Salute Our Troops

It was a marvelous feeling it be ranked among those who attended the Red Rally on Parliament hill last Friday at noon. http://www.cfra.com/red-fridays/index.asp?id=8# It was a privilege and an honor to represent all those great Canadians who could not through no fault of their own attend, as I know they wanted desperately to share the passion of letting our troops all over the world know just how much their shining courage means to us here at home. How much they are in our hearts and our minds, and our prayers, for although we cannot know the horror and overwhelming odds that they overcome on a daily basis, we uphold, and revere them as the keepers of our freedom, and heroes of those who yearn to be free from the yoke of oppression and tyranny. One of our great missions in Europe in WWII was to liberate Holland from the Nazis occupation.The First Canadian Army http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Canadian_Army in November 1944 until February 1945 when Operation Veritable was launched on the Rhineland, advancing east instead of north towards Arnhem. Liberation would not come for some seven months later. Princess Juliana of Holland herself took refuge here in the Nation's Capital at Stornoway House, until the Netherlands was restored to the Dutch. Her third born was delivered here at the Civic Hospital in Ottawa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliana_of_the_Netherlands, and in her undying gratitude she sent 100,000 thousand tulips in a gesture of thanks and what was to become a symbol of a never to be forgotten friendship. To this very day Ottawa has the unending love and devotion that is call the Tulip Festival. These are testaments to our commitments of the past, and we will not forget who we are today, and what we stand for in the future. Our Prime Minister spoke with sparkling inspiration and eloquence, as he talked about the contribution our troops made at Vimy Ridge, and the memorial left there, and the modern day legacy of our sacrifice to the free nation of France. Friday, September 22, 2006… Having had both parents serve this great Country overseas in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII. I have never been prouder to be Canadian!