We must
Tuesday June 10 2008
The Banner received a call from a reader on Friday, disappointed that we had nothing in our June 6 paper recognizing the anniversary of D-Day.
We do have a photo in today’s paper — a little late but still relevant — of Dufferin’s two surviving veterans of that historic day, June 6, 1944, that Allied troops arrived in Normandy, France and began the liberation of mainland Europe from Nazi occupation.
But the reader’s point is well taken; it is up to all of us — and perhaps those of us in roles of influence, like the media, politicians or community leaders a little more — to mark such anniversaries, to ensure that the horrors of the First and Second World Wars are not forgotten.
This is why we are excited about an initiative that has 30 Centre Dufferin District high school students each researching one local person who participated in the Second World War, and travelling to France and Belgium this fall to see the battlefields on which Canadians fought, died and triumphed.
The school is working with the Dufferin County Museum and Archives on the project; the students have been using the museum’s records in their research and will, in turn, augment those records with new information they find. The project will culminate in the students symbolically returning the soldier to their places in history by presenting a commemorative brick to the Juno Beach Centre.
The museum is planning to send two staff members to accompany the students — with costs paid by fundraised dollars. We would like to see Dufferin County councillors approve the plan at its meeting this week. Sending museum staff on such a trip can only improve the county’s records of local involvement in war efforts, information, we believe, while worth collecting and preserving.
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