Manitoba’s Circle of Courage Awards to honour veterans
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The province’s inaugural Circle of Courage awards will honour the rapidly diminishing population of Second World War veterans.
Premier Wab Kinew said the honour, which will be given out two days after Remembrance Day, will honour all veterans and military members — with an immediate focus on Second World War soldiers.
“While we have the veterans of World War II still with us, I think it’s really important to focus on highlighting their contributions,” Kinew said at an unrelated news conference Monday. “If you look at everything happening in the world today, the consensus that was achieved after World War II paved the way for us today, but also could probably give us a lot of lessons on international co-operation.”
More than 1.1 million Canadians served in the Second World War from 1939 to 1945. About 42,000 died and about 52,000 were wounded. Another 26,000 Canadians served in the Korean War from 1950 t0 1953.
Veterans Affairs Canada estimates there are 5,649 veterans alive — 4,769 men and 880 women — who served in the Second World War and Korean War. The average age of veterans of the Second World War is 100.