Small group tours with big stories to tell.
The stories we tell have an impact
Organized through strong partnerships in local communities both at home, and abroad, our tours are rich with opportunity, excitement, heartbreak, inside-information and insight.
Our stories unveil an understanding. These are the stories of our past travellers, the Veterans themselves. For 30 years, we have unraveled real mysteries, uncovering a heritage like no other, to reveal an awe inspiring history.
Every year we offer 5-8 programmes, with a heavy focus on subjects such as the Canadian involvement in the First and Second World Wars. We also provide customized programs for school groups, cadet groups, members of our Battlefield community and others.
We continue to play an active role in providing educational lectures to both the travel community and the general public to create awareness of our mission and why the Battlefield Tours is a vital experience for any Canadian traveller.
Proudly Serving Those Who Have Served for Us
Since 1986, the Battlefield Tours have been providing Canadian war veterans and their families with the opportunity to return to battlefields around the world.
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We were fortunately wrong to think that visitors to the battlefields of Europe would dwindle after the memories of the war veterans and their presence on tour had faded. Today, the battlefields are being experienced by participants of all ages from many different walks of life. All with one thing in common – the desire to understand and pay tribute to the men and women who fought and paid the final sacrifice.
The focus today is to continue to honour the men and women that we had the honour of meeting over the past 30 years - by retracing their footsteps and sharing our priceless knowledge, resource and history with travellers like you, keen on understanding the battlefields that scar Europe, Great Britain, and beyond.
In May of 1995, just after the 50th Anniversary of Holland, we concluded a tour with Veterans and their families and wondered if it would be the last tour of it’s kind we would have the honour of leading. In the years leading up to the anniversary, our coaches were filled with the men and women who fought for our freedom and the freedom of our children. For some, it was the first time in decades to set foot on the battlefields of Europe since the end of the Second World War. For most, it was a final farewell to their comrades who were laid to rest thousands of miles from their homelands, and for all a reminder of the loss and sacrifices they endured.
We were fortunately wrong to think that visitors to the battlefields of Europe would dwindle after memories of the 50th Anniversary celebrations had faded. It’s been well over a decade later and The Battlefield Tours are still operating numerous prpgrams to Europe and beyond every year. The tours are being experienced by participants of all ages from many different walks of life. All with one thing in common – the desire to understand and pay tribute to the men and women who fought and paid the final sacrifice.
Our expertise has developed from the First and Second World Wars in Europe to the Crimean, Napoleonic and Boer War in South Africa as well as Canada’s involvement in southeast Asia. We have hosted Veterans returns to D-Day and Liberation of Holland as well as many school study groups and Regiments. Our tour managers are extremely knowledgeable in their fields of expertise and we consider ourselves very fortunate to have them on board.
Our vision is to continue to organize battlefield tours to educate future generations and retain a semblance of history as well as commemorate the monumental sacrifice given by the generations before us and those still with us. We will also continue to travel to destinations farther afield to discover and keep the traveling community open to better understand how war has affected our history.
Sincerely,
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Ian Cowan CEO I Lead Program Director
& The Battlefield Tours Team
MEET OUR TEAM
Ian Cowan CEO & Lead Program Director
Ian Cowan is the CEO and founder of Connection Custom Travel and The Battlefield Tours for over 35 years. He began encouraging and escorting Canadian veterans and their families to the Battlefields of France & Belgium in 1986, and has gone on to lead incredible programs for Canadian families, choirs, performance groups, government associations, student groups, and others who have a common desire to understand the history of Europe and the UK.
He has played a very active role on the Connection Tours / Battlefield Tours team taking a real interest in the implementation and execution of all of our tour programming.
Glenn Edmonds, Tour Manager & Guide
Battlefields Western Europe
The Battlefield Tours Lead Tour Guide Glenn Edmonds has been a part of our team for the past 15 years. Bringing an extensive knowledge of Canada’s and our Allies military history, Glenn’s passion and dedication to explain the battles and personal stories of those who served will provide one with an in depth understanding of the First and Second World Wars and our countries sacrifice in both. Currently residing on Vancouver Island, Glenn and our companies founder Ian Cowan have worked side by side, bringing one memorable tour after another which will provide you an experience you will not forget. Glenn and the and the rest of the team at The Battlefield Tours are excited to share this journey of remembrance with you!
Jon Haslock Tour Manager & Guide,
France
Jon served in the Territorial Army for five years, furthering his understanding and knowledge of the military. He decided to follow his love of history by studying fulltime at Leeds University. Having completed his History degree in 2005 he took the decision to move with his family to the Somme and convert this passion into a career.
Jon started his guiding career part time at Knaresborough castle in Yorkshire. In 2006 he became a full time battlefield guide for the Musée Somme 1916 Albert, before taking the decision to become an independent guide in 2013.
Vic Piuk
vic specializes tours from the Western Front’s most northern point on the Belgium coast, down 800kms to its most southern end where France meets Switzerland. These include the Great War Battlefields of Flanders, Artois, the Somme, Aisne, Marne, Champagne, Verdun and the Vosges. He also focuses on the nationalities involved in the fighting, be they British, Commonwealth, American, French and German.
Vic particularly likes to guide walking tours of the Western Front battlefields and also specializes in the literature and poetry of the Great War. He has Slovenian heritage and has an extensive knowledge of the Isonzo front in Slovenia and has guided groups there and in Italy.
Rose Nguyen Tour Guide, Vietnam
Rose is our local and culinary guide from Hanoi.
She is a graduate of the University of Languages & International Studies. A year after her first degree, Rose achieved the International Tour Guide License issued by Vietnam Administration of Tourism. Additionally, from her love of Vietnamese cuisine, Rose joined a culinary course and worked as a professional chef. For those lucky to have Rose as a guide in Hanoi her knowledge and passion will give you a deeper understanding and respect for Vietnam culture and values.
Melody Johnson, Creative Director & Tour Manager Western Europe
Melody Johnson is an honours graduate of University of Toronto’s world and fine art history specialist program and Liaison Culinary Arts College. Melody brings all things creative when out exploring the world and curating group tours. She has an extensive background in event planning & curation.
Melody often accompanies the battlefield tours and runs the fine art & culinary programs in Western Europe for Connection Custom Tours.
Joel Stoppels, Tour Manager & Guide, Netherlands
Joël Stoppels is a battlefield guide and founder of the Battlefield Tours in the Netherlands.
This historian has a mission: he believes it is very important to keep the memories of the war alive.
Joël Stoppels organizes battlefield tours for military and civilian groups on Market Garden, the 1st British Airborne division, the 101st and 82nd US Airborne Divisions, the French SAS participation in Operation Amherst in April 1945 and the Canadian operations in the Netherlands and Germany (March/ April 1945).
Besides being a member of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides with badge no. 70, he is also the coordinator for the international guide network of the Liberation Route Europe.
Sjoerd Meijer
Tour Guide Holland
Currently studying History at Leiden University, located just south of Amsterdam, Sjoerd's passion for history was shaped by his early travels across Europe with his father to visit historically significant sites.
As a native of the Netherlands, Sjoerd is eager to share the country’s rich cultural heritage, with a particular focus on the impact of the Second World War, which remains a significant part of Dutch collective memory. In addition to history, he welcomes discussions on a variety of topics, encouraging guests to engage in conversation throughout his tours.
Jo Hook, Guide France
Arnhem (Operation Market Garden) Normandy, the Western Front and Gallipoli. I also cover certain British sites and can provide services with regard to the Battle of Britain and Britain on the home front during WW2
can provide driver guide services but would prefer hop on/hop off
Martin Heyes Tour Guide, Hong Kong
Martin Heyes was born and raised near Liverpool in north-west England. Upon completion of secondary education, he entered the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and was later commissioned in the British Army, serving in the infantry in the U.K. and Germany.
After leaving the Army, Martin joined the (then) Royal Hong Kong Police, continuing his service beyond the reversion to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Throughout his 25 years service with the Police he worked in various formations mainly in the Uniform Branch.
Following his retirement Martin worked in the security industry in the private sector, rising to the position of Project Manager for the local guard force contract at the United States Consulate-General in Hong Kong.
Jip Meijer
Tour Manager Holland
Since 2008, Jip Meijer, a Military historian based in the Netherlands has been guiding as well as organizing military-historical trips and day trips (battlefield tours) to the battlefields of the First World War and the Second World War. He is also very knowledgeable on military history of the pre 20th century era if you ask, such as the Roman period, the Middle Ages, the Eighty Years' War and the French period as well as Napoleonic Wars!
Carl Ooghe, Tour Manager & Guide
Belgium & France
Carl has been a qualified tour guide, author and passionate historian for nearly three decades. He specialises in organising tours and providing assistance, information, cultural and historical heritage interpretation at memorials, monuments, cemeteries, museums and at venues of other significant interest.
Our area of expertise lays in Flanders, Picardy, Marne and Meuse-Argonne. Carl's tours visit the three main sectors of the old Western Front in Belgium and France.
Brigitte de Cuyper, Guide France
Brigitte worked for 5 years for the “Somme 1916 Museum” in Albert. She lived in the UK for 26 years and brings passion and knowledge to the battlefields she grew up on.
“Brigitte is an excellent and passionate tour guide with great knowledge and enthusiasm. Her English is excellent (she lived in the UK for 26 years) and she is a great communicator! For the last seven years she has been living in the Somme where she originates from and has been managing her guiding business covering the Battlefields of Northern France.
Jerry Dai Tour Guide, Vietnam
Having been working as an English Speaking tour guide for 10 years, and graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Vietnam Tourism from Hue University, Jerry is our Vietnam Battlefield specialist.
He is a local tour guide in Central Vietnam (Hoi An, Hue, Danang, DMZ tours). Jerry’s intense knowledge and infectious enthusiasm allows him to share interesting stories about Vietamise culture, history, food, Vietnam War, daily life and rural living. Jerry has over a decade of experience in tourism, and welcomes many groups from Canada, America, United Kingdom, Europe interested in Vietnam War andVietnam battlefields.
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WW1 Guide: Having studied history to A level, Alison actually pursued a career in Pharmacy but history remained a life long hobby. The passion for WW1 began some 25 years ago during a 1st visit to the Somme battlefield as "co driver" for Jon. What followed were twice yearly trips until opportunity arose to make the move to live and work on the battlefields in 2005. A place she is now honoured to call home.
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Alison Haslock Tour Manager & Guide,
France
CONTACT US
The Battlefield Tours, a proud product of:
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Your Canadian Tour Wholesaler
Direct: 416.844.4228
1 - 833 - 828 - TOUR (8687)
Connection Custom Travel Inc.
www.connectiontours.ca
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