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.
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.
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."
