Mr. Speaker, I remind members of the House that 50 years ago today the soldiers of the Second Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry held off Chinese forces in the Kapyong Valley in Korea. For its actions, the whole of the 2-PPCLI was awarded the United States presidential citation.
On Saturday, May 21, I, along with the minister of immigration, the member for Ottawa West—Nepean and the member for Markham, had the privilege to attend a dinner in Seoul hosted by the Korean War Veterans Association.
This dinner marked the 50th anniversary of the Korean war period, a time when over 20,000 Canadian Armed Forces personnel saw action overseas. Sixty-one Canadian veterans of this conflict were able to return to Korea for the event. It was a profoundly moving and memorable occasion.
I am dually honoured by these events: to have had the experience in Korea at the dinner and to have had such a distinguished unit stationed in my constituency, their barracks named after the historic Kapyong battle.