Miscellaneous items
Port Perry Memory Book
If anyone wanted a copy or extra copies of the Port Perry memory book, Nancy Hamer Strahl informs me that arrangements have now been made with Lulu publishing for this book to be bought online by using this link
http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=1064386
if you don’t have access to a computer please contact your regional executive and they will be able to help you.
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Canadian Museum of Human Rights
Both the National and Manitoba Executive have initiated a process to have the Battle of Hong Kong and the subsequent maltreatment of those Canadians entered into their Museum. It was explained to us that it is early yet before the information will be needed but we have good expectations that it will happen. If you want to follow the progress of this project – I have given the link for more information.
www.canadianmuseumforhumanrights.com
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From the Mailbag
Thank you to all our members that send in notes and keep in touch with us.
Recently Ralph McLean sent a note with best wishes – much appreciated Ralph.
Gwen Day sent a donation to the Memorial Wall in appreciation of the services by Murray Doull.
Paul and Irene Dallain sent an article that was published in their local paper “The Gaspe Spec” with an account of the Convention and a picture of several HK vets wearing their new white Stetsons after being made “Honourary Calgarians” at the BBQ at the Kananaskis Guest Ranch during the Convention.
HK vets taking the Oath to be Honourary Calgarians.
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An email from Jeff Forst (grandson of Padre Uriah Laite) brings news of the viewing of his one man play “Padre” in Victoria.
We had a wonderful "Padre" evening in Victoria, where we were fortunate to have both of Poppy's children in attendance, Grayson and Florence, along with your own Linda Stewart, as well as other family, friends, and audience members.
We had a wonderful family weekend celebrating my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. My wife Lisel and I even got to spend an extra night in Victoria with them afterwards, which was a real blast.
A retired padre, Al Fowler, whom I have been in contact with, attended and heard a sermon of Poppy's called "the Road" that completed his lengthy quest to assemble Canadian war-time examples of God speaking to the church through their padres. Hong Kong was the one place he had no item from, until now - so that alone made the experience worthwhile. Plus, Poppy's first great-grand-child Kristi had her baby Tait and was welcomed into the family that weekend on the full moon, so all in all, quite the time.
CBC's "All Points West", broadcasting to BC, interviewed me on the afternoon of, and I was able to publicize the HKVCA's Memorial Wall fundraising campaign and overall mission. We also raised another three-figure sum, which is in the mail.
We have the upcoming spring Kootenay script-reading tour of "Padre", and footage from the shows so far which will be compiled into a documentary that features the words of our Poppy, his experience, and that of the other Canadians there, along with the current Memorial Wall fundraising efforts and the HKVCA's overall raison-d'etre.
On Linda's recommendation, I've contacted Jim about links to this and other material on your web-site. It was great to see her there and I really appreciated her positive feedback. She said Calgary went very well, so congratulations for another good year. Also, Poppy's diary is now in the Manitoba Museum, as you probably know, via Murray's Doull's conscientious actions. All in all, everything is going swimmingly, and it is nice to pay these tributes and to make these connections. Thanks for you and the board's support and I look forward to our on- going efforts.
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Dr. Nathan Greenfield has contacted the National Executive to be assisted with his next book. He is waiting for backing from his publisher to write the Battle of Hong Kong story from the people aspect – the soldiers, the wives and the children’s views and experience.
He has prepared several sheets of questions that he will distribute to our veterans and wives/widows and 'kids' - from the answers he will develop the story. We will have more information on this as it develops.
People Are Reading Our Stories
– Jim Trick
Many of our regular readers of this newsletter already know that our HKVCA web sites contain extensive material on our veterans' experiences, our current activities, and what we've planned for the future. Did you know you can actually get a more detailed look at who is visiting and other details about their visits?
Let's take a look at the month of August, which is the last month for which we have complete statistics. A key item is the number of unique visitors, and in August we had 1646. Those visitors actually visited 2481 times during the month, and viewed 6461 pages. So, what does this mean? It means we are getting the word out, and that many folks are using our web pages as valuable sources of information.
Another interesting statistic is seeing where in the world our visitors come from. As you'd expect, most are from Canada, but we also have folks dropping in from Australia, UK, China and Russia, among others.
An indicator of how visitors value our sites is to check how long they hang around. The average time that our visitors during August stayed on our sites was around three minutes. This may not seem like a very long time, but in the web world it is significant. It means that many visitors are finding useful information and are not just "surfing" through.
Want to look at the statistics for yourself? Check out: http://www.hkvca.ca/awstats
The bottom line is that it's you who will decide if our webs are doing the job you think they should. Have something to add? Can't find what you need? Want to make a comment? Just email me at: webmaster@hkvca.ca. I'd appreciate hearing from you.
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Reminder:
Many families were introduced to the CANADIAN VIRTUAL WAR MEMORIAL website while at the Calgary Convention this past August as VAC was present with a computer to demonstrate access to this site. If you are a family member of someone that was killed in action, please remember to update your family information. This site serves as a lasting memorial to the person who served his country to the fullest. Here is the link - http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=collections/virtualmem.
If you have any difficulties, contact your Region executive for assistance.