My Favourite Remembrance Day Memories

My favourite Remembrance Day memories go back to 2007-2008. I had a great experience working at the Manitoba Military Aviation Museum as their Manager of Volunteers and Community Relations. The museum is located on Canadian Forces Base 17 Wing Winnipeg which is North of Ness Avenue between Sharp Blvd and Whytewold Road. The museum is on the second floor for building 66. You can contact the museum by calling 833-2500 ext 4739 or visit themonline at http://www.manitobamilitaryaviationmuseum.com.

My job required that I recruit and train volunteers and managethe image of the museum to military and civilian communities. At first, it wasreally overwhelming because working in the military is like learning a new language. I didn’t have any military experience behind me what so ever so I was startingfrom scratch. I soon realized how far a smile and calling someone sir actuallywent.

The mission of the museum was to acquireand display artifacts which bring to life the contributions of Manitobans inmilitary aviation at home and abroad with an emphasis on showcasing thepersonal stories of Manitoba Military Airmen.

During the time I was there, the museum hosted a reference library of over 6,000 titles and was comprised ofprint and video resources. There was a resident Military Aviation Historianthat I worked with called Norman Malayney. His mission was to organize these 6,000 books and interview and video tape veterans so their stories wouldn’t beforgotten. Norman is a maven in aviation history. If you ever need informationin this area, he would be the person to talk to.

One of my goals I made for myselfwas to get John Sauder to come out onsite and broadcast the news from themuseum on Remembrance Day. I thought this would be a very effective way toraise the awareness of our museum in the community and at the same time, notbreak our bank account as we operated as a non-profit organization. I rememberI must have left at least 50 messages for Mr. Sauder over a four month period. I just wouldn’t give up.

I remember when he finally agreed to come out, it was amazing. He actually told me that my persistence was one of the main reasonsthat made this happen and he also believed in the cause. I remember that afterthe broadcast aired, we tracked museum visits and they increased by 50%. Needless to say my boss and volunteers were thrilled with the free publicity.