Hi everyone!! The countdown begins! This is Memo # 3 in our series of monthly updates. As the trip gets closer the memos will be more frequent and as needed. In this second issue, I am going to provide some more background educational material for you.
Our upcoming Tour Newsletter # 3 (next week) and Battle Diaries # 3 (2 weeks), will be sent out in Adobe Acrobat to your School Leaders because those files will be too big for most your servers if sent in the original word format.
Currently, we have 190 schools that are interested in joining us on this tour. We already have more than 2300 reservations! Schools have signed up from across the country from coast to coast. I will continue to keep you posted throughout the year.
One way for you to see who is talking about our tour is to sign in at our “Fan Page”on FaceBook under “VE Day: Countdown to 65th Anniversary” Currently we over 6,042 fans!!!
| V.E. 65th ANNIVERSARY TOUR UPDATES |
Lots has happened this spring and continues to happen and evolve. But here’s an up-to-date as of September 14.
PASSPORTS: If you do not have one yet - please start the process SOON to get your passport. Definitely get it before you turn 16 to save $ 25.00. It is good for 5 years. Be sure to have it by November 30th 2009 at the latest. Avoid the Christmas & March Break rush! Applications are available at your local Post Office.
VE TULIPS PRESENTATIONS
We have just recently received exciting news from the Dutch Embassy.....they are now preparing to ship the tulips to your schools from the Dutch Embassy in time for falling planting! These tulips are being presented to your school so that you can plant them this fall. When you are on tour in the spring they will be in bloom at your home school. Every year they will bloom again as a reminder of your school’s personal bond of friendship through Remembrance shared at the VE 65th Anniversary with the people of the Netherlands.
HANDS ACROSS THE GENERATIONS PROJECT:
Each student participating in the tour, will be assigned a Canadian soldier that died in the battle during WW I and WW II by their Home School. The procedure for matching the soldiers will done in the following order: 1) any student that wishes to be matched with a soldier or soldiers that they are related to or associated through family friendship MUST submit these personal requests to their School’s Group Leader ASAP so they can reserve those soldier(s). For these personal matches the soldier can be alive or deceased and from any conflict and Branch of the Canadian Armed Services, 2) the second round of matching will be done by the school’s Group Leader and will be with soldiers that attended your Home School or are from your own home community 3) the remaining student-soldier matches will be made by the VE 65th Tour National Coordinator based on Region and province location. The School’s Group leader will submit to the VE 65th Tour National Coordinator a complete list of all participating students and their matches and those students without matches by October 1st 2009.
Each of the participating students will participate in the “Hands Across the Generations Memorial Flag Quilt”. Each participating Canadian student will be given a separate piece of quilt chosen by their School’s Group Leader to permanently trace three of their hand prints in the shape of a Canadian Maple Leaf. Within one hand print they will inscribe their own name. On the second hand-print they will inscribe the name of Soldier # 1 and on the third hand print, the name of a Soldier # 2. These quilt pieces will then be assembled and sewed onto your community’s flag or school flag to march in the Remembrance processions during the VE 65th Netherlands memorial celebrations. Two of your school’s participating male and female students’ memorial flags will be chosen to represent your school in the National Memorial Flag. In a ceremony in the Netherlands, our students will present the national flag to the people of the Netherlands in a Remembrance ceremony that will link our students through the spirit of WWI (the Peace Tower flag ), the soldiers of WW I, WW II , and our current Armed Services and the youth of today. Your school will keep your own community Memorial Flag.
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After October 1st, we will begin to place soldiers with students based on
geographic proximity. It is our plan to send out all the student instruction packages to the home schools this month and complete national matching assignments by early November. The students are then to complete their individual memorial flags and return them to their school by December 1, 2009. The School’s Group Leaders will send us 2 Students’ Memorial Flags to represent your school on the National Memorial Flag by January 31, 2010.
STUDENTS & PARENTS PLEASE NOTE: in the assigning of soldiers from WW I, WW II or other, if you have a living relative - YES you can represent that person BUT you MUST tell us who it is so you are not assigned another soldier. You may also represent a soldier who has returned or is currently in Afghanistan - BUT once again tell us. Complete “HOW -TO” instructions will be sent to your School Group leader. You will wear both these soldiers’ (WW I & WW II or Other) names on your Tour Shirts during the Candlelight Ceremony of May 4 and the Liberation Parade of May 5th.
| VE 65TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR UNIFORM |
As this is a National Student Tour, we have had a national Tour Uniform designed for all students to wear during the Tour. The White Tour Shirt is to be worn at the Candle-lit Ceremony on May 4th and the Red Shirt during the Liberation Parade on May 5th . At each of these events the students are to wear the names of their 2 soldiers below the Tour Logo. The Tour Jacket is to be worn by the students whenever determined by the School’s Group Leader due to weather and/or security identification. The Group Leader jackets are of a different colour for easy identification so ALL students can easily identify a Canadian teacher for immediate assistance. The tour Sling-back pack is ideal for carrying water bottles, cameras and other personal items needed by students throughout the V.E. Tour. The Tour Umbrella will hopefully not be needed BUT it is Spring in the Netherlands. Cost to students and supervisors is $114.54 including taxes. Uniform includes 1 wind jacket, 2 polos for ceremonies, 1 single sling pack, and 1 umbrella, all complete with the tour logo. Your School Group Leader is completing the order now. Be sure they have your size and your payment.
| V.E. 65TH EDUCATIONAL CONNECTIONS |
This month’s recommended V.E. reading:
In The Footsteps Of The First Canadian Army: Northwest Europe 1942-1945
Format: Trade Paperback Published: June 10, 2009
Publisher: John McQuarrie Photography
The following ISBN’s are associated with this title:
ISBN - 10:1894673336 ISBN - 13:9781894673334
First Canadian Army was not only the largest field command of the Second World War for Canada, but it also was a major coalition formation with a number of units from different countries under General H.D.G. Crerar. Through the medium of text, art and photos this book traces the operations of First Canadian Army during the liberation of Northwest Europe: from the long prelude of garrison and training in the United Kingdom, to the beaches of Normandy and the killing fields of France, through the clearing of the Channel ports, into the horrible conditions of the Scheldt and the violent fighting in the German Rhineland, to the final freedom of the Dutch people in Holland. This narrative will help people to put these momentous events of the Second World War into geographical and historical perspective. Through it all, First Canadian Army slogged along in poor weather and slugged it out with a determined foe. This is the story of Canadians and compatriots who took their place in the line with bigger, more glamourous and better-known Allies.
Talk to you next month
Dave Robinson (National Tour Coordinator)
