Reading Richard Rohmer

A Zinger Wrapped in an Enigma

"Now back to June 6, D-Day in Normandy, France. As the senior Canadian D-Day Veteran, I accompanied the P.M. to an elaborate luncheon put on by French President Hollande for the Allied Heads of State — including Russia’s Vladimir Putin. As the celebrated heads were filing into their special dining room I edged toward the line. I missed Obama by three steps, but caught the incoming president of the Ukraine who was followed by, yes, Mr. Putin. I am in my full RCAF General’s uniform with medals (permission of the Chief of the Defence Staff). Putin stopped, looked at me, stuck out his hand. I took it and while shaking his I shouted one word at him. CANADA! No response and he was gone."

Putting Putin in His Place
(column by Richard Rohmer, Collington Enterprise Bulletin, November 18, 2014)

"After a time the king of France sent Jacques Cartier to explore the new land.  In 1535 he sailed up the St Lawrence River.  He landed where the city of Quebec now stands and found an Iroquois village called Stadacona. The Indians were friendly. They pointed up the river and said 'Canada', a word whose Indian meaning we do not know."

A Picture History of Canada