h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This was sent to me via a good friend , who is an ex-pat living in Thailand.

Bernard Trink , Bankok post, Fri June 13th

I find few things more annoying than comics stereotyping countries in ways that are untrue just to get a laugh: French are cowards, Poles are stupid, Swiss fight wars with multi-bladed pocket knives, Canada's arsenal consists of two canoes, etc.

One of England's leading newspapers, the Telegraph, paid justified tribute to Canada's quiet valour in wartime a year ago and I'll quote some excerpts. ``Its purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy.

``Almost 10 percent of Canada's entire population of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.

``The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack.

``More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone. Canada finished the war with the third-largest navy and the fourth-largest air force in the world.

``The Canadians proudly say of themselves _ and are unheard by anyone else _ that 1% of the world's population has provided 10% of the world's peacekeeping forces. Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth _ in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

``Canada never fully got the gratitude it deserved.''