Veterans Week Speaker Program at 17 Wing a major success

By Gloria Kelly

The National Veterans Week Speaker Program is in full swing within Winnipeg and communities scattered across southern Manitoba in the lead up to Remembrance Day on 11 November.

Each year members of all ranks at 17 Wing and its various lodger units step up to the plate and volunteer to visit schools, legions and community groups to promote Veterans Week and to talk about why it is important to remember.

This year about 180 requests will be filled across the region in a combined effort from 17 Wing, 38 CBG and HMCS Chippawa.

Add to that participation in two major Indigenous Veterans Ceremonies on 7 and 8 November, upwards of 50 schools contacting directly with parents and visits by members to legions and memorials on 11 November and the numbers engaged swell into the hundreds.

Many schools who take advantage of the program have been engaged for a number of years while others are new this year. The school visits range from a rural school with a single class to a high school of over 1400 students. New this year was engagement with a number of senior’s residences who requested a military member for their Remembrance Day ceremonies.

Some presenters, like Major Mary Gordon at 1CAD, took on more than one school and volunteered to take part in a media engagement on why we remember.

Capt Myriam Boily from 402 Squadron is leading a delegation to the city major francophone service and will take her family with her. Families can and do engage.

Speakers at the various schools and locations will bring with them a diversity of experience and a wealth of knowledge. All will have one message in common. It is important that we remember and never forget those who came before us such that we live in a free democratic country like Canada.