Fall 2004 - Trailcon

EditorialRemembering all the veteransNovember 5-11has beendesignated“Veterans’Week.” This isthe time that hasbeen set aside for Canadians to“honour and remember our veterans,and all who served Canadaduring war, armed conflict andpeace,” according to the Website of Veterans Affairs Canada.Alas, V.A.C. appears to be sufferingfrom a bad case of selectivememory. Not only was it lessthan supportive in providingassistance to many veterans whowanted to attend the 60thanniversaryceremony of D-Dayin Normandy this past June, butit outright rejected a segment ofthat group.V.A.C. brought 60 vets to theceremony. However, according toits “Canada Remembers”Division, this group was accompaniedby: 19 RCMP, 18 ParksCanada reps, 20 members of theCanadian Forces, and 41 V.A.C.staff – a retinue of 98 versusonly 60 veterans! To add insultto injury, the federal governmenthad agreed to sponsor any WWIIvet to the tune of $1,000. So far,so good. However, the vets hadto make their own travelarrangements, and then submittheir receipts for reimbursement.Of course, by the time thatannouncement had been made,all the nearby accommodationshad long been booked by dignitaries,so the vets would havehad to commute long distancesto attend the ceremony – nosimple feat for someone in theirlate seventies or older.To make matters worse, the subsidydidn’t even apply to theDieppe veterans, who stormedthe beaches of Normandy in1942, losing 900 soldiers onCanada’s bloodiest day of theWar. However, they did not diein vain, despite what our governmentmight have us believe. AsLen Fortune, Assistant ManagingEditor of The Toronto Sun, put itin a commentary in that newspaperon August 26: “The Alliesgained valuable informationfrom Dieppe that made it possiblefor a successful invasion on aNazi-held Europe two yearslater.” Fortune, who attended theceremony, noted that QueenElizabeth II had reminded everyonegathered at Juno Beach that“lessons learned there (Dieppe)were life savers for thoseinvolved in Normandy.” Butneither Prime Minister PaulMartin, nor Governor GeneralAdrienne Clarkson, who spoke tothe same group of veterans, sawfit to acknowledge the sacrificemade by the Canadian soldierswho fought and died at Dieppe.When Trailcon contacted V.A.C.to sponsor two vets to attendthe D-Day ceremony, it was along and frustrating exercise thatwent like this. On May 12, myassistant called V.A.C. on itstoll-free line and inquired whatTrailcon would need to do tosponsor a veteran. A gentlemannamed Hugo said he would havesomeone from head office callher back to advise us.A week later, her call still hadnot been returned. My assistantcalled the toll-free numberagain, andwas told thata “travelinformationform” and a“securityclearanceform” neededto be filled outand submittedthat day. Myassistantexplained thatwe only wantedto sponsor some vets, and thatwe thought V.A.C. would have alist of those needing sponsorship.She was then told to callthe head office, where someonecalled Reanne told her thatV.A.C. was not planning anymore trips for veterans, but theycould make their own arrangements,submit the receipts afterwards,and receive the $1,000subsidy from the government(assuming, of course, they hadn’tfought at Dieppe). Reanne thenreferred her to the NationalHistory Society. This organization,a private charity, told herthat it was working to try to freeup flights and hotel space forveterans, but that any hotel thatwould be available would bevery far from the ceremony site,and the men would have tomake their own way there.Finally, my assistant contactedTrailcon’s travel agent, who toldher that all flights and hotelswere booked, but that she wasconducting a guided tour toFrance that included the D-Dayceremony. Although there wasno space left on the tour, anumber of veterans were travelingwith the group. At that point,Trailcon decided to sponsor twoof the veterans from her group,Bill Marshall and GeorgeMummery (see "Pitching In,"Report on Transportation,Summer 2004). But who wouldhave thought V.A.C. would do solittle to help us to honour a veteranin this way?This year, says the V.A.C. Website, it is “making a special effortto honour and remember thenearly 100,000 Canadian veteranswho served in Italy duringthe final two years of theSecond World War.”Nothing wrong with that, butthere is something wrong withrecognizing one group of veteranswhile shamefully excludinganother. Every one of the veteransfought for their country andfor our freedom, and they alldeserve our sincere gratitude.May they never be forgotten.As for the V.A.C., I think they’reoperating in a V.A.C.U.U.M.FALL 2004 - VOLUME NO. 313