Military Lecture: From the Clouds: The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion

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.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. 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.

About the Presenter

Norma Graham is a retired librarian with a decades-long fascination with military history. Since 2020 she has been studying 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 has been published in Flightlines and Airforce magazines and recently co-authored a paper with Dr. Matthew Barrett which was published in 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.

In September 2025 she returned to academia and is currently pursuing her MA in History at Laurier University