Peter J. Usher
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. There has been regrettably little observance of this important event in our history, in my estimation.
I recently had the privilege of speaking at the International Bomber Command Centre (IBCC) in Lincoln, England. It is a place that we Canadians should be much more aware of, considering that we contributed nearly one-fifth of Bomber Command’s flying personnel during the Second World War, and suffered the same proportion of casualties. Our contribution to the D-Day invasion is generally well publicized, but our contribution to Bomber Command is not. We have the Juno Beach centre in France, as we should, but nothing comparable to mark our contribution to the Air War.
During my visit, I became aware that the Canadian presence at the IBCC is rather less than it should be as compared to Australia’s and New Zealand’s, even though we played a much larger part at the time. There are marker stones for practically all of the nationalities that participated in Bomber Command, but not for Canada. As well, I was given to understand that neither the Canadian Government nor the RCAF chose to mark our Air Force’s centenary at the IBCC in 2024.
The grounds of the IBCC are beautifully laid out, including a central spire, panels with the names of all those who died in the service of Bomber Command, surrounded by various markers, memorials, and trees from all countries except ours. I know that a nice Canadian maple tree would be very much appreciated there. What better place to provide one than Lanark County?
I sent this suggestion to our MP, Scott Reid, in January and again in June, but to date have received neither reply nor acknowledgement. So I am putting it out in The Millstone for public consideration, as a way of improving Canada’s presence at the IBCC.
