Weeda Stamps: News


FOX TALES ON STAMPS Edition #494 Friday, April 16, 2010
Our visit to the Vancouver Island Military Museum
	Recently we visited with one of our clients who volunteers at the Vancouver Island Military Museum, tucked away in the Nanaimo North Town Centre (formerly the Rutherford Mall). The museum is run by a dedicated group of knowledgeable volunteers, many formerly members of the Armed Forces or RCMP. Left to right here are Roger Bird, Pat Patterson, me, Lyndon Davies, John Archer and George Smith. Even though the museum is in a limited space it is extremely well organized. The volunteer staff has gone to great lengths to represent all the different service branches and all the major conflicts and peacekeeping operations in which Canada has participated and is participating. The collection of uniforms and insignia has been comprehensively and informatively displayed. The cap badges in the background are part of the Ray Carleton collection. Many of the medals, photos and artifacts have been archivally and attractively framed. One of the people responsible for this professional and homogenous look is Phil Harris, seen here in the museum workshop. This medals wall honours the recipients of various medal groupings and displays their photo and a small plaque. You can't have a military museum without displays of weapons. The Vancouver Island museum has a well organized selection of everything from small arms to machine guns and even rocket launchers, all either used by Canadian Forces or their opponents. World War I homages include those to Air-Vice Marshall Raymond Collishaw (Nanaimo born in 1893), who went on to shoot down 51 enemy aircraft in combat as well as this framed portrait and medal group of John McCrae of "In Flanders Fields" fame. The sacrifices made by all those touched by war are made readily apparent with this display of WWI "Death Pennies" and the more contemporary memorial crosses. A lot of time, effort and skill went into producing the exquisite dioramas at the museum. This scene depicts the surrender of German Troops to Canadian Forces at Boulogne in September 1944. In this diorama, created by Rufus Neville of Parksville, German and Allied troops negotiate an end to hostilities on the Dutch-German border. Most of these automatic weapons should be familiar to any war movie buff. The museum's collection includes a Thompson sub-machine gun, a Sten gun and a Sterling sub-machine gun. With such a trove of information all around me I had to take notes to keep myself organized. The section dedicated to the Air Force depicted aircraft and memorabilia from all theatres and time periods. One of the more evocative displays at the museum is a photo gallery of famous Canadian WWII Spitfire pilots and matching scale models of the Spitfires they flew in combat. As you can see here the attention to detail in these models is nothing short of exceptional. Canada has a long and storied Naval tradition. A very decent introduction to Canadian Naval history can be seen at the museum. The vital lifelines kept open by the Canadian Merchant Navy made victory possible in both WWI and WWII. Merchant Seamen faced many of the same dangers that sailors on warships faced. Only in recent years have veterans of the this Navy been acknowledged as full participants in the war. In modern times Canada has developed a reputation as the Keeper of the Peace in numerous areas of strife around the globe. A wonderfully informative map highlights areas of the globe where Canada has helped smother the flames of open conflict. Many a Canadian Forces member has died in peacetime. One such member of the Air Force, Tristan de Koninck, was a member of the Snowbirds in the early 1980s. He was killed in a crash of his CF-18A Hornet off Summerside, PEI in 1986. The Victoria Cross Memorial Room is dedicated to the 94 Canadians who have been awarded the Victoria Cross for valour. Beside each portrait is a short biography as well as copies of the medal ribbons worn by each recipient. The back of the museum is a well stocked and well used reading room filled with tomes relating to all things military. Our visit to the museum was pleasurable and rewarding. It's always nice to see a job well done. To go to the museum's website click on http://www.nanaimo.ark.com/~vimm/.
Answer to Last Week's Salvation Army Quiz
	We received ten correct answers to last week's stamp identification quiz. That means a $10.00 donation to Salvation Army. Here's the portion of the stamp we asked you to identify Here's the answer - Canada #681, the 1976 Olympic Torch issue.
The Salvation Army Quiz
	We show you a head of state or famous person from a stamp without revealing what country he or she is from. You guess the name of the person. Send us an email with your answer. For every correct answer we will donate $1.00 to our favourite charity, the Salvation Army. Click here to go to the The Salvation Army International Home Page to see what services they offer to communities around the world.