Richard Froese
South Peace News
High Prairie Legion marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day and Battle of Normandy with a special visit June 9 by a group of motorcycles on tour.
The Ride for Vision and Valour toured northern Alberta from June 7-10 during the D-Day and Battle of Normandy Commemoration Event hosted by the Canadian Motorcycle Tourism Association that owns and operates the Veterans Memorial Gardens and Interpretive Centre.
The event honoured D-Day, the name given to the June 6, 1944 invasion of the banks of Normandy in the Second World War from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries around the world.
High Prairie Legion president Don Ebbett was delighted the local branch welcomed the bikers on tour as project of the CMTA and the Military Police Fund for Blind Children.
“Legions in northern Alberta support the military police organization,” Ebbett says.
“We’re here to support their efforts and help blind children.”
High Prairie Legion Sergeant-at-Arms John Paddon was among the 13 riders on the inaugural northern Alberta tour for the military organization.
“This was my first group ride,” Paddon says.
“It’s been a little wet but it’s been an awesome time.”
Recognized as a charitable Canadian Armed Forces organization, the fund provides support for visually-impaired children across Canada and around the world, says Col. Vanessa Hanrahan, who chairs the organization that also has annual regional rides around the country.
The CMTA was delighted to join the national route system.
“This was the first year for the tour in northern Alberta,” says executive director Renee Charbon- neau.
“We want this tour to be an annual event.”
The Peace region is deeply connected to D-Day and the Battle of Normandy as 45 soldiers from the region gave up their lives, representing about 20 squadrons and regiments, the association states in its event package.
Bikers braved the damp cool weather over the 1,400-km route that started in Edmonton on June 7 and travelled through Mayerthorpe, Whitecourt, Fox Creek, Valleyview, Bezanson, Grande Prairie and returned on a route through Blue Mountain, High Prairie, Slave Lake and back to Edmonton.
The CMTA is an Alberta registered non- profit organization, a recognized museum with the Alberta Museums Association, and a member of the Organization of Military Museums in Canada.
