Lisa Scott
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 27/05) - Tom Eagle is anxious to return to old war grounds in Europe, but it's the youth who will travel with him that he hopes will benefit the most from the trip.

The retired Canadian Armed Forces sergeant will join a delegation of aboriginal veterans of the Second World War and youth to Belgium and France in October.

Eagle, the chairperson of NWT Aboriginal Veterans Association and a peacekeeping veteran, is part of a working group that pitched the trip to Veterans Affairs Canada eight months ago.

Members of that group, plus 20 aboriginal veterans and 13 youth from across Canada will visit Ypres, Vimy Ridge and Juno Beach, performing spiritual ceremonies to commemorate the efforts of First Nations, Metis and Inuit soldiers during the war.

"It will be educational for our youth to go. We will be paying our respects, we will be offering thanksgiving prayers," says Eagle.

The youth, who will be chosen from cadet groups, will take part in Calling Home Ceremonies, a traditional way to return the spirit of fallen warriors to their homelands.

"We are going to tell the world where these great warriors came from," says Eagle.

After discussions with former Nunavut Commissioner Peter Irniq, they decided to build an Inukshuk overlooking one of the graveyards. It will point to Canada, says Eagle.

Coinciding the trip with the Year of the Veteran is ideal, says Janice Summerby a Veterans Affairs spokesperson.

"It's a perfect time for us to be able to support different ideas like that," she says.

Veterans Affairs will fund the October 25-November 4 travel.