Tri-County Vanguard

‘It’s time to recognize the contributi­on’

Event marking 75th anniversar­y of withdrawal of Canadian soldiers from Italy to be held at Wedgeport legion

- ERIC BOURQUE

The Italian Campaign – described as an overshadow­ed or forgotten part of Canada’s contributi­on to the Second World War – will be the focus of an event at the Wedgeport legion hall Friday, Feb. 28.

The ceremony, which is open to the public, is scheduled to start at 2 p.m.

The Wedgeport legion (branch 155) has two members who were part of the campaign, Charlie Muise and Miff O’Connell, and both plan to attend the event.

“It’s time to recognize the contributi­on that those soldiers made to the war effort,” said Andre Boudreau, secretary of the Wedgeport legion.

The afternoon’s main speaker will be George Egan of the Wartime Heritage Associatio­n. The Wedgeport event will be a chance for the associatio­n to share some of its research into the wartime history of the local area and the area’s connection to the Italian campaign.

Noting that 2020 is a big year for anniversar­ies – the 75th anniversar­y of the liberation of Holland and of the end of the war in Europe and Asia – and last year having been the 75th anniversar­y of D-Day, Egan says it’s important to remember too what happened in Italy and the role and sacrifice of Canadians in the Italian Campaign between 1943 and 1945, in which 93,000 Canadians fought.

“There are 29 casualties from Yarmouth County buried in Sicily and Italy,” Egan said. “These men fought in hot, dusty weather in Sicily, battling through hundreds of kilometres of difficult, mountainou­s country. In Italy, they fought up one hill and down another, across rivers and in close combat in towns. In the winter months, in cold and mud, they pushed northward, fought at Ortona in December 1943, engaged in vicious street fighting.”

Canadians cleared the way for the liberation of Rome, he said, “and then (were) ordered to halt to allow the Americans to pass through their lines and march into Rome on June 4, 1944.”

But with the world’s attention on Normandy and the D-Day invasion of June 6, Egan said, “Italy became a forgotten area of the war.”

Wartime Heritage publishes its research to website www.wartimeher­itage.com through remembranc­e pages, stories, articles and photos of the first and second world wars and the Korean War.

“The website has become a resource for many searching family wartime connection­s or wartime history and is visited daily by hundreds of people from all parts of the world,” Egan said.

 ??  ?? Todd Muise, left, Andre Boudreau and George Egan during a visit to the Yarmouth cenotaph in 2018. Muise is a member of the Wedgeport legion (branch 155) and Boudreau is the branch’s secretary. The Wedgeport legion is scheduled to hold an event on Feb. 28 to mark the 75th anniversar­y of the withdrawal of Canadian forces from Italy. Egan, representi­ng the Wartime Heritage Associatio­n, will be the main speaker at the Wedgeport event. ERIC BOURQUE
Todd Muise, left, Andre Boudreau and George Egan during a visit to the Yarmouth cenotaph in 2018. Muise is a member of the Wedgeport legion (branch 155) and Boudreau is the branch’s secretary. The Wedgeport legion is scheduled to hold an event on Feb. 28 to mark the 75th anniversar­y of the withdrawal of Canadian forces from Italy. Egan, representi­ng the Wartime Heritage Associatio­n, will be the main speaker at the Wedgeport event. ERIC BOURQUE

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