Halifax Nova Scotia

Halifax

A visit to Halifax must include the Citadel.  

The Citadel is a national historic site, and very well done.  There are character actors who display the uniforms of the day, and of course set off the noon gun.

The buildings and grounds are beautifully maintained and preserved.

 There is a well run military museum on site, and I spent a number of hours wandering through the exhibits...

I wondered if my Grandfather saw this piece in action in South Africa....

The actors did a magnificent job of portraying the life and times of the British soldiers who garrisoned the Citadel.

 Their rifles were Spenser-Enfields, with a .577 caliber.

The museum had an excellent exhibit on Vimy Ridge. Many Nova Scotians lost their lives on that Ridge...

A number of Nova Scotians over the years have won the Victoria Cross for bravery in battle.

The new technology of the First War, which changed the field of battle dramatically...

An Enfield in a scabbard...

 A Lewis gun....

 and a Bren gun...

This Enfield was supposedly a WW1 sniper weapon.  I wonder if my Grandpa Stitt every used a scope....

A Gatling Gun, apparently used against those pesky Metis....

I have three of these "Dead Mans' Pennies"  Three of my Great Uncles were killed on the same day in WW 1 in separate battles...

Halifax was a significant and major embarkation point during WW 11, and the citadel was used to defend against any incursions into the harbour.

Down in the harbour,  a juxtaposition of values floated calmy....

A true hero of the Second World War and the Battle of the Atlantic.  I don't know how many times this corvette travelled across the Atlantic, protecting the convoys from Halifax to Europe.