Sherbrooke air terminal gets a new name
The City of Sherbrooke held a ceremony on Wednesday afternoon to officially name the terminal of its airport after local pilot and World War Two veteran Gilbert Boulanger. In addition to having flown in 37 missions during the war, two of which were during the Normandy landings of June 6, 1944, Boulanger was also influential locally after the war through his involvement with the Fauchers de Marguerites fly-in event at the airport every year until his death in 2013.
“It is with great pride that we preserve the memory of Gilbert Boulanger,” said Sherbrooke Mayor Bernard Sévigny. “His tenacity and his courage are an inspiration for the entire population of Sherbrooke.”
While honouring the memory of Boulanger directly, the Mayor also highlighted the fact that naming the terminal in honour of a veteran helps highlight and commemorate the sacrifices of all the Canadians who served in the Second World War and the sacrifices they made. He then tied that to the development efforts being made at the airport right now, saying that as the amount of traffic through the terminal increases, the value of that honour will only grow.
“It is a good memorial,” said Philippe Boulanger, Gilbert’s son. “Everyone is happy.”
The younger Boulanger pointed out that although his father was very involved with aviation in Sherbrooke after the war, he actually served as a tail gunner in Lancaster bombers.
“It was an adventure for him,” Boulanger’s son said. “He wasn’t the kind of guy who went away to war and came back confused.”
All those who spoke at Wednesday’s ceremony praised Boulanger for his pacifist nature after the war and the commitment he made to his community.
It is worth noting that the name applies only to the terminal, and not to the airport as a whole. This, according to the Mayor, has to do with the ongoing development plan and with aspects of national tradition.
“In the development plan for the airport, in the short term, it is important to keep the name Sherbrooke,” Sévigny said, explaining that it serves as a way to immediately identify where the airport is. “While we are working on development, people need to know where we are.”
In the longer term, the mayor added, tradition dictates that Canadian airports are named for premiers or prime ministers.
“I’m not crossing my fingers from anyone to die,” the mayor joked, “but we need to leave that door open.”
On the question of airport development, Sévigny said that the city still has work to do on finding the best deal to serve the population.
“We are working hard,” the mayor said, “it is a complicated situation.”
The Wednesday afternoon event also marked the culmination of an educational exchange between the Alfreddesrochers School in Sherbrooke and a class at Gilbert-boulanger Elementary School in Courseulles-sur-mer in France. Over the course of several weeks of working together students in both schools were able to develop their understanding of each other's communities as well as the values of liberty and peace. The ceremony at the airport was broadcast live to the school in France, and students from both schools engaged in a ceremonial paper-airplane throwing to celebrate the naming of the terminal. Some of the work done by the students is available on the Sherbrooke Airport website; Sherbrooke.ca/aerogare.
The Fauchers de Marguerites fly-in event that Boulanger was so involved with is set to take place at the airport this coming weekend. More information about that event is available at lesfauchers.com