This week we welcome members of the 39 CER Association to the CMEA. We continue to reflect the many different facets of the CME, all those serving in the Regular or Reserve force, as well as those retired and family members, and now those who continue to support their primary reserve unit after service.
CHIMO!
The CMEA congratulates CWO Martin Rousseau on his most recent appointment as Military Personnel Command Chief Warrant Officer. Well done!
New Year’s Message from the CME Colonel Commandant
HICKMAN BRIDGE 2021. To commemorate the 77th anniversary of the liberation of the Scheldt Estuary, a contingent from the Canadian Delegation Brunssum participated in several memorial events from 5-7 November 2021. This is an annual weekend event hosted by the citizens of Knokke-Heist, Belgium
Article by Maj Alayna Kang, Capt Anatalie Melanson and Lt(N) Scott Wood
While this article was written by a team of Logistics Branch officers, it has a strong environmental nexus and deals with the Vehicle Wash Station (VWS) which is controlled by CJOC JEngr.
Each year, the CMEA awards a number of bursaries to association members or member's dependents who are pursuing post-secondary studies. Each bursary is named in memory of a distinguished military engineer to honour their significant contribution to the Canadian Military Engineers, the Canadian Armed Forces, or Canada during their lifetime. To date, the CMEA has awarded a total of $ 115,500 to further the educational needs of our members and their families.
On 11 November 2021, Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Pitcher and Second Lieutenant Jerome Downey retraced the footsteps of No 2 Construction Battalion and sappers of the Canadian Forestry Corps in the Jura region of France near the Swiss border. 2Lt Downey’s great-grandfather served in the battalion during the Great War and LCol Pitcher’s father served in the Canadian Forestry Corps during the Second World War. Both officers are part of the Canadian Army’s planning team for a planned No.2 perpetuation and apology event taking place in July of 2022.
Veterans Affairs Canada and the Veterans Review and Appeal Board launched an accessibility consultation on 17 November with Veterans, their family members and other Canadians. We need your feedback to learn about any accessibility barriers you or others may experience.
On 11 November, CBC Radio in Ottawa interviewed two army veterans, LCol Steve Nolan and Col Mark Gasparatto. On this Remembrance Day after the Taliban regained control this past summer, two veterans of the war in Afghanistan reflect on their time in combat.
Go to https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-100-ottawa-morning/clip/15877844… listen to the interview.
On this 100th anniversary of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance in Canada, it is fitting to recall the work of an Engineer. The story, James Melville, The man who brought the poppy to Canada, tell how Brigadier James Melville, a Royal Canadian Engineer veteran of two world wars and our first Colonel-Commandant, set up a workshop in Ottawa to employ disabled veterans. He got the manufacturing rights to the poppy symbol in the early 1920s so the lapel pins could be produced by those veterans.