Faith, Hope and Love: The Wartime Motivations of Lance Corporal Frederick Spratlin, MM and Bar, 3rd Battalion, CEF

In an attempt to understand the motivations that drive soldiers in war, historians often seek to capture the experience of an individual soldier through his letters, diaries and other personal accounts. But what of the artifacts that are left behind? The personal effects that arrive home to a family after a soldier’s death, neatly labeled and wrapped in yellowed paper. These also have a story to tell. Lance Corporal Spratlin, from Toronto, was killed during the Battle of Amiens in 1918. Today his remains lie in the Toronto Cemetery in France, but following his death one of his most treasured possessions was returned to his family—a small pocket-sized Bible. The condition of the Bible alone suggests something about the man who owned it. A gift from his daughter before he left for war, the Bible is worn, the leather is soft, the pages are so curled they stick together and the words New Testament are faded almost beyond recognition. To this day, 90 years after it was issued, the Bible is permanently bowed, an indication of its place in a soldier’s breast pocket. It is inside the back cover that we gain a clear insight into how a man endures the horrors of war. Penned in Spratlin’s clear, unmistakable handwriting are references to many biblical passages, 11 of them with a corresponding facet of war beside it

“For extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance”: Kay’yong, 2 PPCLI and the Controversy surrounding the US Presidential Unit Citation

Despite a growing historiography, the Canadian experience in Korea is still a very much forgotten part of our history. Kap’yong, the marathon battle of 22–25 April 1951 where the Second Battalion of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (22PLCI) along with their fellow members of the 27th Commonwealth Infantry Brigade, the Third Battalion Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR) defended the access points of the Kap’yong River valley is the one incident receives significant attention. Without fail, the description of the battle always ends with that passing reference, “for their efforts 2PPCLI were awarded the United States Presidential Unit Citation.” This brief sentence at the end of a chapter does little to define the citation let alone explore its journey from recommendation to its place as a device on the uniforms of members of 2PPCLI. While the battle itself was epic in the context of Korea, the story of the Presidential Unit Citation was not without its own lengthy ordeal. The award was first recommended in the spring of 1951. However, the Canadian government did not officially announce that members of the Battalion would be able to wear the individual insignia of the citation until April 1956, a period of some five years

Keeping the faith: The Presbyterian press in peace and war, 1913-1919

There has been very little scholarship in recent years which provides a detailed analysis of Christian support for the First World War in Canada. This work attempts to fill this gap with respect to the Presbyterian Church in Canada. It is a thorough analysis of the Presbyterian periodicals in war and peace between 1913 and 1919. The work is presented as a contribution to our understanding of Canada\u27s Great War experience. One of the few academic articles which examined Protestant support for the war was the influential article \u27The Methodist Church and World War I\u27. In this article, published in the Canadian Historical Review in 1968, Michael Bliss argues that the Methodist Church accepted what he regards as the \u27paradox of fighting for peace because its leaders were misled about the nature and purposes of the war. This argument has been echoed in subsequent studies of Canadian attitude towards conflict and appears to be the most widely accepted view of church support for the First World War. More recent general studies of Canadian attitudes during the Great War have emerged, influenced by Fritz Fischer and the belief that Germany sought war in 1914 and pursued a policy to bring Europe under German control. Recent scholarship also suggests that Allied perceptions of German behaviour in Belgium and Northern France were largely correct. The four main periodicals for the Presbyterian Church in Canada were examined thoroughly over a period of six years and an attempt was made to read and include as many editorials articles, letters and other contributions which reflected Presbyterian opinion about the war. The changing pattern of Presbyterian discussion demonstrated a deliberate, intelligent and continuous effort to reconcile war and Christianity. The evidence would suggest that Presbyterians understood what was at stake and why they were fighting the war. They fought based on a perception of the enemy that was largely correct and for the principles of truth, righteousness and in defence of the weak. The war was just

New Possibilities for Field Experiences: Learning In Practice in a University Writing Center

In this article, I discuss an initiative to support preservice and practicing English language arts teachers in their growth as teachers of writers through a field experience in a university writing center. In addition, I highlight how I modified these plans when our campus transitioned to online teaching and learning in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Demonstrating how teachers grew, despite the challenges we faced, I argue the importance of teacher educators considering new possibilities for field-based teaching learning, particularly during a time in which preservice teachers may have limited access to learning in practice in K-12 schools

Effects of Texture Component Orientation on Orientation Flow Visibility for 3-D Shape Perception

In images of textured 3-D surfaces, orientation flows created by the texture components parallel to the surface slant play a critical role in conveying the surface slant and shape. This study examines the visibility of these orientation flows in complex patterns. Specifically, we examine the effect of orientation of neighboring texture components on orientation flow visibility. Complex plaids consisting of gratings equally spaced in orientation were mapped onto planar and curved surfaces. The visibility of the component that creates the orientation flows was quantified by measuring its contrast threshold (CT) while varying the combination of neighboring components present in the pattern. CTs were consistently lowest only when components closest in orientation to that of the orientation flows were subtracted from the pattern. This finding suggests that a previously reported frequency-selective cross-orientation suppression mechanism involved with the perception of 3- D shape from texture is affected by proximity in orientation of concurrent texture components

Thin filaments elongate from their pointed ends during myofibril assembly in Drosophila indirect flight muscle

Tropomodulin (Tmod) is an actin pointed-end capping protein that regulates actin dynamics at thin filament pointed ends in striated muscle. Although pointed-end capping by Tmod controls thin filament lengths in assembled myofibrils, its role in length specification during de novo myofibril assembly is not established. We used the Drosophila Tmod homologue, sanpodo (spdo), to investigate Tmod's function during muscle development in the indirect flight muscle. SPDO was associated with the pointed ends of elongating thin filaments throughout myofibril assembly. Transient overexpression of SPDO during myofibril assembly irreversibly arrested elongation of preexisting thin filaments. However, the lengths of thin filaments assembled after SPDO levels had declined were normal. Flies with a preponderance of abnormally short thin filaments were unable to fly. We conclude that: (a) thin filaments elongate from their pointed ends during myofibril assembly; (b) pointed ends are dynamically capped at endogenous levels of SPDO so as to allow elongation; (c) a transient increase in SPDO levels during myofibril assembly converts SPDO from a dynamic to a permanent cap; and (d) developmental regulation of pointed-end capping during myofibril assembly is crucial for specification of final thin filament lengths, myofibril structure, and muscle function