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

Add to that participation in three major Indigenous Veterans Ceremonies on 8 November, upwards of 30 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.

Some presenters, like Major Todd Barnes at 1CAD, not only present to a school assembly but spend the day at the school going from class to class.

MCpl Nan Jorgensen from MSS is laying a wreath at a church service and will take her son with her. Families can and do engage.

Captain Chris Allan from 402 Squadron will speak to both his children’s schools. He sees the visits as an opportunity to create awareness not only of why we remember but of the importance of the military to Canada today. He believes there is not enough exposure to what the military is and does today.

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.