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I recently received a behind-the-scenes look at the Canadian War Museum’s storage facilities/vaults as specialists there prepare for reworking exhibit areas at the museum.

The concluding area of Gallery 4: From the Cold War to the Presentis being redeveloped to explore Canadian involvement in operations in the Gulf War, Somalia, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan. New artifacts, eyewitness testimonies and artwork connected to individual stories will highlight how these missions have affected Canada and the world, according to war museum officials.

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The updates to Gallery 4 will be ready in September but for now a specific opening date has yet to be set.

In the meantime, I’ll be publishing a number of photos I took of the new exhibits that are to be displayed. Eric Fernberg and Andrew Burtch of the war museum have provided the details about the items.

Today Defence Watch features William MacDonald’s boots. The boots belonged to Sgt William MacDonald, SMV, CD. They were worn throughout period of Jan – Aug 2006 in Kandahar and Helmand Provinces, Afghanistan. Most significantly they were worn on 03 Aug 2006 during the battle of the “white school” in Panjwai district in which four Canadian soldiers lost their lives and another approximately 10 were wounded. During the battle, about 14 Canadian soldiers were surrounded and cut-off from reinforcements by an enemy force of approximately 175. The boots bear blood stains from Sgt Vaughan lngram (KlA), Cpl Bryce Keller, MMV (KlA), and Capt Jon Hamilton (WlA).