
Remembering Some D-Day Chaplains
It’s June 6th and a friend of mine on Facebook informed me about one of the first army padres ashore on D-Day. Chaplain Julian Ellenberg was an Anglican priest assigned […]
Remembering Canada’s Army Chaplains at Vimy Ridge
This week, starting on Sunday, marks the centenary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, when the Canadian Corps, fighting together, achieved a significant victory on the Western Front during World […]
Royal Canadian Navy Chaplain Recognized for Meritorious Service
On February 27, 2014, a major fire broke out in the engine compartment of the Royal Canadian Navy supply ship, HMCS Protecteur. For the next eleven hours, the crew worked […]
First Christmas In The Trenches: Remembering Anglican Chaplaincy in the Great War
This post copies an article that I wrote for the newsletter of the Anglican Military Ordinariate, the body of Anglican chaplains serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. It is part […]