- Reaction score
- 1,020
- Points
- 1,010
May. 5, 2004. 09:09 AM
Vets must pay for D-Day trip
Ottawa invites only 60 to Normandy
Ceremonies will mark 1944 invasion
GABE GONDA
STAFF REPORTER
On June 6, 1944, Keith Tozer took a deep breath, then shifted his ammunition truck into gear. He plunged it into the English Channel, up to Juno Beach and launched himself into the pivotal battle of World War II.
The bloody trail that followed D-Day is burned into his mind‘s eye forever. Tozer is 80 now and his vision is going, yet he wants a last look at the place on France‘s northern coast where he joined the fight for Europe six decades ago.
But Tozer isn‘t going to Normandy next month, and he‘s among a growing group of Canadian veterans angry at the government‘s decision to send just 60 of their number to commemorate D-Day‘s 60th anniversary.
"They sent me applications for how many tickets I wanted for the ceremonies," Tozer said yesterday from his North York home. "But they said, `Of course you have to pay your own way.‘ I said, `What? They want me to pay to go back and see the **** I went through?‘ I didn‘t think that was right."
Veterans Affairs Canada says it can‘t afford to send more than a small group on the trip, which will also include 70 support staff to ensure the "security and efficient movement of Canadians through the Canadian ceremonies," according to an e-mail from the department.
"What we‘re trying to do is provide one group that‘s representative of them all," said spokeswoman Janice Summerby.
About one-quarter of the 80,000 Canadians who participated in D-Day are still alive, according to Veterans Affairs, and Summerby said sending them all to Normandy this month would be impossible. Instead, the government charged regimental associations across the country with choosing their own representatives for Battle of Normandy events that are expected to cost $1.57 million.
For Tozer, who was badly injured during combat on the Dutch-German border, this is just the latest round in a half-century fight with the federal government over what his years of military service were worth.
The retired stationary engineer grew up in Toronto and went to Central Technical School before enlisting in the Army Service Corps, which serviced tanks and provided armoured battalions with fuel, ammunition and other supplies.
While stationed in England during the Battle of Britain, he watched during a German bombing raid as a fuel explosion burned a fellow soldier to death. After D-Day, during a Luftwaffe counter-offensive in France, Tozer rushed to the aid of a comrade who‘d been hit by shrapnel on a trip to the latrine.
"The front part of his chest was taken right off, and there was his heart beating while we were looking at him ... there was nothing you could do for him."
Tozer was recently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and spent years fighting for his pension. Like others, he says government excess in other areas makes the decision to keep so many vets at home this D-Day particularly galling.
Ernie Bovey, who served on a frigate that swept the English Channel in the months leading up to D-Day, echoed Tozer‘s sentiment.
The 79-year-old, who lives in Gananoque, Ont., cited Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson‘s recent circumpolar trip, which cost $5.3 million, as an example of the government‘s misplaced spending priorities.
He said Veterans Affairs could have sent three times as many veterans to Normandy for a fraction of the price of Clarkson‘s junket.
"Based on a tour price per person of $3,000 for 10 days, the total would be $540,000, only slightly more than 10 per cent of what it cost the government to fly the Governor-General and her VIP entourage (on its recent trip)," Bovey said.
Summerby insisted the government values men like Tozer and Bovey and expressed sympathy for all veterans who will be left on the home front come June 6.
"Hopefully, there will be events in Canada (veterans) can participate in," she said. "Or they can enjoy the overseas ceremonies on the television."
***
Wow. Despicable, especially the last quote.
Vets must pay for D-Day trip
Ottawa invites only 60 to Normandy
Ceremonies will mark 1944 invasion
GABE GONDA
STAFF REPORTER
On June 6, 1944, Keith Tozer took a deep breath, then shifted his ammunition truck into gear. He plunged it into the English Channel, up to Juno Beach and launched himself into the pivotal battle of World War II.
The bloody trail that followed D-Day is burned into his mind‘s eye forever. Tozer is 80 now and his vision is going, yet he wants a last look at the place on France‘s northern coast where he joined the fight for Europe six decades ago.
But Tozer isn‘t going to Normandy next month, and he‘s among a growing group of Canadian veterans angry at the government‘s decision to send just 60 of their number to commemorate D-Day‘s 60th anniversary.
"They sent me applications for how many tickets I wanted for the ceremonies," Tozer said yesterday from his North York home. "But they said, `Of course you have to pay your own way.‘ I said, `What? They want me to pay to go back and see the **** I went through?‘ I didn‘t think that was right."
Veterans Affairs Canada says it can‘t afford to send more than a small group on the trip, which will also include 70 support staff to ensure the "security and efficient movement of Canadians through the Canadian ceremonies," according to an e-mail from the department.
"What we‘re trying to do is provide one group that‘s representative of them all," said spokeswoman Janice Summerby.
About one-quarter of the 80,000 Canadians who participated in D-Day are still alive, according to Veterans Affairs, and Summerby said sending them all to Normandy this month would be impossible. Instead, the government charged regimental associations across the country with choosing their own representatives for Battle of Normandy events that are expected to cost $1.57 million.
For Tozer, who was badly injured during combat on the Dutch-German border, this is just the latest round in a half-century fight with the federal government over what his years of military service were worth.
The retired stationary engineer grew up in Toronto and went to Central Technical School before enlisting in the Army Service Corps, which serviced tanks and provided armoured battalions with fuel, ammunition and other supplies.
While stationed in England during the Battle of Britain, he watched during a German bombing raid as a fuel explosion burned a fellow soldier to death. After D-Day, during a Luftwaffe counter-offensive in France, Tozer rushed to the aid of a comrade who‘d been hit by shrapnel on a trip to the latrine.
"The front part of his chest was taken right off, and there was his heart beating while we were looking at him ... there was nothing you could do for him."
Tozer was recently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and spent years fighting for his pension. Like others, he says government excess in other areas makes the decision to keep so many vets at home this D-Day particularly galling.
Ernie Bovey, who served on a frigate that swept the English Channel in the months leading up to D-Day, echoed Tozer‘s sentiment.
The 79-year-old, who lives in Gananoque, Ont., cited Governor-General Adrienne Clarkson‘s recent circumpolar trip, which cost $5.3 million, as an example of the government‘s misplaced spending priorities.
He said Veterans Affairs could have sent three times as many veterans to Normandy for a fraction of the price of Clarkson‘s junket.
"Based on a tour price per person of $3,000 for 10 days, the total would be $540,000, only slightly more than 10 per cent of what it cost the government to fly the Governor-General and her VIP entourage (on its recent trip)," Bovey said.
Summerby insisted the government values men like Tozer and Bovey and expressed sympathy for all veterans who will be left on the home front come June 6.
"Hopefully, there will be events in Canada (veterans) can participate in," she said. "Or they can enjoy the overseas ceremonies on the television."
***
Wow. Despicable, especially the last quote.
