“These are interesting times,” said 14 Wing Greenwood Commander Colonel Jeff Davis, as patron of VP International, during the October 5 annual VPI memorial service at the international monument in Greenwood.
“At this moment, VP crews around the world are on missions, largely out of the public eye, that contribute to public security. Crews are embracing new technology and new missions. The resurgence of past adversaries has prompted headquarters to relook at undersurface activity in the Atlantic and the North Atlantic and, right now, we have anti-submarine warfare, counter-narcotics and maritime interdiction missions happening for both 14 Wing and 19 Wing Comox crews.”
Davis acknowledged the paramount and essential international partnerships Canadian long range patrol aviators continue to have with allies, ensuring everyone’s “interests are protected.”
The memorial service itself is an opportunity for close to 6,000 VPI members in 23 countries to remember long range patrol aviators lost in the performance of their duties. Established in 1966, and with the memorial designated at Greenwood in 1993, VPI maintains a book of remembrance, listing almost 1,900 names from 13 countries of VP aviators lost since 1942. Beyond this formal duty, VPI connects international long range patrol aviators around the world in fellowship.
415 (Long Range Patrol Force Development) Squadron Lieutenant-Colonel Keith Fugger is the president of VPI Greenwood, and he welcomed the wing’s aviators, retired military members and guests to the service.
“I know I have crew deploying in the coming week to Lossiemouth, and there’s excitement mixed with the somberness of ceremonies such as this,” Fugger said. “We know the dangers, and what our missions are fraught with – yet we accept the challenge nonetheless. Regardless of nationality, we maintain the bond of VPI.”
