“My father attended the 40th and 50th anniversaries of the Dutch Liberation in the Netherlands. Like most Canadian veterans, he’d seldom talked of his wartime experience. But, something about these events changed everything. Until then, my father—like the Dutch boy, Hans Brinker—had held his finger in a private dyke. Then, four years after his second visit, on his 80th birthday, he presented me with a memoir he’d written called, “The War Years.” For me, it opened a door that I’d assumed would always remain shut. Nine years later, my father passed away.

His memoir became my inspiration for a spiritual journey akin to an ancestry trip to “the old country.” When I invited over 150 descendants of Canadian WWII veterans to join me, “In My Fathers’ Footsteps” became “In Our Fathers’ Footsteps.” Participants told me they felt “compelled” to come, that the trip was “a dream come true,” and that they’d be “heart-broken” if, for some reason, they couldn’t go. As the trip’s wait list grew, I realized I’d barely scratched the surface of the huge, latent desire for remembrance in Canada.”