It’s been 74 years since the end of the Second World War, and while the number of war vets still alive to mark Remembrance Day continues to dwindle, many of them are in the B.C Interior.
According to Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC), 33,200 Second World War veterans are still alive in Canada, including 7,500 in British Columbia.
More than one million Canadians and Newfoundlanders served in the military during the campaign — more than 45,000 gave their lives and another 55,000 were wounded.
B.C. has the highest concentration of living vets outside of Ontario, says the VAC, and in the B.C. Interior, Penticton has the highest concentration of living war vets being served by Veterans Affairs.
The average age of a Second World War veteran is 94.
The number of active case plans with Veterans Affairs in Penticton is 494, compared to 342 in Kelowna, a city almost four times the size.
Bob Sudbury, president of the Penticton Royal Canadian Legion, said Second World War soldiers were provided financial assistance to build homes in Penticton once the war was over.
“The lifestyle of Penticton isn’t has hectic as Kelowna and after the war there was assistance in getting healthy veterans lots and building homes in this area,” he said.
He said a memorial plaque was placed in Selby Park near West Bench Elementary school in honour of war veterans who built their homes in the neighbourhood decades ago.
Sudbury said most of the elderly veterans are unable to attend the city’s Remembrance Day ceremonies, so the legion sends members to their care facilities instead.
“They contact us and we arrange to make sure we have legion presence at all of their ceremonies.”
The legion’s secretary/treasurer Al McNeil said Penticton is the only location in the B.C. Interior where appeals of denied Veterans Affairs claims can be heard.
“If a veteran has been turned down by Veteran’s Affairs they can apply to have a hearing,” he said. “It’s kind of a focal point for Veterans Affairs, the Penticton offices.”
Veterans can be represented by the Bureau of Pensions Advocates (BPA) if they are dissatisfied with decisions rendered by Veterans Affairs with respect to claims for entitlement of disability benefits or any assessment awarded for their entitled conditions.
BPA is a nation-wide organization of advocates within the VAC that provides free advice assistance and representation for veterans at hearings before the Veterans Review and Appeal Board.
The BPA’s appeal unit is based in Charlottetown and McNeil said lawyers will travel to Penticton to represent B.C. Interior veterans with their claims.
McNeil said this could be the last decade that Canadian Second World War veterans are alive to mark Remembrance Day.
“They are in their 90’s now and so we are going to start losing a lot. It’s going to start dropping, there are going to be a few that live over 100 and when it gets to that point that’s it, we are only going to be talking about a dozen or so and that will all happen within the next 10 years,” he said.
Sudbury said Canadians will continue to honour the sacred sentiment of Remembrance and is hopeful the concept of commemoration will carry on with future generations.
“I think we have to do both, the past and the present. We still read off the names of the fallen from World War One and World War Two, as well as Korea and Afghanistan,” he said.
Leo Fletcher from Kelowna was eighteen years old when he served in the Royal Canadian Navy in 1944. The 94-year-old said the war came with tremendous sacrifice and it’s crucial we never forget.
“If we don’t remember, we are bound to re-do it again and as long as we bring this message to the youth of our country, how important those men and women were who died for you, it we forget them, then all of the people who died during those wars and conflicts died in vain,” he said.
“Lest we forget — because if we forget, those men and women died for nothing.”
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