Remembrance Day, 2006

Some observations from Kate's open thread at Small Dead Animals and around the web, about remembrances and ceremonies encountered this day...

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.
Rest eternal grant to them, O Lord, and may light perpetual shine upon them."
'been around the block, SDA

"My dear old George:

Just a few lines to say that I am back in England & am making good progress with my wounds.
We had an awfully tough time at Ypres on June 2nd & all our battalion & several others got cut up to hell in a terrific bombardment & then the Huns came over in thousands & took our front line trenches, there being a few isolated groups of men left to oppose them. I got hit by pieces of shell casing in my left arm & leg. All the extensor muscles of the forearm are torn away & about two inches out of the middle of the ulnar bone are gone. The arm at present is absolutely useless, but Drs. Talk of grafting in a new bone & muscles so that they make a pretty good job of it.
My left thigh has all the inside of it gone, pretty nearly. Another half inch & it would have had the bone & femoral artery, & then it would have been all up.
I believe it will also have to have some grafting.
However I’m not worrying. I’m lucky to get off with what I did. The worst part was that I was not picked up for five days, & lived practically on what water I could get. It rained heavily one day & I managed to collect enough water to fill my water bottle & a tin can & believe me I have never tasted so delicious a drink in all my life. I just drank & drank & drank. I was practically a living skeleton when they got me & my wounds were in awful condition. I’ll bet you could smell me two miles off.
Poor old Alec is missing. There is a chance that he may be a prisoner, but personally I believe he was killed.
Poor old chap, he was the first to bind my wounds & then carried on with the fighting."
Raymond, SDA, from his great-uncle to his grandfather...

"I watched the ceremonies this a.m.,both on ctv & cbc,and once again moved to tears for all we have been given,thanks to all the Veterans.Having grown up on a military base,I truly do understand,and hold each and every one of the military..both past and present in the highest regard.
I must say tho,that I was somewhat disgusted that once again Taber uses the soapbox of honoring heroes,to politicize,and slag PMSH,and current gov't for any and every little thing.Also noted that Newman made bit of issue about PMSH standing on the dais (with Gov.Gen),for the march past of the vets,etc.He commented that it was the 1st.time a PM had done so,that it was usually just the Gov.G.that stood there.I say..why not let PM be front and center to show his respect for,and gratitude to the troops.Maybe this simple gesture speaks volumes about his commitment to our folks in uniform,as opposed to the Libs,that tried to decimate them.Good for you PM,we the people stand with you!
LEST WE FORGET..and with deepest thanks to all that wear the uniform. Sammy"Sammy, SDA

another rainy, cold remembrance day...brings back many memories..parade square in petawawa...snow an inch thick on my face....hungover as heck....but i never flinched....if those old guys who put it on the line can stand there...a thank you to those who served b4 me, a salute to the fine men and women i served with, and a "GO ARMY" to the boys and girls in afghani...u r makin this old soldier proud kingstonlad, SDA

I started this video in memory of our hometown hero of Cpl David Braun of Raymore, Saskatchewan (3-Aug-79 - 22-Aug-06). With a population of 648, I thought it hit pretty hard... I was naive, I have received e-mails from coast to coast that also mourns the loss of a Canadian Forces member. David, this tribute is for you and your fallen brothers in arms. I hope I never have to update this video again but if I do, sadly, a new version of this video will be placed here in their honour. (I will be gone to C.F.B. Borden, doing my BMQ from 06-Jan-07 through 06-Apr-07 and won't be able to update this video--it will be high priority upon return) Pte. Caswell

In Flanders Fields' is not only a poem we recite to remind us of those soldiers who died. It's a poem to remind us of _everyone_ who has died, soliders and the civilians who unfortunately but always seem to inevitably to get involved. From WW1 and WW2, through Korea and Vietnam to Kosovo, the World Trade Center, Afghanistan and Iraq, it is the people in these conflicts and others who have passed on that we remember on November 11, and that their sacrifices, some necessary and many not, have shaped the world we are in today. It is to remind us of the price that is always paid.

And it's a poem to remind us to not let those deaths, civilian and military, become meaningless, senseless, worthless. That something worthwhile should come out of the price paid by the efforts and lives of those in the middle of everything. And I do believe that our troops are doing their best to make that happen, even if things are not happening the way it sounds like some people want. I understand that it will take time, but so do all good things. I do not believe that diplomacy with the radicals will be honored by them. I believe that our troops are needed alongside the humanitarian effort. I do not want their efforts to be wasted. Because I want the world to be a better place.

As did those who lie row on row in Flanders fields. Lest we forget. Alberta Bound, SDA

Over 8000 in attendance at Credit Union Centre in Sasktoon today. Wonderful service with a couple of highlights. Huge standing ovation for the vets who came marching in. Then, when the mother of Sean Keating, recently killed in Afghanistan, laid a wreath, the crowd gave another huge ovation... a lot of tears at that moment.

At around 11:00 the lights were dimmed... with a lone trumpet playing and rows and rows of soldiers, mounties, cadets etc. at attention, the place went dead silent... very wonderful moment. It made me wish that all those lads who perished in wars gone by, and in Afghanistan, and on Peacekeeping, could be there to see the respect they were being shown. Truly a wonderful moment. Debris Trail,SDA

Normally I attend the Remembrance Day ceremonies held at Old City Hall in Toronto, in better times with my mother and my now-deceased father, but this year I attended the ceremonies in Streetsville.
ere was a good turnout of several hundred people in the square around the Cenotaph. The day was wet and a bit cold, but on the whole a lot better than anything I’ve experienced before, when the wind has been a lot stronger and the air is usually bitterly cold.
The Streetsville Pipe & Drum band was on hand in kilts. A number of local veterans stood proud with chests full of metals. There were also a good number of active duty military men and women.
Young cadets in uniform stood at the four corners of the cenotaph. One was so cold that you could easily see the visible shaking of his body.
A young family stood behind me, and I could hear the father whispering to his daughter the meaning of why we were there. He told her that soldiers made sacrifices – some of them the ultimate sacrifice – to ensure our freedoms, and that we were there to honour them and their sacrifices. It was all very well put and inspiring.
Liberal MP Wajid Khan presented a wreath, as did Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion (85 years’ young, the amazing Mayor McCallion moves with an ease and grace that indicates she suffers none of the pains nor debilitations that normally come in later years).
At the end of the ceremonies a procession of military personnel went from the cenotaph to the local legion. The rest of us went to the cenotaph to have a look at the wreaths and messages; amongst them was a wreath that was signed as being from the Muslim community of Mississauga.
Then we all removed the poppies from our coats and either laid them at the base of the cenotaph or pinned them to a wreath.
Mississauga Matt, SDA

On this weekend, it is important to think of, support and admire the LIVING soldiers, the ones with exuberance and energy are representing Canada in this long war. Tom Eschak and Doug Tizya are Yukoners who have served and are serving in Afghanistan in the Princess Pats. Doug was wounded and is (I think) in Manitoba. Tom is on holiday right now. I have posted photos Tom sent home, of his friends and etc in Afghanistan. They are fun and well worth a look, and are such that, they are so worthy of our pride. I keep hoping that Canada will rise to the occasion, and become worthy of these soldiers' effort. Anyway, I am adding more photos to the blog over the weekend.heather, SDA

I attended the Remembrance Day ceremonies at the neighbourhood school yesterday.
It started off well and the children were very quiet and well behaved when reminded that this was a very solemn occasion.
Then about a quarter of the way into the program a Love-In broke out. (Not surprising the school is in Kitsilano).
A student recited the story of a little Japanese girl who had suffered so terribly after Hiroshima was bombed.
Then another student asked everyone to stand and raise their right hand and swear an oath that they would promise to always settle conflicts around the world peacefully.
I was so angry that this was the lesson being presented to the children that I had to pass by the Principle without looking at him.
Afterward I was more troubled by the thought that I may have been the only adult in the Auditorium that thought that this was not only an insult to the war veterans but even more insulting to the men and women currently fighting in Afghanistan.
Cal, SDA

From a Yank soldier south of the border, my thanks and gratitude to you our northern neighbors who have shared the same hardship and spilled your own blood for the same ground through the years.
I think you all have it right in calling it Remembrance Day. Here we call it Veterans Day and I wonder if perhaps that detracts to some extent from the meaning of it. it would be far more difficult I think for stores to have major sales to entice the public to buy more crap on "Remembrance Day."
Anyway, just the tuppence of an engineer waiting for the next deployment.
Tonight we toast the fallen and each other.
Anthony, SDA

At the Cenotaph this morning, there was a crowd larger than I remember in recent years. They all, including children, stood silently through the pouring rain for the entire service. The one image that struck me most, was an older veteran, not in any legion uniform, but with his medals pinned to an old checkered jacket. Through the entire service, he stood at attention in the pouring rain, and when I offered him my unbrella, he shook his head no, and continued to stand at attention silently, staring straight ahead.Ann, SDA

Today I travelled to Moose Jaw to visit my favorite Veteran who is hospitalized at the Union Hospital, my dad. He served 7 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the second world war. I was shopping for a couple of items at the Super Store where I crossed paths with an Air Force officer stationed at the base in Moose Jaw. He and his wife had attended services earlier and I considered it a great priviledge to approach them and offer my thanks for his (and her) service. He readily extended his hand along with a warm smile to thank me for the recognition and encouragement. He told me how much it meant to members of our Canadian armed forces to have folks approach them with thanks and encouragement.

I don't want to get too political with this but I wonder how many times the likes of Jack Layton and his followers have PERSONALLY given thanks to ANY of our men and women in uniform. They enjoy the freedom to spew their drivel while our finest die to protect their right to do so. a different Bob, SDA

Pittance of Time. The embedded link, along with all of the other remembrances of the Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day, will serve to remind that Canadians died for the freedoms that lie at the heart of the gun-control controversy, and how easily that freedoms can disappear in the Pittance of Time in the fog of "political correctness". As the story goes, this is apparently based on a true event in a retail store in Halifax a few years ago. Terry Kelly was so upset by the event, he penned the song shortly after his arrival back home.