Our visiting Rotarian, Norman Leach from the RC of Edmonton Strathcona, presented to the club on Remembrance Day ceremonies and demonstrated some of his passion for Canadian History.  He spoke very movingly about the Battle of Passchendaele.  He initially became involved in this project by working on the movie of the same name, which starred Paul Gross.

Norman is an accomplished history author, with over a dozen books to his credit and his book on Passchendaele sold over 22,000 copies.  Norman also spoke about the movie, which for Paul Gross was not biographical, but was inspired by the story of his grandfather who fought in that battle.  Norman reviewed the early history of the Canadian army in WW1, growing from 3,000 to over 35,000 troops in just over a year.  He spoke about the difficulties with training and equipment, as well as less than ideal leadership.

He spent some time reviewing the accomplishments of the Canadians prior to this battle, and the sobering facts of the botched original strategy as well as 15,654 casualties.

 

Norman reminded all of us that is those casualties that we honor on Remembrance Day, those who did not make it home.