After a visit to the 8th Army in Italy in July 1944, Colonel Ralston, the Minister of National Defence, authorized and supported the creation of a Canadian Army newspaper to keep troops informed of current operations and news of the outside world. The Maple Leaf was founded by Lieutenant Colonel Richard Malone and content was created by and written by Canadian soldiers without any official control or editorial direction. The first issue was published 27 July 1944 in Caen, France and then daily if possible throughout the War. Issues of the paper were also published in Italy and Belgium. The Maple Leaf is currently published weekly in 2003.
No biographical information available.
1919-2000
Norman David Torpe, 1919-2000, was one of the original 250 Canadian volunteers selected for the First Special Service Force, a joint American-Canadian unit known as the "Devil's Brigade". Only 72 of the 250 passed the initial exams and only 18 completed training. He was deployed with the Force to the Aleutian Islands in early 1943 and to Italy in November 1943. He was wounded at the Anzio bridgehead in the spring of 1944 and lost an eye which ended his military career. Following the war Norman was a forest ranger and then farmed in Clive, Tofield, and Daysland, Alberta. He married Violet Haroldson. He passed away in Camrose, Alberta on 2 March 2000 at the age of 81.