Commando.org

Capt Pete Vallee, CD

Rob — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:50:46 +0000

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Capt Pete Vallee, CD (Retired/Retraité) who served with the R 22e R and with the Airborne Regiment with 1 CDO and the AB School in Rivers and Edmonton for many years and trained jumped with the Sky Hawks in Edmonton during the 70’s.

Memorial Services will be held on Feb 20th at J.J. Cardinal at 560 Lakeshore Drive, Dorval, Quebec.

Viewing will commence at 13:00, with the service beginning at 16:00.

Gord Legarie

Rob — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:20:16 +0000

Several people have contacted me this week to inform me that Gord Legarie has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Frank MacNeil wrote;

I am sorry to say that Gord Legarie, a great soldier, person, friend and jumper has passed away on Jan 9, 2010, he had a very hard battle with cancer that he fought which turned out to be his last. Gord served in the Canadian Airborne Regt, 2 Airborne Commando and the Canadian Airborne School, he will be missed by all, there will be a gathering to celebrate Gord life on Friday Jan 15th at 10 am in Edmonton Alberta, Sherwood Park.

Gord R.I.P.. old buddy you now will help Dave Mack and Bob Hodgson in securing the DZ for the rest of us, we will meet again old brother have a good one.

Airborne…….

Our condolences go out to his family and friends. Rest in Peace brother…

Russian Forum Ban

Rob — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:28:07 +0000

We get tons of spam on these forums and most of it comes from Russian IP addresses. I was looking at out logs today and nearly half of the traffic to these forums is spammers trying to get in and almost all of them are from Russia.

To stop this misuse of the forums, I have put a full ban on all IP addresses originating from the Russian Federation. People from Russia can still view the rest of the site, but they will get an access denied if they attempt to view the forums.

I don’t like doing this as it may cause a few real users problems, but it had to be done.

New Webhost

Rob — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:59:26 +0000

As everyone knows, we have been having a lot of problems keeping the site up recently and it has been getting much worse recently. I tried everything I could think of to make the site more stable, but in the end, this site was much too popular for the old tired server that it was hosted on.

To all of you who have stuck with us through these difficult times, thank you and please accept my apologies for being so stubborn that I thought I could patch everything together with duct tape and keep it working.

In my defense, those are characteristics I learned in the Airborne.

I finally broke down, opened my wallet and took the time to move everything over to a new web host with room to grow. The various areas of the site will be coming back online over the next day or so, but I expect that I will miss things in the move. If you notice anything wrong with the site, please let me know by posting to the thread in the forums, to the comments on this story, or if all else fails emailing me at rob (at) prouse (dot) org.

Once again, thanks for your patience.

Bill Greenshields

Rob — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 23:02:28 +0000

I just got word that Bill Greenshields has passed away. He does not want a memorial, so there will be no service. He will be cremated at the Evergreen Funeral Home in Edmonton, then his ashes will be sent to New Glasgow, NS to be buried beside his dad.

Please send condolences to Bill’s mom at shirljgf@aol.com. She would really appreciate hearing from Bill’s Airborne friends and all those who knew him.

WO Michael Hamilton

Rob — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:21:59 +0000

WO Michael Hamilton died in an Edmonton hospital on Sunday after a car crash on Friday. He is a parachutist with the Canadian Forces Land Advanced Warfare Centre and a former member of the Skyhawks.

Our condolences go out to the family of another fallen jumper…

2009 RCR CFB London Reunion

Rob — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:50:36 +0000

2009 will be the first year for an informal reunion for Royals who were posted to CFB London. Any past or present Royal is welcome to attend.

The theme of the reunion is outdoor stuff, sports, canoe races, barbeques, bonfire parties and seeing your old buddies again.

For more information and to register, see the Reunion Website.

FSSF Photos

Rob — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:14:28 +0000

John Lyle sent in about a dozen photos from the FSSF taken in 1944 and 1945. They are all well captioned and have most of the names of the soldiers. They have all been added to the Unit Photos, so make sure that you head over and check them out.

Thanks for sending them in John. If anyone has any other photos they would like to submit, just get in touch through the contact page.

Print for Sale

Rob — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:50:20 +0000

I noticed this print for sale online today and thought that one of you might like it. I am not selling this, nor do I know the seller. Make sure you do due diligence before purchasing. He is asking $100 and the print is in Gatineau.

Click here to view the sale.

Canadian Airborne Forces since 1942

Rob — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:00:46 +0000

I don’t know how this book passed under the radar, but Lt Col Bernd Horn has published another beautifully illustrated history of Airborne Forces in Canada from the 1st Cdn Para Battalion in 1942, through the Canadian Airborne Regiment and on to the Parachute companies.

The 1st Canadian Parachute Bn jumped into Normandy on D-Day as part of 6th British Airborne Division. They fought with distinction for the rest of the North-West Europe campaign, making a second combat jump at the Rhine crossings in March 1945, and fighting in Holland until VE-Day. In the post-war years the Canadian SAS and the Mobile Striking Force maintained an airborne capability, formalized in 1968 with the raising of a Canadian Airborne Regt, which later served overseas in Cyprus and Somalia. Since its disbandment in 1995 a parachute capability has been maintained by companies of light infantry units – Royal 22e Regt, Princess Patricia’s, and Royal Canadian Regt – which served against the Taliban and al-Quaida in Afghanistan, 2002–03. This book details the fascinating and proud history of the Canadian Airborne Regiments.

Buy Canadian Airborne Forces since 1942 at Amazon.ca and some of the sale will go to supporting this site.