Thanks For Giving Day

I did some homework. For anyone who might want to know the numbers or at least the best estimates I could find scouring the net. I have them all here.

We have many reasons to be thankful for this day. Most of those things are possible due to the millions of Canadians who chose to join our armed forces of which approximately 109,591 gave their lives in the past 107 years in various "conflicts" around the globe. These gallant soles Left our land to do what they thought was best for the world not knowing if they would return alive. They gave up everything so you my friends could be free to do what you do this and everyday of your lives in a free country. We are one of the very few countries in the world that have not seen some kind of major "conflict" on our soil. We should all be very thankful for that.

Today I would like to thank all those who have given their lives in service of this great country we know as Canada. Today I would like to thank all of those who are currently serving in our military. Today I would like to thank all of those who have ever served in our military. I am forever thankful for everything you have stood for and against.

The following is a list of all the "conflicts" that Canadian soldiers have served and died in that I could find and somewhat confirm. If I have missed any, I would be more than happy to amend this post if anyone can give me the information and I can confirm it in some way. I found many differing numbers for some of the "conflicts" so I went with the most commonly repeated numbers I found in my searches.

The following are all numbers from one site which as I explained before seem to match many others I came across in my searches. I did not use their UN numbers as I found they did not correspond with the "official" numbers given on the UN site.
Military history of Canada

Boer War 1899 - 1902
224 Canadian deaths
An average of approx. 75 deaths per year or .20 per day.

WWI 1914 - 1919
66,655 Canadian deaths
An average of approx. 16,663 deaths per year or 46 per day

WWII 1939 - 1945
42,042 Canadian deaths
An average of approx. 7007 deaths per year or 19 per day

Korean War 1951 - 1953
516 Canadian deaths
An average of approx. 172 deaths per year or .47 per day

Canadian Military deaths in Afghanistan
Dec. 2001 still ongoing
40 deaths as of Oct 7 2006
An average of approx. 7 deaths per year or .018 per day

UN peacekeeping Fatalities by Nationality and Mission
Total of 114 Canadian deaths to Sept. 2006 in all UN sanctioned missions including the following:

MINUSTAH
June 1, 2004 still ongoing
2 Canadian deaths

MONUC
Nov. 30, 1999 still ongoing
1 Canadian death

ONUC
July 1960 - June 1964
3 Canadian deaths

UNAMIR
Oct. 1993 - March 1996
1 Canadian death

UNDOF
1974 still on going
4 Canadian deaths

UNEF
Nov. 1956 - June 1967
53 Canadian deaths
An average of approx. 5 deaths per year or .0132 per day

UNFICYP
1964 still ongoing
28 Canadian deaths

UNMIH
Sept. 1993 - June 1996
1 Canadian death

UNMIK
June 10, 1999 still ongoing
2 Canadian deaths

UNMOGIP
1949 still ongoing
1 Canadian death

United Nations Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq (could not find a direct link of any kind to this office/project although it is mentioned in many UN documents and internet sites) The best link I could find to give some kind of info on this is: UNOHCI
2 Canadian deaths

UNOSOM
April 1992 - March 1993
1 Canadian death

UNPREDEP
March 1995 - Feb. 1999
1 Canadian death

UNPROFOR
Feb. 1992 - March 1995
11 Canadian deaths
An average of approx. 4 deaths per year or .010 per day

UNTAC
Feb. 1992 - Sept. 1993
1 Canadian death

UNTSO
May 1948 still ongoing
2 Canadian deaths

The 114 deaths in UN peacekeeping missions is the second highest total. India is number one with 119 deaths. Both countries seem to have a disproportionate number of deaths in UN missions compared to other countries involved in UN missions.

This just goes to prove that wearing a blue helmet and calling it "peacekeeping" does not protect you from the enemy. I would imagine though, that if the enemy had to wear a uniform to identify themselves to our troops, things would be much different. It is after all very hard to fight a war (oooops) "MISSION" when you could very possibly be standing beside the enemy without even knowing it. I don't suppose they would give up that information freely if they were asked either.

Happy Thanks For Giving Day everyone!