November 11 as one day to remember years – centuries – of Canadian military milestones has been expanded in one 14 Wing Greenwood workspace.
14 Operations Support Squadron’s Communications and Information Systems Flight is well into its “Ramp up to Remembrance” presentations: every Thursday, from September 14 to November 9, one flight member will take a turn sharing something that interests them from their own branch’s Communications and Electronics history, from the wider Canadian Armed Forces or even from pre-CAF Canadian heritage.
“We do it mostly because Remembrance Day turned into one day, pretty much,” says Sergeant Kirk Kreitzer. “Everyone getting into the CAF nowadays doesn’t know the history – and it becomes their history. Why not make remembrance a season and, every Thursday, we hear about a different chapter of CAF history?”
This is the second year for CIS Flight’s Ramp up to Remembrance. While, last year, Kreitzer asked flight members to take a turn, this year people volunteered.
“Everyone has been very good with it – we have corporals, master corporals, lieutenants and second lieutenants all doing a week this year. Extra work is always hard, but this is different.”
Presentations have included heritage highlights from the War of 1812 to having a couple veterans come in and speak. They don’t have to relate to telecommunications, and the broad range has been appreciated week to week. One of the first this season, by Second Lieutenant Storm Silvawalker, covered the history of the CE Branch back to the earliest days of Canadian military units – from rudimentary equipment with significant “leakage,” including messenger dogs, flag and lamp signaling, pigeons and the early telegraph; through to wireless radio and telephone; to modern day technologies, with qualified people using it all.
This year, the flight added a wall-length display of artefacts – Kreitzer’s old Navy uniform, another flight member’s grandfather’s Korean jacket, old equipment, posters and photos; flags and poppies and the traditional single-seat table, set for a lost comrade. Kreitzer and Sergeant Sean Brathwaite put the display together, with a lot of help from the Greenwood Military Aviation Museum and the Kingston Royal Canadian Legion.
The CE Branch cap badge features Mercury, the Roman messenger god, known informally as “Jimmy” by branch members throughout the years. Sharing the message of heritage, history and remembrance seems like a natural fit.
