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http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?id=47DF7629-51AC-4598-9565-452851FC69A4
Prime Minister‘s presence angers some veterans
Chris Wattie
National Post, with files from the Ottawa Citizen
Friday, June 06, 2003
CREDIT: The Canadian Press
A member of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion takes part in a training jump at Ringway, England, in 1944.
CREDIT: Warrant Officer Jean Blouin, Department of National Defence
VETS GATHER IN NORMANDY TO OPEN D-DAY MUSEUM: War veteran Jan de Vries of Pickering salutes after laying a wreath at the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion memorial during a ceremony yesterday in Lemesnil, France.
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When ceremonies begin today to mark the anniversary of D-Day, Canadians will be the first on the ground -- just as they were 59 years ago.
A group of Canadian Forces paratroopers will kick off today‘s remembrance ceremonies in France by dropping into the same Normandy fields where the men of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion landed on June 6, 1944, hours before the main body of troops stormed ashore on the beaches in the largest amphibious attack in history.
Hundreds of Canadian veterans and dignitaries, including Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, will be present to open the Juno Beach Centre, a museum and memorial to Canadian troops who fought in the Second World War.
Many veterans say they resent the Prime Minister‘s presence at today‘s opening ceremonies because in their view, Ottawa gave little support to the project.
On D-Day, 130,000 men, thousands of vehicles and tonnes of supplies launched in an attack supported by the largest naval armada ever assembled and fleets of thousands of fighters and bombers.
Of the five beaches where troops landed, one was entirely Canadian: Juno Beach. Historians have called Juno Beach one of the greatest feats of Canadian arms in the war. Canada‘s troops gained more ground than any other Allied forces on D-Day, with only moderate casualties.
The Third Canadian Division broke through heavy German opposition just inland of the beach and captured or advanced within sight of nearly all their objectives, the only Allied army to do so on D-Day.
On the ground waiting for the paratroopers today will be a handful of the survivors of the original parachute battalion, including Jan de Vries, 79, of Pickering, Ont.
"We were in France six hours before the rest of the army hit the beach," Mr. de Vries said yesterday in an interview from Caen, France.
"My company was the first one in ... We were supposed to land in one field and secure the drop zone for the rest of the battalion," he said. "But of the 120 men in the company, only 35 could be found. And we had to accomplish all our objectives with just those 35 men."
But, he adds with satisfaction: "We did it anyway."
Until today, there has been no official Canadian memorial centre to mark the place where 340 Canadians soldiers were killed and another 574 were wounded.
"There are a few plaques here and there, but nothing to really tell Canada‘s story," he said. "That wasn‘t right."
So the D-Day veterans, largely backed by corporate sponsors such as Wal-Mart Canada and private donors, started the four-year process of building the $6.1-million Juno Beach Centre.
Mr. de Vries will join hundreds of his former comrades today at the official opening of the Juno Beach Centre by Mr. Chrétien, a ceremony that has left many veterans bitter.
He said that while the Prime Minister will be speaking at the opening today, his government deserves little of the credit for the four-year drive to establish a Canadian presence at the site of one of the most important battles in the Second World War.
"Canada has done very, very little to help get this off the ground," he said. "It was only toward the end, when the government saw that this was going to happen, that they got on board."
Almost a third of the funding for the centre came from private sources, although provincial governments also chipped in, including $1-million each from Ontario and British Columbia.
The federal government initially gave only $1-million, less than the French government.
After prominent veterans criticized Ottawa for not giving more, earlier this year another $1-million contribution was announced, along with $500,000 for today‘s opening ceremonies and another $275,000 for the centre‘s annual operating costs.
However, even with the recent federal contribution, the centre still does not have enough money to finish the work. Its "inner workings," including displays and an interactive Web site, will not be ready until next year.
"It really is a veterans‘ project. It isn‘t something the federal government has been in on at all," said Cliff Chadderton, chairman of the National Council of Veterans‘ Associations.
"The federal government showed no interest and certainly no financial interest in the project -- until the proposition was put to [Mr.] Chrétien that there would be an opportunity for him to come here ... [then] we began to hear that there might be some money."
But Mr. de Vries said he is looking forward to the opening ceremonies and particularly to the recreation of his 1944 drop into the green Norman fields.
Captain Dave Beatty, of the Canadian Forces‘ Parachute Centre, in CFB Trenton, Ont., will be co-ordinating the recreation of the 1st Parachute Battalion‘s jump into Nazi-occupied France.
"We‘ll be landing in a field opposite the Canadian cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer," he said. "Almost exactly the same distance inland as the Canadian Parachute Battalion dropped in 1944."
"It‘ll be a mass jump out of a CC-130 [Hercules]," he said, adding ruefully: "If you can call 36 guys a ‘mass drop‘ ... There were something like 10,000 jumpers in the air on D-Day."
He said his paratroopers, including representatives from the regular forces and reserve regiments that fought on Juno Beach, will take off from Britain and follow the same flight path that their historic counterparts did on the night of June 5, 1944.
Capt. Beatty said the modern soldiers are particularly looking forward to meeting the veterans after the drop -- and he said it was only with difficulty that he was able to dissuade the elderly former paratroopers from making one last jump themselves.
"Yeah, I just about had to beat Jan away from my aircraft with a two-by-four," he said with a laugh. "He was all ready to grab my ‘chute and go ... he‘d rather be jumping in, I‘m sure."
However Mr. de Vries said sombrely that many of the graves in the two main Canadian military cemeteries near Juno Beach contain his friends and comrades.
"A lot of fellows were just shot out of hand when they were captured -- murdered, I guess is the word for it -- by the SS," he said.
Of the more than 600 Canadian paratroopers who jumped into Normandy on D-Day, Mr. de Vries said only 187 returned safely to England that fall after the three months of bloody fighting to secure and later break out of the beach head.
"All the rest were either killed, wounded or captured," he added quietly.
cwattie@nationalpost.com
© Copyright 2003 National Post
Prime Minister‘s presence angers some veterans
Chris Wattie
National Post, with files from the Ottawa Citizen
Friday, June 06, 2003
CREDIT: The Canadian Press
A member of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion takes part in a training jump at Ringway, England, in 1944.
CREDIT: Warrant Officer Jean Blouin, Department of National Defence
VETS GATHER IN NORMANDY TO OPEN D-DAY MUSEUM: War veteran Jan de Vries of Pickering salutes after laying a wreath at the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion memorial during a ceremony yesterday in Lemesnil, France.
ADVERTISEMENT
When ceremonies begin today to mark the anniversary of D-Day, Canadians will be the first on the ground -- just as they were 59 years ago.
A group of Canadian Forces paratroopers will kick off today‘s remembrance ceremonies in France by dropping into the same Normandy fields where the men of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion landed on June 6, 1944, hours before the main body of troops stormed ashore on the beaches in the largest amphibious attack in history.
Hundreds of Canadian veterans and dignitaries, including Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister, will be present to open the Juno Beach Centre, a museum and memorial to Canadian troops who fought in the Second World War.
Many veterans say they resent the Prime Minister‘s presence at today‘s opening ceremonies because in their view, Ottawa gave little support to the project.
On D-Day, 130,000 men, thousands of vehicles and tonnes of supplies launched in an attack supported by the largest naval armada ever assembled and fleets of thousands of fighters and bombers.
Of the five beaches where troops landed, one was entirely Canadian: Juno Beach. Historians have called Juno Beach one of the greatest feats of Canadian arms in the war. Canada‘s troops gained more ground than any other Allied forces on D-Day, with only moderate casualties.
The Third Canadian Division broke through heavy German opposition just inland of the beach and captured or advanced within sight of nearly all their objectives, the only Allied army to do so on D-Day.
On the ground waiting for the paratroopers today will be a handful of the survivors of the original parachute battalion, including Jan de Vries, 79, of Pickering, Ont.
"We were in France six hours before the rest of the army hit the beach," Mr. de Vries said yesterday in an interview from Caen, France.
"My company was the first one in ... We were supposed to land in one field and secure the drop zone for the rest of the battalion," he said. "But of the 120 men in the company, only 35 could be found. And we had to accomplish all our objectives with just those 35 men."
But, he adds with satisfaction: "We did it anyway."
Until today, there has been no official Canadian memorial centre to mark the place where 340 Canadians soldiers were killed and another 574 were wounded.
"There are a few plaques here and there, but nothing to really tell Canada‘s story," he said. "That wasn‘t right."
So the D-Day veterans, largely backed by corporate sponsors such as Wal-Mart Canada and private donors, started the four-year process of building the $6.1-million Juno Beach Centre.
Mr. de Vries will join hundreds of his former comrades today at the official opening of the Juno Beach Centre by Mr. Chrétien, a ceremony that has left many veterans bitter.
He said that while the Prime Minister will be speaking at the opening today, his government deserves little of the credit for the four-year drive to establish a Canadian presence at the site of one of the most important battles in the Second World War.
"Canada has done very, very little to help get this off the ground," he said. "It was only toward the end, when the government saw that this was going to happen, that they got on board."
Almost a third of the funding for the centre came from private sources, although provincial governments also chipped in, including $1-million each from Ontario and British Columbia.
The federal government initially gave only $1-million, less than the French government.
After prominent veterans criticized Ottawa for not giving more, earlier this year another $1-million contribution was announced, along with $500,000 for today‘s opening ceremonies and another $275,000 for the centre‘s annual operating costs.
However, even with the recent federal contribution, the centre still does not have enough money to finish the work. Its "inner workings," including displays and an interactive Web site, will not be ready until next year.
"It really is a veterans‘ project. It isn‘t something the federal government has been in on at all," said Cliff Chadderton, chairman of the National Council of Veterans‘ Associations.
"The federal government showed no interest and certainly no financial interest in the project -- until the proposition was put to [Mr.] Chrétien that there would be an opportunity for him to come here ... [then] we began to hear that there might be some money."
But Mr. de Vries said he is looking forward to the opening ceremonies and particularly to the recreation of his 1944 drop into the green Norman fields.
Captain Dave Beatty, of the Canadian Forces‘ Parachute Centre, in CFB Trenton, Ont., will be co-ordinating the recreation of the 1st Parachute Battalion‘s jump into Nazi-occupied France.
"We‘ll be landing in a field opposite the Canadian cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer," he said. "Almost exactly the same distance inland as the Canadian Parachute Battalion dropped in 1944."
"It‘ll be a mass jump out of a CC-130 [Hercules]," he said, adding ruefully: "If you can call 36 guys a ‘mass drop‘ ... There were something like 10,000 jumpers in the air on D-Day."
He said his paratroopers, including representatives from the regular forces and reserve regiments that fought on Juno Beach, will take off from Britain and follow the same flight path that their historic counterparts did on the night of June 5, 1944.
Capt. Beatty said the modern soldiers are particularly looking forward to meeting the veterans after the drop -- and he said it was only with difficulty that he was able to dissuade the elderly former paratroopers from making one last jump themselves.
"Yeah, I just about had to beat Jan away from my aircraft with a two-by-four," he said with a laugh. "He was all ready to grab my ‘chute and go ... he‘d rather be jumping in, I‘m sure."
However Mr. de Vries said sombrely that many of the graves in the two main Canadian military cemeteries near Juno Beach contain his friends and comrades.
"A lot of fellows were just shot out of hand when they were captured -- murdered, I guess is the word for it -- by the SS," he said.
Of the more than 600 Canadian paratroopers who jumped into Normandy on D-Day, Mr. de Vries said only 187 returned safely to England that fall after the three months of bloody fighting to secure and later break out of the beach head.
"All the rest were either killed, wounded or captured," he added quietly.
cwattie@nationalpost.com
© Copyright 2003 National Post