Nipissing University History Department’s Warpath Battlefield Study Tour was recently invited to the Chippewa Barracks by Captain Tim Feick of The Algonquin Regiment to learn more about the present day Canadian Army Reserve unit.
The evening session provided history students with first-hand experience with today’s Algonquin soldiers says Taylor Coates, Communications Manager.
Sandra O’Grady, the daughter of Major Keith Stirling, World War II Algonquin Regiment officer and Prisoner of War, talked to the group about her father’s war experiences.
The group was also addressed by the regiment’s current commanding officer, LCol Kenneth McClure.
In May, Dr. Stephen Connor along with Captain Tim Feick will take 18 Nipissing University students to investigate battle and memorial sites in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany as they follow The Algonquin Regiment’s liberation route in 1944-1945.
Warpath Algonquin Regiment Battlefield Study Tour 2018 is an experiential learning course facilitated by the Department of History at Nipissing University. The Battlefield Study Tour follows the Algonquin Regiment’s footsteps across the battlefields in Northwest Europe during World War II.
Since September 2017, participating students have organized fund-raising events, attended Remembrance Day ceremonies in North Bay, Latchford, and Haileybury, and visited the Bunker Military Museum in Cobalt. In the coming months, participants will participate in an orienteering, map-reading and platoon maneuvering activity to obtain a better understanding of the actions of The Algonquin Regiment at war.
Academically, the tour members will also be presenting their own research at the 2018 Undergraduate Research Conference at Nipissing University in March. In May, the Warpath Battlefield Study Tour will embark to Europe under the guidance of Dr. Stephen Connor, Captain Tim Feick and Dutch military historian and Algonquin Regiment expert Robert Catsburg.
