Submitted by Devonna Edwards The Naval Cemetery is a small military cemetery located in C.F.B. Stadacona on Gottingen Street, Halifax. The cemetery is situated behind Admiralty House (Maritime Command Museum) on a hill that slopes down to Barrington Street and is enclosed by fencing with a locked gate. In 1894 the cemetery occupied over four…
Submitted by Devonna Edwards Eat Hash and Like It! A 1940s newspaper advertisement for War Saving Stamps depicts a housewife dishing up supper to her children. The youngsters smile with enthusiasm as the mother declares to the readers, “As long as Jack is at war, we’ll eat hash and like it. We are at war….
Submitted by Devonna Edwards On Nov. 11th it is once again time to remember and to honour those who served, those who fought and those who gave their lives. My late father John O’Brien (injured in the battle of Ortona) was a survivor of World War 11. My three brothers (through their insistence) wanted to…
Submitted by Devonna Edwards The Sandoz Family of Fairview Oscar Sandoz lived on Dutch Village Road in Fairview, with his parents, George and Evelyn and his siblings. Today his house was where Ken’s Seafood is now located. The actual house is still there behind the brick façade that was added. Many people may still remember…
Submitted by Devonna Edwards Two airplanes, a Sea Fury and an Avenger, collided over Fairview with a deafening roar on April 9, 1953. Eyewitnesses told of seeing a blue and white flash as the planes came together. On that night, bad weather made squadron programmers from HMCS Shearwater limit flying operations to the local area….
Submitted by Devonna Edwards The Peninsula Line of Defence was a chain of outposts on the isthmus separating the Halifax peninsula and the elevated mainland to the west. The colonial authorities erected three small stockade forts, where the soldiers were kept on guard. These stockades were known as the Peninsula Blockhouses and consisted of the…
Submitted by Devonna Edwards Duc d’ Anville’s Mighty French Armada sailed into the Bedford Basin in 1746 The loss of Louisburg filled the French with rage and a spirit of revenge. The lost town must be taken back; Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, too shall be taken again from the English; Boston and other towns of…
Submitted by Devonna Edwards The Bedford Basin is a large enclosed bay, forming the northwestern end of Halifax Harbour. The Basin measures 8 Kilometres long and 5 Kilometres wide. The Basin is very deep with some areas measuring several dozen metres in depth. Geologists believed that the Bedford Basin and the Halifax Harbour did not…
On November 11, 2018 ,the Fairview Legion Branch 142, and Legions across the country marked the 100th anniversary of the end of “The Great War”. One hundred bells rang out in memory of those who sacrificed their lives to preserve our freedom.
By: John O’Brien and Devonna Edwards This Book is a memoir written by and for infantrymen who bore the brunt of war. It chronicles the hardships of the footslogger struggling through the mud and cold, witnessing the torn flesh and death of comrades at arms, penned with a poignant humour and sprinkled with lessons learned,…