The First North American Thanksgiving

My Canadian friends get to celebrate Thanksgiving first on the calendar, lucky pups! To all my Canadian friends, enjoy your holiday as best you can in these pandemic days, and we will try to enjoy ours later in November.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY!

22 thoughts on “The First North American Thanksgiving

    • At one point, as a college student not thrilled with the Vietnam War, I considered moving to Canada. The Toronto Star was available at the local (college town!) library, and I followed the Canadian view on American boys slipping into the country to avoid the draft. It helped me make a better decision to know they – you – were starting to cool to letting them stay because many came without the means to live or with skills needed in the Canadian economy: they threatened to become burdens on the system! So, I talked with the US Army recruiter, found I could volunteer for three years active duty, have a guaranteed job, and live happily ever after. So, I selected three possible jobs, won a spot to train to become a US Army motion picture photographer, which I did for my three years, in then-West Germany. It proved to be less onerous than I expected since I went of temporary duty jobs all over West Germany and other countries: I felt like I was on a vacation some days! I rarely had to wear my military uniforms when on a job, and I usually was on a job. Yes, I occasionally met Canadians while there. I even contacted your embassy there for information on becoming Canadian, but didn’t follow up on it since my parents were getting older. I took your citizenship test on line a few years ago and scored well, thanks to having read a Canadian book meant to instruct college-level kids in your history. It was interesting to get a Canadian pointy of view on things I studied from the US point of view, to know we were rascals, not heroes at times when we weren’t friends! LOL! I passed those 100 question tests – you could take one with new questions if you wanted, though in the mid-80s because, of course, I didn’t know local politics well enough, something I could get right by living there and reading local papers, watching local news, I thought. Well, my parents were in even poorly shape, then I had health issues that made a move impractical, so you’ll just have to do without this fan of the northern land!

        • Great to know, Pierre! Thanks to your posts, that special relationship occasionally makes it into a post, like the one I shared with you of a Nebraska boy who joined the Canadian forces before we we in the war and was prepared to die for Canada. His gravestone in the local cemetery is Canadian-issued, a proper military stone. Anyway, I also appreciate that your posts honor the fact that Canadians were a significant component of the military forces that won the war against fascism. For that matter, Canadians have been there in many other wars, often side by side with those of the UK and the USA. I salute you Canadians and thank you for your service!

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