Quote:
Originally Posted by PIMking
Don't get your panties in a wad... Good lord, Canadian's played a role and a big role in WWII but lets not try to act that their role was no where near the effort that the yanks put in. While the Brits were scared to bomb during daylight it was the Yanks that did daylight bombing raids.
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Although as a Canadian I am biased, I think we have every right to get our panties in a wad over the largely ignored efforts by Canada in 20th century war history.
You can't directly compare Canada to the US in war effort, that is ridiculous considering the size of each respective population.
We get our panties in a wad because Canada has repeatedly punched way above its weight class, and has done so admirably, and we get no damn respect for it.
I have been to Normandy, I have done a tour of Juno beach. Stories as told by Canadians at the Juno beach center, Canadian tourists and local tour guides suggest that there is an alarming number of Americans that didn't even know Canada took part in WWII let alone played a large part in DDay and the breakout.
Canadians were thrown into an impossible scenario in Dieppe and fought bravely.
The Canadians pushed farther inland than any other on DDay. We got our asses handed to us later on but regrouped and played a major role in closing the Falaise gap in the months after DDay.
Canadians were given the task of taking Antwerp a vital shipping port but also a strategic nightmare because of the estuary of the Scheldt. The battle was unecessarily brutal, but the 1st army did it.
And countless other feats, all for a country of 11 million.
In Afghanistan, Canada had been doing much of the heavy lifting with a beleaguered armed forces of a country of 30 million. While other NATO members like France, Germany, Italy all twiddle their thumbs (well they are there but in a much smaller and less dangerous capacity)
Outside of Canada how many people do you think know this? I bet you would be surprised.
This post is not directed at you, more so to help you understand why we tend to get our backs up when it comes to these sorts of discussions.
As a Canadian I can take the jokes about lumberjacks, maple syrup, we all live in Igloos etc, etc.....But when the ignorance turns to disrespecting the sacrifice Canadians have made throughout history and are still making today, then I too get my panties in a wad