Written by Daly Unger The city of Izyum, Ukraine, is divided in half by the Donets river. The city is renowned in the surrounding countryside as a river trade hub. Izyum is home to many significant historical sites and a beautiful cathedral. The geography surrounding the city is a rolling highland dotted with coniferous groves. At the base of one of the nearby hills, in the heart of a dark forest grove, is a shallow mass grave being excavated by Ukrainian soldiers. This grave contains the bodies of at least four hundred Ukrainian men, women, and children. All of them were civilians, some were tortured, and others were hung. The…
In a letter dated June 19, 1918, A. Desnomie, an Indigenous soldier wrote: “…as we all say here, we never retire but recoil.” His writings reflect a sense of pride in fighting for England and Canada. Speaking about the other Indigenous soldiers with him, Desnomie notes that they were “all well and ready to get after the Fritz again.” Indigenous soldiers participated in the Great War in comparable numbers to Anglo-European Canadians.
