HeyJaredForces with History
"Forces With History" is published via email every two weeks. It deals with issues of interest regarding Canadian armed forces, modern and historical.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Sep 21, 2026
- Audience
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- Earliest in this view
- Jul 13, 2026
Latest issues
Forces With History #265 Canada’s Naval Aviators (Part 13) (opens the original)
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Following the action at Onagawa Bay, Hammy Gray was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest Commonwealth award for gallantry. The VC was in general earned for “…most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour, or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.” Hammy’s VC was among more than 1,350 awarded since Queen Victoria introduced it in 1856.Ironically, later the same day as Hammy’s last flight, the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki,
Forces With History #264 Canada’s Naval Aviators (Part 12) (opens the original)
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In the spring of 1945, HMS FORMIDABLE was assigned to the British Pacific Fleet (BPF) for the war against Japan. The BPF Was part of the U.S. Third Fleet under U.S. Admiral Bull Halsey. FORMIDABLE was in a Task Force commanded by Vice-Admiral Philip Vian RN. (It’s interesting to note that HMCS UGANDA [later HMCS QUEBEC] had earlier been part of the British Pacific Fleet, although she was no longer in the war zone.**)In the summer of 1945 the Third Fleet was conducting daily operations against th
Forces With History #263 Canada’s Naval Aviators (Part 11) (opens the original)
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It would be impossible to do a series of articles about Canadian naval aviation without prominently featuring the story of Robert Hampton Gray. In the mid to late 1960’s I had a shipmate who sported naval aviator’s wings, and he often mentioned “Hammy,” although he wouldn’t have known or served with him. Such was—and is—a sign of the continuing respect for a Canadian hero. Born in Trail, BC, on November 2, 1917, Hammy was raised in Nelson and went on to study at the University of Alberta. Follow
Forces With History #262--Canada's Naval Aviators (Part 10) (opens the original)
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In Forces With History Edition 261* we saw the terrible events of HMCS NIPIGON’S explosion and fire in 1965. On that day personnel in other ships in company may have heard and seen the explosion, but certainly radio traffic spread the alarm at once.In the immediate aftermath of the explosion we in SAGUENAY and other ships awaited developments with bated breath. It quickly became obvious that it was necessary to transfer injured personnel to BONAVENTURE, with her expert medical team and facilitie
Forces With History #261--Canada's Naval Aviators (Part 9) (opens the original)
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On October 18th, 1965, I was a watchkeeping officer on board HMCS SAGUENAY. We were in company with the other destroyers in our squadron; HMCS BONAVENTURE was nearby.<img alt="" class="sizing-normal" height="234" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!CsQc!,w_1456,c_limit,f_au
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