In 1943 thousands of young Canadians landed in Sicily and until 1945 fought their way through Italy. Many of these young men from the farms, the factories, universities and professions of Canada never returned and are buried somewhere in Italy.

Those who returned to their communities quietly went about resuming civilian life, married, raised their families and became community leaders.

One such man was William Stephaniuk of Wishart. He would tell his children of the years he spent with the Princess Louise Dragoons Guard and how in November of 1943 he was on the troop ship SS Santa Elena, when it was torpedoed in the Mediterranean.

With these stories he instilled in his family an appreciation of the sacrifices made by those young Canadians who lost their lives fighting for freedom.

In 1997 Mr. Stephaniuk happened upon several men in Saskatchewan who were on this same ship and they spent time reminiscing about their experiences during their time in Italy. This prompted the idea of organizing a reunion of veterans of the Italian campaign.

Assisted by his children, the first reunion drew 100 veterans to meet in Yorkton.

Encouraged by the success of this first reunion, he started plans for the reunion of 2000. After his death his family, including his daughter Dolores--one of the five district commanders of the Saskatchewan command of the Royal Canadian Legion--his wife Pauline, daughter Sharon and sons Jeffery, Michael and Bernie took over the task of organizing the reunion of 2000. Notice of the reunion was carried in newspapers and the Legion magazine.

Their efforts came to fruition when more than 200 veterans of the Italian campaign registered for the reunion.

Representatives of all branches of the service: infantry, armour, artillery, service corps, engineers, air force, navy and nursing sisters came from all across Canada to commemorate the efforts of the Canadian Army in the invasion of Sicily and Italy.

Guest speaker at the Saturday night banquet was Peter Stursberg, who was the CBC reporter during the campaign. He stated that history has not given those who served in Italy their proper place in the annals of World War II.

D Day for Canada was the landing of Canadian troops in Sicily on July 10, 1943, almost a year before the Canadians crossed the English Channel into France.

Mr. Stursberg mentioned that the first thing after he made his broadcast during the war was to take the cylinders containing the broadcast and give it to a dispatch rider. Several men heard about the 2000 reunion on the radio and hauled their WW2 dispatch rider motorcycle to Yorkton to display at the reunion.

On Saturday morning, a commemorative service was held at the Cenotaph honoring their comrades who never returned to Canada. Laying wreaths at the ceremony were Mrs. Rose McSymytz, the Silver Cross Mother from Wynyard and members of the 17th Field Regiment.

A collection of Second World War memorabilia, collected by Russell Benneweis of Weyburn and Michael Dorosh of Calgary, brought back many memories for the attending veterans.

Heather Smith , curator of the Moose Jaw Art Museum, made a presentation of the work of Saskatchewan born war artist George Campbell Tinning.

Said Jeffrey Stephaniuk, one of the organizers of the reunion, "I am honored to have been part of this event; to have done something for those men and women of my parent's generation with whom thy had very much in common."

He said the family has been asked to organize a similar event in September 2002.

Consideration has been given to unveiling a monument in memory of the 6,000 Canadians buried in Sicily and Italy. A fund raising campaign for the monument will begin soon.

Another project is one in which school children of Saskatchewan will make commemorative markers to be sent to Italy to be placed on the graves of Canadians buried there.

For me there was a personal touch to this reunion. My brother Charles Fessler served with the Seaforth Highlanders and was with his regiment through North Africa and Italy. He looked forward to attending this reunion, but unfortunately ill health prevented his attendance. The organizers of the reunion graciously allowed me to attend several of the functions.

It was a very sobering thought to realize those attending the reunion were only in their late teens or early 20s when they went to a foreign land, likely the first time they had been away from home, to endure the frightening experiences of war. They were our Canadian heroes.