Remembrance Day – A Time For Sorrow, Joy And Hope

Remembrance Day for me has always been a mixture of sorrow, joy and hope. Sorrow for those military and innocent civilians who lost their lives or suffered catastrophic injuries; Joy for everyone who returned safely home to their families and loved ones; Hope that one day the words of John Lennon’s Imagine will ring true.

For now, while thinking about Remembrance Day in Canada and Veteran’s Day in the USA this November 11th I thought I’d start by looking at what I wrote in my blog in previous years.

Doing this sure brought back some memories for me and it’s another reminder of just what a great hobby blogging can be. A lot of family history sometimes gets forgotten and valuable documents get lost but since I’ve captured some of the highlights in my blogs, I’m hoping they’ll always be there for our grandchildren, like Mason, to read about.

It’s important for him to know that his Great Grandfather (Thomas) and his Great-Great Grandfather (Richard) were veterans of WWII and WWI and that they are buried in the Veteran’s Cemetery here in Victoria along with 2 Great Uncles (Richard and Frank).

As Mason gets older you can rest assured that I will be taking him to the Veteran’s Cemetery and telling him all about his Grandfathers and their sacrifices made to ensure that he got to grow up smiling, laughing and always happy.

In a blog titled A Personal Reflection On Remembrance Day in 2011, I wrote about my Dad’s WWII experience and especially D-Day where as a 21 yr. old member of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles he was among the first allied soldiers to hit the beaches of Normandy on June 6, 1944. He had a lot of other things on his mind that day too as I was born just 3 days later on June 9th in Scotland.

Veteran’s Cemetery –  gravesites of my parents, grandparents and two uncles

I won’t repeat that entire amazing story here other than to say my Dad survived D-Day on Juno Beach but was wounded in a firefight on June 8th, captured and sent to a German POW camp for the remainder of the war. He managed to survive that too until dying from a heart attack in 2002 at age 80.  He always said “I was lucky not to have died that day” referring to D-Day.

Don Cherry’s 2009 tribute to Canadian Soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Another Remembrance Day blog I found while looking back over the past few years was Don Cherry’s annual tribute to Canadian soldiers killed in action during the previous year. It’s a very somber yet poignant tribute especially now since all Canadian combat troops have since been withdrawn from that gawd-forsaken country. It was very sad and disheartening to see the faces of soldiers just 20, 21, 22 etc. who died in this war. Was it worth the cost? The jury’s still out I think.

Thanks to all who served their country both in Canada and the USA!