Windsor military personnel traveled to France for the 80th anniversary of liberation of Dieppe.
Twenty-seven members of the Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment just returned from the five-day trip to France.
“The people of Dieppe, even though it was in the 1940s, they still remember vividly,” said Master Corporal Marc-Andre Gaudet. “And it's seen through the community (all) the Canadian flags you see walking through the square everywhere.”
Gaudet and other members of the pipe band participated in five parades and visited local memorials and museums dedicated to Canada’s military actions in Dieppe.
“The Essex and Kent Scottish participated in a raid on the city of Dieppe and we lost 500 soldiers in the raid,” said Gaudet, who noted the regiment was there to liberate the city three years later in 1944.
“Just this sense of pride you get for being in the unit when you're parading in Dieppe is something that I didn’t anticipate,” said Gaudet.
He told CTV News Tuesday he was most surprised by the number of Canadian flags flying across the city.
“The people of Dieppe greatly and deeply appreciate what the Canadian Armed Forces did for them in World War Two, and they don't forget it,” said Gaudet.
“The highlight of the trip, I think, was marching throughout the town at the one of the last parades we did with a bunch of grade six students from the school surrounding the area marching behind us through the city. It was very meaningful,” he said.
Now back in Windsor, Gaudet says his trip to Dieppe is a daily reminder to take his job in Canada’s military seriously.
“It makes me want to perform my job to a higher standard than maybe what I was used to. Maybe push myself a bit harder in my training and making sure I'm doing the best I can every day at my job,” said Gaudet.
