Megaviering voor 65ste Bevrijdingsverjaardag van Knokke-Heist.(?)

De krant Standard-Freeholder in het Canadese Cornwall heeft woensdagmiddag meegedeeld dat een campagne gelanceerd wordt om Canadese soldaten die Knokke-Heist bevrijd hebben tegen 1 november terug naar de badstad te brengen. Volgens Schepen Danny Lannoy vreesde men de voorbije weken in Canada dat de reis naar België om budgetaire redenen in het water zou vallen. Vandaar dan ook de oproep om steun in de plaatselijke Canadese krant. Hopelijk wordt daar uitgebreid gevolg aan gegeven. De campagne werd opgezet door de “Regimental Foundation” van de “Stormont, Dundas and Highlanders”. Zo'n 70 oud-soldaten en hun aanhang komen naar Knokke-Heist op uitnodiging van burgemeester Lippens. Die heeft in december laten weten aan de Glens dat hij ze de “Freedom of the City” wil verstrekken uit erkentelijk voor het bevrijden van de badstad uit handen van de Nazi’s op 1 november 1944. De burgmeester wil ook de ‘Flag of Remembrance’ herdedikeren. De vlag werd aan de Glens overhandigd dag op dag één jaar na de bevrijding en wordt tegenwoordig tentoongesteld in de Cornwall Armoury in Canada. De “Vrijheid van de Stad”- parade zal –nog steeds volgens de Canadese krant- op zaterdag 7 november gehouden worden op het Verweeplein in Knokke. De dag erop stappen de Glenns op in de jaarlijkse Canadese Bevrijdingsmars tussen Hoofdplaat en Knokke. Brigadier General Bill Patterson “noemde het aanbieden van de Vrijheid van Knokke-Heist van groot historisch belang, zelfs voor een regiment met een lange geschiedenis zoals de Glens”.

Highlanders looking to make overseas trip to Belgian city
By KATHLEEN HAY
Posted -53 sec ago
CORNWALL - The Glens want to be on the march again.
The Regimental Foundation of the Stormont, Dundas and Highlanders has announced a fundraising campaign to help the soldiers return to Knokke-Heist, Belgium for the 65th anniversary of the city's wartime liberation. Last December, Count Leopold Lippens, the city's mayor, invited the Glens to return and receive the Freedom of the City in recognition of their liberation from Nazi occupation on Nov. 1, 1944. The mayor also expressed the wish to re-dedicate the Flag of Remembrance the city presented to the Glens' on Nov. 1, 1945. The flag is currently displayed in the Cornwall Armoury.

The Freedom of the City parade will be held Nov. 7, 2009 in Knokke-Heist's central square. The following day the Glens' will march in the annual Canadian Liberation March, a 33-kilometre route from Hoofdplaat, the Netherlands, to Knokke, Belgium. The march retraces the battlefields over which the Ninth Canadian Infantry Brigade, which included the Glens, fought during the bloody Battle of the Breskens Pocket in October, 1944. This historical invitation is a huge honour, says the Foundation's president. "To be accorded this tremendous honour, the Freedom of the City, especially of a city that was liberated during wartime, is an event of great historical importance in a regiment's history, even for a regiment with as long a history as the Glens," said retired Brig.-Gen. Bill Patterson, Regimental Foundation president and co-author of an updated history, Up The Glens! The foundation is hoping that others feel the same way. All donations will be gratefully accepted to support funding of this initiative, and will be acknowledged with a tax receipt.

The aim of the fundraising campaign is to help defray the costs of sending about 70 officers, soldiers and members of the Pipes and Drums overseas for the commemoration. The Glens will be accompanied by those Second World War veterans who are up to making the trip.
Checks can be made out to the S, D & G Highlanders Regimental Foundation, 505 Fourth St. East, Cornwall, ON K6H 2J7.

"This may be the last chance for the people of Europe to see their liberators, and for our veterans to pay their respects to their fallen comrades who never returned from Europe," Patterson said. "For our younger soldiers, it will be a profoundly moving experience to witness firsthand the great gratitude still felt by the people of Europe for their freedom, paid for by the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers so long ago."

Controverse rond medailles overleden Canadese militairen

Een pleidooi voor een wetswijziging in Canada waardoor het mogelijk moet worden dat partners de medailles mogen dragen van hun gesneuvelde of overleden militaire echtgenoten. Momenteel is dat strafbaar. Meer hierover in de Kingston Whig Standard.

Tijd heelt alle wonden, maar dreigt ook het offer uit te wissen

Een pakkende 'letter to the editor' over 'de tijd' die de betekenis van 11.11.11 dreigt uit te wissen lees je HIER

Actie 'Duizend vlaggen voor duizend Canadese levens' groot succes

De actie ‘Duizend Vlaggen voor Duizend Canadese Levens’ blijkt een groot succes in Knokke-Heist. De vrienden van het ‘For Freedom Museum’ hebben momenteel al ruim 600 vlaggen verkocht. Met 64 procent daarvan gaat het om Maple Leaf vlaggen. De rest zijn Belgische driekleuren. Het ziet er dan ook naar uit dat tegen volgend jaar de doelstellling '1000 vlaggen voor 1000 Canadese levens' gehaald zal worden. Komend jaar is het namelijk 65 jaar sedert de bevrijding van Knokke en Heist door de Canadse Glens. Ondertussen roept het gemeentebestuur van Knokke-Heist de bevolking op om komende zaterdag, 15 november, de Belgische vlag uit te hangen ten einde Koningsdag een extra feestelijk tintje te geven.

Gesneuvelde Canadezen herdacht in Ontario

In Canada hebben dinsdag zo’n 500 mensen de Remembrance Day herdenking bijgewoond voor de soldaten van de Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, die bij de bevrijding van onder meer Knokke en Heist zijn gesneuveld. Onder hen de 92-jarige veteraan Jim Mullen. De ceremonie werd gehouden in het Legion Memorial Park in Cornwall, Ontario. In een bijtende novemberwind hielden hooggerankte militairen toespraken. Onder hen Ernie Filion, de plaatselijke voorzitter van de Royal Canadian Legion. Na de "Last Post" werden vervolgens massaal kransen gelegd aan de voet van het “cenotaph”-gedenkteken.

83-year old Aboriginal Glengarry Hero visits Canadian Senate

When Donn Fowler enlisted as a 14-year-old to serve Canada in the Second World War, it's a sure bet he never imagined his service would someday be recognized on the Senate floor. Especially when one considers his Metis heritage and the fact Canada's treatment of its aboriginal veterans is but another blight on that sad chapter in our history. But there he was Thursday, seated behind a senator's desk in the Red Chamber where he was attending the 11th Ceremony of Remembrance. "It was very emotional," said Fowler, who celebrated his 83rd birthday yesterday. "There were quite a few tears, hidden, from the old fellows who remember what that ceremony represents." Fowler was invited to the ceremony as representative for the National Aboriginal Veterans' Association (NAVA). Among the dignitaries Fowler met Thursday was General Walt Natynczyk, Canada's chief of defence staff. "I said to him, 'You've got your hands full, I don't envy you,'" said Fowler, who was referring, of course, to Canada's ongoing military efforts in Afghanistan. He said "it meant a great deal" that a native shaman and aboriginals in traditional dress were included in the service. "It was a marvelous occasion. ... The balcony was filled at both ends," said Fowler, who wasn't sure which senator's seat he'd taken. The recognition of the role natives have played in defending Canada is long overdue, said Fowler. He said many who returned from Europe after the Second World War - particularly those from reserves - were denied benefits that helped other veterans build a home or go back to school. Fowler's service to his country continued a family tradition that dates back generations. "We have a history of warfare as warriors through our family," he said. There's even a Victoria Cross recipient in the family tree, John Edmund Fowler earned the Commonwealth's highest honour for military valour in a pre-First World War battle. Fowler said his great-grandfather defended Leeds at the time of the Fenian raids, his grandfather served in the Boer War and First World War, while is dad is a veteran of the Second World War. His own service began in 1940 and after spending his first year of enlistment in Canada, Fowler was sent overseas on July 15, 1941. He was in England until a month after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944 when he was part of the next wave of soldiers to land in France. Fowler, who served with the 1st Battalion of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, said his combat duties eventually took him from Normandy to Belgium, Holland and Germany. When he returned to Canada in 1947, Fowler came to Brockville to complete his high school before attending Queen's University. A retiree from Automatic Electric, Fowler is a former city councillor and has lived in Brockville since the war with his wife, Eva (a Brockville girl, he said proudly). With just a few days until the nation stops Tuesday to honour veterans on Remembrance Day, Fowler said it's a time of uncomfortable thoughts. The services always make raw the memories of war. "I keep thinking about the people that were left behind, some of them 16, 17 and 18 years old," he explained. "That's not easy to digest at this time of year. It's a little tough to do." Fowler has spoken to high school students in the past and said he always has a simple message for young people. "Please try to remember," he said, adding it's his hope future generations don't repeat the mistakes of the past. "There's no need for killing each other if we can do something responsible," said Fowler. "The young people have got a terrible responsibility to keep the peace in some way because without the peace, we're lost."

Glens' sacrifices haven't been forgotten

Letters to the Editor The Cornwall Standard Freeholder44 Pitt Street Cornwall K6J 3P3 Canada

With Remembrance Day approaching I feel a need to express myself about a recent tour my wife and I took with Jolly tours called "Following the Glens 2008". It took us on the route the Glengarry Highlanders followed during the Second World War which my father and uncle were part of. We landed in England where the Glens had trained for a number of years then across the channel to Juno beach where the D-Day invasion took place. We visited a number of Canadian war cemeteries including Beny-sur-mer where my uncle is buried. My father never had a chance to visit his brother's gravesite before he passed away, so this was a very emotional moment.
Receptions were held in just about every town we visited and the people went out of their way to welcome us. In the town of Urville the children came out waving Canadian flags and after the ceremony they sang O Canada and gave us cards that they had made. Some members of the group gave the children Canada lapel pins and they were all very happy. The town's people even invited some of us into their homes. Dr. Jean Pierre Benamou a friend of the Glens gave up three days of his busy schedule to show us around sites of Normandy where the Glens had fought, one of which was the Abbaye D'Ardenne where 20 Canadian soldiers were murdered, including two Glens, Lt. F. Williams and L Cpl. G. Pollard. We made our way up through France with a stop at Dieppe and into Belgium where we visited Ypres and walked into a shop were we met the owner Steve Douglas, director of the Maple Leaf Legacy Project. He then closed up his shop and jumped onto our bus and showed us around the surrounding area of Ypres where major battles took place involving the Canadians during the First World War. We also visited Vimy Ridge. We made our way into Holland and it was the same story. Towns held luncheons for us. People hung Canadian flags from their balcony, streets named in honour of fallen Glens.
When people found out you were Canadian they shook your hand and wanted to talk to you.

This Remembrance Day will be very special as I have never felt so proud of what our fathers, uncles, brothers did.
Proud to be Canadian.

Ray Poitras, Cornwall