Today, I was honoured to pay tribute to D-Day veteran Paul Lefaivre in the House of Commons.
Canada’s veterans have served our country with great distinction and we are forever indebted to them.
To all of Canada’s Veterans and today’s men and women in uniform – thank you for your service.
It was a pleasure today to present Edmonton Griesbach constituent Paul Lefaivre, 92, with a congratulatory certificate for his recent award. Paul was awarded France’s National Order of the Legion of Honour, that country’s highest decoration, established in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte. Paul is a D-Day vet and was in the Royal Canadian Navy.
I first met him more than 20 years ago when I interviewed him for an Edmonton Sun feature story I wrote on D-Day. We then got to know each other very well when we sailed to Europe on the QE2 in 1994 as part of a commemorative trip for veterans returning to the shores of Normandy.
With so many veterans aboard the ship, there was no end to the great material for news columns that I filed daily to the newspaper. Congrats on your award, Paul. And thanks for your service to this country.
