Credit: Lieut. Charles H. Richer / Canada. Dept. of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada / PA-115024, Item no. 3405882
Norma Graham is a retired librarian with a decades-long fascination with military history and a current MA student in History at Wilfrid Laurier University. Since 2020, she has studied Canada’s role in the Second World War. At retirement, she decided to tell the stories of Canadian airmen, soldiers, and sailors that the world never knew and Canadians have largely forgotten.
Graham has presented on several YouTube channels including WW2TV, Homebrew History, and Ham & Jam Airborne History. She recently gave her third presentation at the Canadian Military History Colloquium at Laurier. Graham is published in Flightlines and Airforce magazines and recently co-authored a paper with Dr. Matthew Barrett which was published in the Canadian Military History Journal. She also travelled to the UK in September 2025 and gave a presentation at the We Have Ways of Making You Talk Second World War Festival.
During the Second World War, Canada fielded a battalion of super soldiers. They were the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, and as part of British 6th Airborne, they served with distinction in Normandy, the Low Countries, and Germany. They were among the first to close the gap between the Allies and the Red Army in May 1945 – and they kept the Soviets from taking Denmark in what could be seen as the first move in the chess game that became the Cold War.
Location: Guelph Civic Museum, 52 Norfolk St, Guelph, ON N1H 2W9.
Doors open at 6:30 and the presentation starts at 7 p.m., followed by a question period.
The lecture premieres in-person at the Civic Museum. The recorded conversation will be available on YouTube, and our Museum Everywhere Portal.
Guelph Museums’ Military Lecture series is presented in partnership with the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada.
