The RCAF Association needs your help. We have been partnering with the RCAF on many fronts, preparing for the 100th birthday of the RCAF in 2024. Our most pressing project, now, is confirming the status of RCAF (Air Force) Memorials & Monuments across Canada – possibly in your community. Our immediate goal – for which we need information by 1 May 2022 – is to identify specific memorials and monuments in need of repair/refurbishment/refreshment. We are most anxious to identify, for example, as many as two “mounted aircraft” in each province that could use some immediate attention. Can you help us? Can you venture out into your community, and get back to us with a status update? You may want to contact local (municipal) officials to inform them of this important project. This Veterans Affairs Canada website, consists of a database of all such Memorials & Monuments in Canada. 

The RCAF Association Centenary “Navigators” are a small group of your fellow members, working under the leadership of our Chairman Colonel (Ret) Terry Chester (terry.chester@airforce.ca). This busy group of volunteers could really use your assistance, now. Please reach out to  terry.chester@airforce.ca  and let him and the “Navigators” committee know of the state of any and all Memorials & Monuments in your community, especially those featuring RCAF aircraft on a plinth (or “stick”). This will be of great assistance.

Your contribution will be duly noted and recognized as we approach 01 April 2024 and the celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the creation of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The RCAF Association has forever acknowledged amongst its many important functions its staunch support for democracy, inclusion, fairness, equality, individual liberties and civil discourse. These elements are key to success of the RCAF Association at the Wing, community, Group, region, provincial and federal levels, as they are objectives entirely consistent with what it means to be Canadian. Consequently, the RCAF Association de l’ARC joins people and organizations of conscience everywhere in condemning the ongoing, unprovoked, and unlawful Russian incursion into Ukraine. The destruction wrought against the citizens of Ukraine, and the terrible costs to lives and livelihoods are simply unacceptable. As the situation worsens, the potential outcomes are dire, and the consequences loom large for not just Ukraine’s post-Soviet independence, but also for the nations making up greater Europe, nations which have not experienced such a conflict since the end of the Second World War. We know of many uniformed Canadians, and other Canadian diplomats, working tirelessly to address these disturbing developments. We also know of some RCAF Association members in uniform who may still be in danger near to the unfolding distressing action. I join all members of the RCAF Association in expressing our concern and care for these members, but also for our brothers and sisters in NATO, as well as the citizens of Ukraine and other European nations adversely impacted by Russia’s unwarranted and destabilizing actions. Per Ardua Ad Astra – Sic Itur Ad Astra.

(Le français suit l’anglais)

Dear Stakeholders,

We need your help reaching Veterans who do not receive VAC benefits and services. We are surveying Veterans, CAF members, former RCMP members, family members and caregivers on how they learn about and access our programs and services. Their feedback will help us better serve the Veteran community and reach more Veterans.

We kindly ask that you share the below message with your network:

VAC wants your opinion!

Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) is surveying the Veteran community to find out how you learn about and access VAC programs and services. They’re looking for Veterans, Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members, former RCMP members, family members and caregivers. Even if you have never contacted VAC or do not currently receive VAC benefits and services, they want to hear from you.

The survey will take about 15 minutes to complete. It is being conducted on behalf of VAC by the independent Canadian research firm, EKOS Research Associates Inc.

Please visit the EKOS Research website for more information and to participate.

Participation is voluntary and your responses and personal information are confidential in accordance with the Privacy Act. Your responses, whether by phone or online, are anonymous; they are not kept or shared with VAC, and will not have any impact on the benefits or services you receive or may receive in the future.

If you would like to share this survey with your followers on social media, feel free to use the following message:

Veterans Affairs Canada wants to know how it can better communicate with the Veteran community. Tell them how you like to receive information and what you know about their services, by taking part in the survey below.

If someone you know served in the Canadian Armed Forces or RCMP, Veterans Affairs Canada want to hear from them. www.ekos.com/veteransurvey

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach Team
Veterans Affairs Canada
vac.engagement.acc@veterans.gc.ca

************************************************************

À tous les intervenants,

Nous avons besoin de votre aide pour communiquer avec les vétérans qui ne bénéficient pas des avantages et des services d’ACC. Nous voulons savoir comment les vétérans, les membres des FAC, les anciens membres de la GRC, les membres de leur famille et les aidants naturels ont appris l’existence de nos programmes et de nos services et comment ils y ont eu accès. Leurs commentaires nous aideront à rejoindre et à servir plus de vétérans.

Nous vous prions de bien vouloir partager le message ci-dessous avec votre réseau :

ACC veut connaître votre opinion!

Anciens Combattants Canada (ACC) sonde la communauté des vétérans pour savoir comment ils sont renseignés sur les programmes et les services d’ACC et comment ils y ont accès. La participation des vétérans, des membres des Force armées canadiennes (FAC), des anciens membres de la GRC, des membres de leur famille et de leurs aidants naturels est sollicitée. Même si vous n’avez jamais communiqué avec ACC ou que vous ne recevez pas d’avantages ou de services d’ACC, vous pouvez participer au sondage.

Il vous faudra environ 15 minutes pour y répondre. Il est mené au nom d’ACC par une firme de recherche canadienne indépendante, EKOS Research Associates Inc.

Vous pouvez visiter le site Web d’EKOS Research pour obtenir de plus amples informations et pour participer.

La participation est volontaire et vos réponses et informations personnelles sont confidentielles conformément à la Loi sur la protection des renseignements personnels. Vos réponses, qu’elles soient données par téléphone ou en ligne, sont anonymes; elles ne sont ni conservées ni partagées avec ACC et n’auront aucune incidence sur les avantages ou les services que vous recevez ou pourriez recevoir à l’avenir.

Si vous souhaitez partager ce sondage avec vos abonnés sur les réseaux sociaux, n’hésitez pas à utiliser le message suivant :

Anciens Combattants Canada veut savoir comment il peut mieux communiquer avec la communauté des vétérans. En répondant au sondage ci-dessous, expliquez la façon dont vous aimez être informé et ce que vous savez des services offerts par le Ministère.

Si quelqu’un que vous connaissez a servi dans les Forces armées canadiennes ou la GRC, Anciens Combattants Canada veut connaître son opinion. www.ekos.com/sondageveterans

Votre aide est grandement appréciée.

Merci.

L’équipe de la mobilisation et de la sensibilisation des intervenants
Anciens Combattants Canada
vac.engagement.acc@veterans.gc.ca

https://youtu.be/To3GNmUkkZ0

Some 379 personnel lost their lives while operating from RAF Wick, including 34 members of the RCAF.

One particular casualty whose loss is now a central figure in the RAF Wick Gate Guardian Project is Flying Officer Alastair Gunn, RAFVR, who flew photo reconnaissance Spitfires from Wick. He was shot down over Norway, near Trondheim, while looking for the battleship Tirpitz. He was captured, and sent to Stalag Luft III as a prisoner-of-war. While there he was one of 75 men behind the “Great Escape” and Alastair was one of 50 executed by Adolf Hitler – a war crime for which the coward avoided prosecution himself when he committed suicide, as Berlin fell to the allies.

The RCAF Association Trust Fund supports this important project to restore Alastair Gunn’s Spitfire, which was recovered from a peat bog in Norway in July 2018.

If you would like to donate to this very special project, please visit the RCAF Association Trust canadahelps.org donation page here at this link. All proceeds will be forwarded to the Wick Trust in the UK, to help them reach their goal of 60 thousand pounds sterling.