DT News: the Nijmegen International Four-Days Marches and CAF participation in commemorative events in France
Transcript
(J) The 103rd Nijmegen International Four-Days Marches saw a contingent of 14 Canadian Armed Forces teams march through the Dutch countryside and towns around the city of Nijmegen.
(S) During the marches we spoke to a member of the Canadian contingent to learn more about the CAF’s 67th year of participation in this enduring international event!
(JG) The Nijmegen Marches is a very personal thing for me. I led the team last year and I led the team this year, and this year was extraordinary. I found that even within one year, such an increase in crowds and positivity, and energy, and just from learning Dutch to speak with the locals and singing with other teams, it was really an experience where we were all just one, happy Earth, so it was very powerful and moving.
(S) Canadian Armed Forces members recently attended the Bastille Day independence celebrations in France and another event marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Mondeville by the Canadian Army during the Second World War.
(J) We spoke to one of the Canadian Armed Forces attendees, LCdr Bruno Tremblay, about the importance of honouring these commemorations to the French and Canadian militaries.
(BT) I am LCdr Bruno Tremblay, one of the five Canadian Armed Forces members posted to the Rapid Reaction Corps Headquarters in Lille, France in the summer 2017.
Rapid Reaction Corps France is one of the nine NATO deployable, multinational headquarters, as part of the NATO Force Structure, ready to go out there and lead a mission of up to 60,000 troops.
One of the things I like best in this posting is to be able to work with thirteen other nations. Diversity is our strength, so we can walk together, learn something from each other and build something better all together.
One of the side benefits of working and serving in Europe as a Canadian Armed Forces member is to learn so much of our own history. We learn our history from books, but it’s a bit abstract. Being here, seeing all the sites where Canada’s history has been made – that makes it so real.
