Calgary-area veteran plays ‘very exciting’ role in new salute to Canadian soldiers

A Calgary-area veteran is excited about a new tribute to an important part of Canada’s military history.

Kurtis Sanheim is playing a key role in a salute to some brave Canadian soldiers.

Along with serving in the Canadian military, Sanheim has also been working as an actor since 1994.

He recently portrayed the commanding officer in The Liberation Men, an independent Canadian movie shot in the Ottawa area.

The story is based on real events during World War Two, as Canadian troops played a major part in liberating Holland from Nazi occupation.

The movie depicts the actions of Canadian soldiers in a Dutch town in 1945.

“It was a couple of guys trying to make skirmishes to make the Germans think that there was a whole bunch of them attacking, when in fact it was only two guys running around at night,” Sanheim said.

“So instead of rolling tanks in, if we can push the Germans out of town, we’re going to save the whole town. You don’t want to have all the civilian damage, like we’re seeing today with Russia/Ukraine and Palestine/Israel.”

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Sanheim is currently serving as the chaplain at the Royal Canadian Legion in Okotoks, Alta.

“Doing the opening prayer, doing the closing prayer at a lot of ceremonial stuff,” Sanheim said. “Providing peer support for veterans who are going through post-traumatic stress.”

Sanheim is hosting a screening of The Liberation Men at the Okotoks Cinemas on May 5, which is celebrated as Liberation Day in Holland.

“It’s very exciting, because I’m ex-military, joined the military in 1990, in until about 2006, went to serve in Croatia when I was 20,” Sanheim said. “To play a senior leader in a World War Two movie was wonderful.”

Sanheim hopes The Liberation Men will help educate the public about some important Canadian history.

“To show young people what Canadian soldiers did when they were 17, 18 years old,” Sanheim said. “That’s what we want to portray in the movie – the kind of heroism our Canadian soldiers showed.”

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