Mr. Speaker, it is an honour and a pleasure to rise in the House of Commons to pay tribute, not only on behalf of my party and my constituents but of all of Canada, and join my colleagues in praising the work done by our veterans and current service personnel.
The name of Jack Ford may not mean very much to most people in here, but it soon will. He is a Newfoundlander, who was in a Japanese war camp in Japan, and he witnessed the atomic bombing in Nagasaki. He is one of the few people left in the world who can tell us of what happened that tragic day. His book on his memories will be out very soon.
There is the story of Stan Mackenzie of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He was a merchant mariner, who was torpedoed off the coast of Nova Scotia. For two and a half days he rode back to the coast, then signed up with the RCMP for the St. Roch journey around the Northwest Passage from 1942 to 1944.
He is one of the few Canadians who was awarded the Polar Medal, but that was not enough for him. In 1944 he then joined up and served in the battlefields of Europe. He is still with us as well.
Unfortunately, due to the passage of time and being elderly and of sickness, by the time we all go to sleep tonight, we will lose 120 veterans and/or their spouses. To the ones who have been left behind, the ones who are still with us, we owe them a debt of gratitude and say to them personally “Thank you for your sacrifice”.
On a personal note, as a Dutch-born Canadian who was born in Holland and who is now able to stand in the House of Commons, I would like to tell our veterans who are before us what they specifically did for my family.
My father was a prisoner of war for two years in Germany, from 1942 to 1944. When the camp was liberated, he came across a Canadian soldier. He asked the Canadian soldier why Canada did so much for our country of the Netherlands. The young Canadian soldier said, in typical modesty, “Sir, we had a job to do”. That was the first time in my dad's life that anyone ever called him sir. He handed my dad a chocolate and a cigarette and moved on.
In 1956, when the Dutch government made the decision to close the mining towns of Limburg over a few years period, the only answer in those days was out-migration. My father said to my mother, “If they have a military like that, can you imagine what kind of country they come from?”, so we chose to come to Canada. We settled in the Vancouver area.
That Christmas my mom was given a turkey by the church. She did not know what a turkey was, but she knew it was meat and she knew we would be cooking with gas, if we had meat in 1956. She was a Dutch Canadian. She did not know what to do with a turkey, so she did what any good Dutch Canadian would have done in those days. She cut it up in tiny pieces and fried it in a cast iron skillet to feed to the family.
The neighbour next door came by to see how the turkey was coming along. She roared with laughter when she saw what my mom had done, so she went out and got my mom another turkey.
That Christmas, during Christmas dinner, was the first time in my parents' lives, after the depression, the war, the loss of a child at birth, the imprisonment of my father, the post-war deprivation of Europe, the move from their country to another country, when they knew if they kept their faith in God and worked hard, Canada would bestow many blessings upon them and their family.
That is what those veterans did for my family and for many thousands of Dutch people and Europeans in the war in Europe, from 1940 to 1945, and we thank them
For our modern day veterans, Louise Richard and Sean Bruyea, who served in the gulf war and came back with injuries that we could not even begin to comprehend, for the ones who served in Afghanistan who are coming back, for the parents who recently lost their sons and daughters in Afghanistan, for them, Remembrance Day is every day.
Men and women who sign up for our RCMP and our armed forces have unlimited liability. They are willing to lay their lives on the line so we can have a good night's sleep in our communities and our great country called Canada. We in Parliament and in government have the ultimate responsibility to ensure that their needs and those of their families are met.
I ask all Canadians, during this Remembrance Week, when they see the veterans, the armed forces personnel and those serving in our police forces, go up and give them a hug. Buy them a beverage on Remembrance Day. Take them out and say “Thank you, once again”. Look them in the eye and say, “Without you, we would not have the country we have today”.
On behalf of everyone, I want to personally salute the men and women of our military, past and foregone, and say to them that we know why they wear their medals with pride. It is not just for valour and distinction in service to their country. They wear them because of the many men and women who never had a chance to wear theirs because they paid the ultimate sacrifice. It is we who love them. It is we who bless them. May God bless them and their families. We salute all veterans and current service personnel.
Lest we forget.
