American Reacts to Heritage Minutes: Insulin, D-Day, & Basketball

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As an American I don't know much about Canadian history, and Canadian heritage moments are a fantastic way to learn about important events and people in Canada's past. Today I am very excited to learn about the discovery of Insulin, Canada's role in D-Day, and the invention of Basketball by Canadian James Naismith. If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!

[kalikat]

They all sold these patents to the University of Toronto for $1 each. Banting famously said, “Insulin does not belong to me, it belongs to the world.” He wanted everyone who needed it to have access to it. Now some people can’t even afford it.

[Veggamattic]

"I need those baskets back"...the most iconic line in the entire series and he missed it.

[brigittebisier]

That boy with diabetes, that's what my daughter was like before it was figured out she has Type 1 diabetes. She bounced back really fast once diagnosed. This heritage minute brings me to tears every time I see it. Drs. Banting and Best saved my kid's life

[astralnomad]

@Tyler Bucket - In regards to D-Day, James Doohan (Scottie from the original Star Trek), fought in the war on d-day, got shot 6 times, lost a finger, and his life was saved by a cigarette tin that was in his right pocket.. it deflected the potentially fatal shot. and he was a canadian! the only red shirt in star trek to not die.. lol

[michaeldowson]

Canadian actor James Doohan(Scottie in Star Trek) landed on D-Day as a junior officer of an artillery regiment. That evening he was returning from a scouting trip in the dark and got shot up by a soldier with a Bren gun. He lost a finger and the silver cigarette case in his breast pocket saved him from another bullet.
He was unfit for front line service, so learned to fly and operated a single engine spotter plane for artillery targeting.

[GoWestYoungMan]

Naismith was the very 1st Athletics Director at McGill University in Montreal. His inspiration for basketball was an old childhood game he played growing up in Almonte, Ontario called 'ducks on a rock'. He wanted a sport to keep students fit over long cold winters. The Edmonton Grads were 4 time Olympic champions; never losing a game (1924, 1928, 1932, 1936). The NBA's first ever game took place in 1946 at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens when the New York Knickerbockers played the Toronto Huskies.

[ingrid]

I am a type 1 diabetic born in the city of Toronto Canada, I have had diabetes for 60 years, I had the distinct honour of meeting Dr Best a few years before his death. Proud to be a Canadian born in the city that discovered Insulin!

[ladycollins]

I say this with true peace and love but the Americans take a lot of credit for the hard work that many of the allied soldiers did during the first and second world war including the Korean war and a few other overseas operations. I'm so pleased that you're learning that it just wasn't the Americans that did all "the work".

[valgoodridge]

All over Europe, there are military cemeteries that have large sections of Canadian graves all with the maple leaf. I toured several in Italy.

[blackberrythorns]

juno beach was brutal, there's a high sea wall with barbed wire coils on top the length of the beach where the germans had a huge gun that could cover the beach and behind the sea wall. there is a town behind the sea wall so it was urban fighting, more canadians died as a percentage of those landed than in any other battle on d-day yet the canadians managed to push further inland than any of their allies and complete the most objectives.

[t.a.k.palfrey]

Canadian troops and airmen made a disproportionatly large role in WWII. They had troops on the ground and planes in the air in Britain over 26 months before the US even declared war. The Dieppe Raid in Aug 1942 was the effective trial run for D Day almost 2 yrs later. Many lessons were learned, at great human cost. 5000 of the troops which landed at Dieppe were Canadian, 1000 were British commandos, and 50 men were American.

[MarkusGustav]

As a Canadian with Diabetes, I’ve got a particular respect for Dr. Frederick Banting and his team. Even before being diagnosed, Banting was my pick for greatest Canadian. Tommy Douglas was a close second.

[WinterWarlock]

Dieppe is pronounced "dee-epp"

And you should check out the battle of Vimy Ridge. It was one of Canada's most profound moments. My grandfather was there.

[LoriTalbot-duqt]

My dad was a part of the D-day invasion . He told me that when they were on the landing craft they were packed so tight that you couldn't move. Then one of the soldiers had a grenade drop off their belt. He said they couldn't do anything but count down. Luckily it turned out to be a dud, but dad had nightmares about that for the rest of his life!

[joannebonin]

Flanders Fields a poem by John Mcrae , where a lot of Canadians are buried in Flanders Fields in Belgium

[sherrytyrner]

One of the things which struck me strongly about the D-Day Heritage Minute, is the story of 47-year-old Major Archie MacNaughton being a First World War veteran but then also serving in World War 2. He didn't have to do that, but he felt a sense of personal responsibility to lead and help the younger men who needed more training and guidance.

[canadianmike]

Canada is a country with a rich military history. We were born in war, and our soul was forged in the Vimy. World War 2 was when the world saw our strength, but our citizens saw our sacrifice. We took a different route after WWII to strive for peace. That said, we are a country built from combat, and we can bring the pain. We just want the fight to be the absolute last thing. Look to Leo Major, a hero who was a honest hard working man. Who sought nothing for his heroism, but he achieved amazing things when he did fight. I see Canada a lot like him. We will fight and fight hard, but we really do not like it and see our strength in other things. Our military are heroes, but it had its problems like everything else. It is still something we must honour and remember. They have left blood in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the America's, and for that, they are heros.

[wmralder]

Americans tend to fixate on Omaha Beach (see Saving Private Ryan) as being the hardest beach but Juno Beach was as difficult if not more because the fighting was against fortified urban targets. Some of the hardest battles in WWII in Europe were given to Canadians. Dieppe, Ortona, Juno Beach, Falaise Gap, Scheldt Estuary.

[cathywithac]

A school friend's grandmother was nurse who worked with Banting and Best in the lab during the discovery of insulin. She met Dr Banting working in a MASH until during WW1 in France. An amazing lady.

[haydendegrow]

The reason Naismith came up with the game was because, at the time, there were no athletic sports one could play indoors in the middle if winter. Most men weren't up to playing things like badminton or tennis, so Naismith needed a way to keep his rowdy men busy. He created basketball as a solution, and today, you'd be hard pressed to find a public or school gym without a basketball court.