These two wounded Canadian soldiers can smile.  They will be out of combat for awhile, or, perhaps, for them the war is over and they survived with some great stories to tell the girls back home.

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA

These men are typical of the guards in the Canadian POW camps.  They are members of a unit called The Veterans Guard.  These men usually were First World War veterans too old to serve in frontline combat units  Most of the men in this photo are wearing service ribbons that would have been earned in the trenches of france in WW1.  They all appear to be decorated veterans except for the sour looking overweight Oliver Hardy lookalike second from the right.  A fairly large number of these men actually died while in service, many from heart attacks and other deseases related to respiratory ailments etc.  These men should have been living out their old age in relative comfort but instead volunteered to perform these duties to free up younger men to fight.  Some might say this photo should be in the Canadian section but I think it relates to the few posts I have put up in the German forces section.

Canadian Guards of German POW's

A Canadian fighter pilot climbs into his spitfire to fly yet another mission in the desert war.