Gray’s Missing Silver Flask In 2008, the RCA Museum received a donation from Nairne Gray out of Vancouver, B.C., consisting of his father’s military memorabilia. The collection contains artifacts that belonged to Captain W. E. Duggan Gray, who landed on Juno Beach on D-Day and fought with the 3rd Anti-Tank Regiment, part of the 3rd […]
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Sound Ranging and Vimy Ridge A reliable source told me a story or folktale that a Canadian soldier invented the idea of sound ranging while in a lavatory on the Western Front. The soldier noticed waves forming in a small pool of water after each successive thumping of the guns and wondered if sound waves
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A Rusty Shrapnel Round In 2017, as museum staff prepared for the Austin Thresherman’s Reunion outreach event by collecting artifacts for display, I noticed a very rusty half-casing on the shelf at our secondary archival facility. When I leaned in to examine the shell, I saw dozens of musket ball-sized lead bullets caked in tar,
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The Riel and Drury 1885 Notes The RCA Museum has two handwritten notes from the North-West Rebellion or North-West Resistance. Louis Riel purportedly wrote the first note found after the Battle of Batoche, dated 12 May 1885. Captain Charles W. Drury wrote the second note on birch bark after the Battle of Fish Creek, dated
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