I agree with Admiral Summers. I don't think we need any monument, but the recognition is very much important.
I can't understand why they can't be called war veterans. I mean, you've got to be kidding me. No, we don't need a statue or anything. That we all came back alive is probably testament enough to the fact that we were clever. I can tell you, we had help from our allies when we went over there. The French provided a simulation of the Exocet missile, which the Iraqis could fire at us. They sent aircraft every day towards us. If we saw a missile launch, we would fire back. They provided that so we would know the best aspect to put the ships in when we thought an attack was coming, and we sailed that way. That's one of the reasons we all came back, I can tell you, because there were missiles flying around. We were lucky.
As for what kind of recognition, I think anniversaries are important. I went to the 25th anniversary of the Swissair disaster. I was the commander of the search and rescue and recovery of Swissair. To remember with the proper commemorative ceremony is extremely important. We did have one for the 30th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War. It was held in Halifax. In fact, the HMCS Athabaskan sailed by the jetty. I would say there were thousands of Haligonians on the jetty. When we left for the unknown, tens of thousands were lining the jetties to wave goodbye to us, because they didn't know if we were coming back.