Rum Ration

Every war leaves names etched in stone, but what about the ones who never came home at all? In this episode of Rum Ration, we trace the story of the Unknown Soldier, the man without a name who came to stand for hundreds of thousands lost in the mud and chaos of the First World War. We follow his journey from shattered French battlefields, to a midnight selection in a quiet chapel, to a gun carriag...

Remembrance Day is more than a moment of silence—it’s a story, and the poppy is its narrator. In this episode of The Rum Ration, Colin and Rejoy trace the red flower from the churned mud of the Western Front to today’s lapels. We begin with Lt.-Col. John McCrae at Ypres and the poem that launched a symbol, move to American educator Moina Michael who vowed to “keep the faith,” and meet Anna Guérin—...

Episode 28 of The Rum Ration, “War Poetry – Once More Unto the Verse,” raises a glass to the verses that outlasted every battle. In this special Remembrance Day episode, Rejoy and Colin explore how poetry has captured the courage, chaos, and cost of war—from Homer’s Iliad and Shakespeare’s rousing Henry V to Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade and McCrae’s immortal In Flanders Fields. Joined by...

In this 27th episode of The Rum Ration , hosts Rejoy and Colin raise a glass to the century-old home of The Royal Montreal Regiment (RMR) — and the extraordinary fight it took to build it. Joined by Assistant Curator of the RMR Museum, Amynte Eygun, they uncover how the RMR nearly vanished after the First World War, saved only by the determination of its veterans and the people of Westmount. Throu...

On the eve of the First World War, British Columbia’s Premier pulled off one of the boldest—and strangest—arms deals in Canadian history. Two submarines vanished from Seattle under cover of darkness and reappeared flying the White Ensign. Rear-Admiral Christopher Robinson, Canada's senior submariner, joins The Rum Ration to reveal how those leaky little boats quietly launched Canada’s submarin...

To mark The Rum Ration’s 25th episode, Colin and Rejoy swap trenches for theatre seats in  “Popcorn and Powder Smoke: Our Favourite War Movies.”  They explore how films—from  A Bridge Too Far  and  All Quiet on the Western Front  to  Three Kings —shape how generations remember courage, chaos, and sacrifice.  Colin’s picks focus on the cost of bravery and the absurdity of war, while Rejoy’s choices...

In this episode of ⁨the Rum Ration Podcast,⁩ Colin and Rejoy uncork the story of one of the Second World War’s most infamous weapons—the Sten submachine gun. Designed in desperation after Dunkirk, the Sten was Britain’s $10 answer to the $200 Thompson: ugly, unreliable, and dangerously simple. Yet for millions of Allied soldiers, including Canadians at Dieppe and beyond, it was the only tool they...

In this episode of The Rum Ration, Rejoy and Colin tackle one of Canada’s most complex military figures—General Sir Arthur Currie. Hailed as the finest general of the First World War, Currie rose from a humble Ontario schoolteacher to command the Canadian Corps, mastering the brutal learning curve of modern warfare. Yet behind his strategic brilliance lay controversy: a hidden financial scandal, b...

August 1917. The Western Front is bogged down in blood and mud. The French Army is reeling from mutiny, Passchendaele is already a quagmire, and German U-boats are choking Britain’s lifelines. Into this chaos steps a newly knighted Canadian commander, Sir Arthur Currie—already earning a reputation as one of the war’s finest tacticians—with the confidence to push back on his orders and suggest a sm...

In this episode of Rum Ration , Rejoy and Colin unpack one of the boldest—and most disastrous—campaigns of the American Revolutionary War: the 1775 invasion of Quebec. It was a Hail Mary to make Quebec the 14th colony, complete with promises of liberty, a two-pronged winter assault, and a tragic march through the Maine wilderness led by none other than Benedict Arnold. What followed was a brutal c...

On August 2nd, 216 BCE, one of the bloodiest and most brilliant battles in history unfolded on the plains of Cannae—and in this episode of The Rum Ration, Colin and Rejoy break it down. With masterful storytelling and a hint of dark humour, they recount how Hannibal’s Carthaginian army—outnumbered nearly two to one—utterly destroyed a massive Roman force using a tactical maneuver still studied tod...

What if everything you thought you knew about the Avro Arrow’s cancellation was only half the story? In Episode 20 of The Rum Ration, we revisit Canada’s most controversial Cold War decision—but this time, through a different lens. Dr. Sean Maloney, military historian and Cold War expert, joins us to dig into the lesser-known truths behind the so-called “Arrow good, BOMARC bad” narrative. From cla...

In this episode of Rum Ration , Rejoy and Colin unpack the rise and fall of one of Canada’s most ambitious aerospace projects: the Avro Arrow. More than just a supersonic jet interceptor, the Arrow was a bold symbol of Canadian innovation during the Cold War—designed to fly at Mach 2 and counter Soviet bombers. But on February 20, 1959—“Black Friday”—the program was abruptly cancelled. Why would a...

In this gripping episode of The Rum Ration , Colin and Rejoy revisit the Battle of Paardeberg—Canada’s bloody debut on a foreign battlefield. Set during the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1900, the episode explores how a young Canada, eager to prove itself, sent a small volunteer force to South Africa. What began as patriotic fervour soon turned into a harsh reality check. The hosts recount the disastro...

In this riveting episode of Rum Ration , Colin and Rejoy take aim at the Ross Rifle—a weapon born from patriotic zeal and political ambition, but ultimately forged into a symbol of failure on the Western Front. Meant to establish Canada’s self-sufficiency in arms production, the Ross was praised for its accuracy but doomed by its tight tolerances, poor trench reliability, and incompatibility with...

In this episode of The Rum Ration, Rejoy and Colin journey back to the War of 1812 and the pivotal Battle of Queenston Heights. It’s a gripping tale of ambition, missteps, and extraordinary courage. It's also our special birthday present to the US Army, happy 250th birthday! In 1812, the United States, already annoyed by British naval blockades and the Royal Navy's maddening habit of press...

In this gripping episode of The Rum Ration, Colin and Rejoy take listeners to the Pacific Theatre of World War II, focusing on the harrowing Battle of Hong Kong in December 1941. It was the first major land combat for Canadian troops in the Second World War—and a brutal introduction. Tasked with defending the British Crown Colony, nearly 2,000 Canadians, including the Royal Rifles of Canada and th...

In this gripping episode of Rum Ration, Rejoy and Colin take us deep into the Second Battle of Ypres—Canada’s brutal baptism by fire in the First World War. Focusing on The Royal Montreal Regiment (14th Battalion), they recount the horrors of April 1915, where untested Canadian troops held their ground against Germany’s first mass use of poison gas. The episode honours Captain Richard Steacie, the...

In this gripping episode of The Rum Ration, hosts Colin and Rejoy delve into one of the most terrifying chapters of modern warfare: gas. Kicking off with a powerful reading of Wilfred Owen’s haunting WWI poem Dulce Et Decorum Est by acclaimed poet Ayesha Chatterjee, the episode explores how chemical weapons evolved from ancient toxins used by the Greeks and the Romans to the industrial-scale horro...

In Episode 11 of The Rum Ration, we dive into the Canadians’ baptism by fire at the Second Battle of Ypres. This is Part 1 of a special three-part series unpacking one of the most terrifying chapters of the First World War. Rejoy and Colin explore how a quiet stretch of Belgian countryside became a living hell in April 1915. The episode sets the scene: muddy trenches, exposed flanks, and the high-...

April 9th, 1917 — the day Canada’s identity was forged in blood atop Vimy Ridge. In this episode of The Rum Ration, Rejoy and Colin revisit the harrowing story of The Royal Montreal Regiment’s role in one of the Great War’s most iconic battles, an incredible feat of Canadian arms. From the brutal snowstorm at Zero Hour to the heartbreak of the West brothers’ shared grave, the episode brings Vimy’s...

The second part of a two-part series about Canadians going into the trenches for the first time in the First World War, in this gripping episode of The Rum Ration Podcast, Rejoy and Colin guide listeners through the Royal Montreal Regiment’s harrowing first experiences in the trenches of 1915. Drawing on letters, regimental histories, and first-hand accounts, they paint a vivid picture of trench l...

In this first installment of Into the Trenches, the Rum Ration Podcast delves into the experience of the Canadian Expeditionary Force’s progression into the front lines of the Western Front. Using The Royal Montreal Regiment as an example of a typical 1st Division unit, this episode recounts their journey from training in the UK to their arrival at the Western Front in early 1915. Hosts Rejoy and...

Canada officially stayed out of the Vietnam War, but that didn’t stop 30,000 to 40,000 Canadians from fighting in it. In this episode of Rum Ration, we uncover the stories of these forgotten fighters—some seeking adventure, others drafted while living in the U.S., and many serving in combat roles, from infantry to elite units like the Green Berets. We highlight Peter C. Lemon, a Toronto-born Medal...

Did you know Canada once had a plan to invade the United States? On this episode of Rum Ration, Rejoy and Colin dig into Defence Scheme No. 1, a bold (and slightly absurd) military strategy from the 1920s. Designed as a hit-and-run attack, the plan involved Canadian troops storming into U.S. cities—Seattle, Portland, Fargo, and even Albany—before sabotaging key infrastructure and retreating north....