Lest We Forget the War Amps

Since the Legion has been so exclusive over the poppy we are excluding them this year as we did the last couple of years and promoting instead the work of the War Amps organization.

The War Amps has a number of worthwhile programs: prosthetics programs for both adults and children, a drive safe and a play safe program among others. It also has a military heritage program under which it has produced a number of award winning documentaries on military history.

2 minute vignettes based on the documentaries are available to play on line. Here is just one.

It has a Military Heritage Resource kit which included the vignettes, war songs
such as The D-Day Dodgers , a poster, music video, and other material which should be of interest to teachers or other groups, particularly those working with children.

The war amps does very valuable work and we applaud them. It gets no government funding and relies on public support, corporate donors and income from its key tag service. Think about giving something.

One of the War Amp documentaries, on Cliff Chadderton will be aired tomorrow on CPAC at 6 pm our time ( 5 ET).

Mr. Chadderton is known as Chief Executive Officer of The War Amps and Chairman of the National Council of Veteran Associations in Canada (NCVA). Unofficially, to the thousands of amputee children who look up to him, he is simply Cliff; to thousands of veterans across the country, Mr. Veteran. …

The one-hour documentary has been aired on PBS in the United States and won a Gold Award at the 2007 Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival in Houston, Texas. It is based on an interview Mr. Chadderton conducted with Veterans Affairs Canada for its Heroes Remember project. Featuring interview highlights and both personal and archival footage, the documentary, also available in book form, delves into his personal story – his childhood, pre-war pursuits, and war years. He tells of life and death events during the Normandy invasion, his “worst day” at a place called Soulangy and the defining moment during the Battle for the Scheldt that cost him his leg.

“He concentrates on the ugliness and horror that surrounds soldiers at the point of a modern war. He does something seldom done in tales of war. He names some of the people he saw die ugly deaths. His message is simple. Nobody wants to do this, nor should they ever have to, but when it has to be done, those who do it should be honoured – not questioned.” – Dave Brown, The Ottawa Citizen.

PS: Nice tribute over at Crux of the Matter.