OTTAWA, ON, May 28, 2004 - National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada (NCVA) today told the Times of London that its members had “strenuous objections" to the proposal that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would be invited as a guest to commemorate the landing of Canadian troops in Normandy on June 6th of this year.

Cliff Chadderton, Chairman of NCVA, stated: “About 4,000 retired D-Day veterans saved their money for months to take this trip to give them one last look at where they had fought and where their comrades had died. It would be difficult to explain to them or their families that the current leader of Germany would participate in the sacred ceremony."

Chadderton stated that, in his regiment, the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, they had 450 young boys, mostly uneducated and poorly trained, who were killed. "Notwithstanding, they stood firmly behind their Government to the end,” he said.

"I have been on 22 of these pilgrimages, many at my own expense. I believe I am entitled to criticize the politicization of these commemorative events,” he stated. “They simply have turned into opportunities for Prime Ministers, Ministers, etc., to take credit for the victories earned by these young Canadians who were ill-equipped, untrained, and up against the best-equipped German army ever assembled.”

Chadderton recounted one incident which made it difficult to accept the presence of the German Chancellor. He stated that in 1995 while making a documentary on the shooting of Canadian prisoners by Germans he was refused access to the German cemetery at La Cambe in Northern France.

Another complaint by NCVA was that, in fighting the Canadians in Normandy, the Hitler Jugend - - members of the SS - - ignored the Geneva Conventions.

He stated, in conclusion, that it would be difficult to provide a reasonable explanation to the families of those who gave their lives if the German Chancellor participates in the ceremonies.