Battle of Britain Week will wind down Sunday with a memorial ceremony in Barrie.
The battle took place in 1940, from July 10 to Oct. 31, and Bill Sergeant, chairman of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Association 441 says there will be a parade and the last post to honour those who passed away during that battle.
"We had 112 Canadians who actually flew in the Battle of Britain, and of those, 23 passed away," says Sergeant. "It's to honour the few who literally changed history over four months when the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe, was at its strongest."
It was the first major battle of the Second World War that was completely fought in the air, and a turning point, says Sergeant.
"The Battle of Britain was a turning point in the war because it stopped Hitler from launching the invasion of England," he explains. "Up until then, if you look at 1940, Hitler had overrun the Netherlands, France and Belgium, and the only thing separating England from the Nazi forces was the English Channel."
Sergeant says it was a small group of allied and Commonwealth pilots that blunted Hitler's plans.
"I am going to say there were 1,000 allied aircraft that were shot down during the Battle of Britain compared to 1,900 from the Luftwaffe," he says." When you destroy 19 hundred aircraft on the German side, it certainly took their ability to have air supremacy."
Sunday's ceremony will have additional meaning with the recent death of Queen Elizabeth II.
"Queen Elizabeth was very much a supporter of the armed forces of all the Commonwealth nations," Sergeant explains. " As a matter of fact, when she was alive, her late majesty wore the Canadian Forces declaration."
On Oct. 13, 1940, at the height of the Battle of Britain, Sergeant says then Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked Elizabeth, who was 14 at the time, and her sister Princess Margaret to do a radio broadcast to all the children of the United Kingdom.
"To tell them to take courage and persevere because England was going to win this war," says Sergeant. "She was a real rallying point because so many children had been shipped out to the countryside to avoid the blitz. Our members are very much royalists, and we were all hit hard by the Queen's passing."
The public is invited to attend the Battle of Britain memorial ceremony at the Barrie Military Heritage Park, next to the Southshore Centre, on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 11 a.m.
Banner image: Battle of Britain flag-raising at Barrie City Hall on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022 (Image via Facebook/Mayor Jeff Lehman
