Bowing to public pressure, the federal government is set to offer more
than $1 million to allow aging veterans of the D-Day invasion to attend
ceremonies in France next month to mark the historic event’s 60th
anniversary.
According to the Toronto Star, veterans will be reimbursed for part of their travel costs, perhaps as much as $1,000 each.
Veterans Affairs Minister John McCallum will make the announcement from Ottawa at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.
It’s expected that as many as 1,500 veterans will take advantage of
the government offer, including the 400 or 500 who already had made
plans to go and pay their own way.
The government had initially said it could only afford to send an
official delegation of 60 veterans to the ceremonies in France.
Associations representing the 60 regiments and service units that
participated in the invasion campaign were asked to each select one vet
each to go with the delegation.