D-DAY ANNIVERSARY

[military granny]

To all the men who served and were in Europe at the time I    you.

 

[Jamie.Young]

Right behind ya M-G

 

[LIKELY]

Amen to that.

Happy DDay

 

[nd.07]

''Lest We Forget''
I watched Don Cherry last night, and so far he is the only media figure to have mentioned that it was the anniversary of the Longest Day. I dont care what people say about him, he knows where to pay tribute where it is due and never fails to mention the sacrifices of men and women in uniform. +1 to Don.

 

[Rice0031]

I'll third that.

To all veterans, thank you.

 

[p_imbeault]

Thanks for your sacrafices 

 

[Rory]

With honour and dedication, thank the fallen for their service. 

 

[sm0ke]

Sincere thanks to those who served, those who serve, and to those who will choose to do so in the future...

 

[pbi]

Tues 06 Jun three of us from CFC attended the City of Toronto Commemoration of the 62nd Anniversary of D-day, held at Nathan Phillips Square in front of City Hall. It was organized largely by the veterans, and the parade participants were the various bands and honour guards of the City services (I didn't know the Transit Commission had an Honour Guard, but good on them...). It was quite a good event, although it was only lightly attended (considering it was right downtown, at lunch time) and seemed to have been poorly publicized. Strangely, except for us three and Col Stafford (recently of 32 CBG), the CF was nowhere in sight. That doesn't seem right, but accordin to Col Stafford, there was no request from the City.

Cheers

 

[military granny]

PBI  I'm sorry to say it doesn't surprise me that the event was poorly attended. As our WWII vets leave this world people tend to forget what they have done for us. Unless you are military or a part of the military family these dates are just another day not the milestones that they should be.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

PBI  I'm sorry to say it doesn't surprise me that the event was poorly attended. As our WWII vets leave this world people tend to forget what they have done for us. Unless you are military or a part of the military family these dates are just another day not the milestones that they should be.

If we commemorated every significant battle's anniversary, even the national ones (ie not every regiment's pet battle honour), we'd be at work two days a year. Off the top of my head, there is

7 Feb 1945 - Rhineland
22 Apr 1915 - St. Julien (Second Ypres)
8 May 1945 - VE Day
May 1944 - Hitler Line
6 Jun 1944 - D-Day in Normandy
25 Jun 1950 - start of the Korean War
1 July 1916 - Beaumont Hamel (Newfoundland only)
10 July 1943 - Sicily
27 July 1953 - Armistice in Korea
19 Aug 1942 - Dieppe
1 Sep 1944 - Dieppe Liberation
Oct 1944 - the Scheldt
11 Nov 1918 - Rememberance Day
25 Dec 1941 - Hong Kong
25 Dec 1943 - Ortona

Not to mention Battle of the Atlantic Day, Battle of Britain Day, the Aircrew memorial day, maybe even Billy Bishop's birthday while we're at it.

Are these all not worthy of commemoration?

The 60th Anniversary of D-Day in 2004 was huge, I was in Ottawa for that; and in Ottawa for VE Day last year.  You don't need a gong show four times a year - quiet observances are more than appropriate for "off years".  CTV national news mentioned D-Day and showed some footage - I thought that was quite acceptable. I don't think we're really in any danger of forgetting any time soon. Rememberance Day is the perfect time to mark these occasions as a nation - we need to go back to closing stores on this day. But as to taking time off work 12 or 20 or 200 times a year to mark each and every battle - it would make as much sense as a civic holiday to commemorate the death of every policeman, fireman and K-9 dog - on the exact anniversary of their death. As deeply as we appreciate their sacrifice, there is an appropriate time to spend mourning those losses. 

 

[kratz]

Thank you for the post Michael Dorosh . I was looking to see if anyone made the point you have in recognizing all the 100's of individual, unit/ship and regimental/fleet battles of note within Canadian history. While we like to think of our nation as peaceful, our history shows that when we get our backs up we have sucessfully participated in too many engagments to commemorate them all seperatly year round-forever.

 

[manhole]

We spent the afternoon and evening with my in-laws.....My father-in-law was serving aboard HMCS Algonquin off the coast of Normandy on D-Day.  We watched "The Longest Day"  while he related anecdotes about the day.....few beers and a bar-b-q..........toasted those who did not return and wished "God speed" to those serving today........Thanks, Dad, to you and all the others for your efforts.