The 75th anniversary of D-Day was this past Thursday and remembrance ceremonies were held throughout the world honouring veterans.
At the ceremony at Juno Beach in Normandy, Kelowna-Lake Country MP Stephen Fuhr was part of the Canadian contingent, which included almost 40 veterans and almost 4,000 Canadians, with 1,600 being Canadian youth.
“It was heart-warming,” Fuhr said.
“All the way from the drive, the streets of the little towns were filled with people. The amount of gratitude for the Canadians was pretty unbelievable.”
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Fuhr was joined by multiple Canadian veterans including Lt.-Gen. Richard Rohmer, who piloted a reconnaissance aircraft on D-Day, and Kelowna resident Frankie Turner who served with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
“To have someone from our community there was very (nice),” Fuhr said.
Fuhr reminisced on the entire memorial event as an unbelievable experience as he attended two ceremonies throughout France with the Canadian contingent which included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.
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Fuhr, a Canadian Forces pilot for nearly 20 years, was one of the only veterans on the Canadian government’s delegation.
“I didn’t share the same experiences at all, but from a service perspective it was neat to connect with (the veterans) in that special way,” he said.
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