we remember

Today is Remembrance Day

We take time to remember and salute the soldiers, old and young, past and present, who have served our country in various theaters of war.

It was nice to see Remembrance Day reminders on our walks around town during the last week.  A local framing shop as well as a bake shop had window displays.

But the nicest touch was to see the photos of veterans (don't know if they're local), silk-screened onto banners that decorate the downtown area. Here is a sampling.

Langley city's Remembrance Day parade will begin at 10:25 a.m. (Logan and 56th), followed by the ceremony in Douglas Park at the new Cenotaph starting at 11:00 a.m. sharp.

Click for map and parade route details.

we remember

Today is the day we pause and remember the soldiers who have fought and fallen in war. It's no longer just old soldiers we think of -- the ones who fought in World Wars I, II, and the Korean War -- but also young men and women killed recently in Afghanistan (152 since 2002). We ache for their grieving families.

Jack Popjes was a boy of seven when Canadian soldiers freed his village in Holland: His story - "The Day Canadian Soldiers Freed My Country"  begins:

"I squirmed and squeezed my thin seven-year-old body through the jostling crowd until I conquered a spot on the curb. The bright sunshine warmed my face, arms and bare knees as I squinted into the light. I clutched my little paper flag, the Dutch red, white and blue, ready to wave, ready to shout and ready to sing a welcome to our rescuers. It was Tuesday, May 8, 1945." Read entire...

 I put together a slide show to commemorate Remembrance Day. It includes photos from celebrations we have attended, as well as murals and cenotaphs in places we have visited.

This poem snippet (also painted on one of the murals) speaks poignantly of the memories of these heroes:

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them"

From "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon

(hover mouse over bottom of photo to view the caption and to pause scrolling)

we remember

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada. In communities around the country we gather at cenotaphs to remember the soldiers who have died fighting for Canada's freedom and to honor those who are presently on assignment in places like Afghanistan.

The tribute below was put together by Global Edmonton for Remembrance Day several years ago.



There are many Remembrance Day songs floating around these days. Some are newly composed (like this one, and this one). Others (like "A Pittance of Time") have been with us for a while and are resurrected each November 11th. It's nice to see that Canada is developing its own brand of patriotism and expressing it in song.

canada remembers - two wars

Langley Cenotaph, 2007

Nothing brings Remembrance Day to life for me like watching war documentaries. The youthful faces, with war songs playing in the background, then the comments of those same people, now old, telling about that time... it's enough to bring a tear.

The National Film Board has some wonderful resources online - numerous black and white film clips on the World War I page (like this 11-minute montage With General Ironside's Forces in North Russia 1 from 1918-1919), and three almost hour-long movies on its World War II page:

• Canada Remembers Part 1 - Turning the Tide
• Canada Remembers Part 2 - The Liberators
• Canada Remembers Part 3 - Endings and Beginnings
  

Or check out this short clip called Rosies of the North about the home front effort of women as they went to work making planes in factories.

Thank you to all veterans old and young, for your sacrifice for Canada - for us!

canada remembers - vigil

Langley Cenotaph - 2007

Tuesday is Remembrance Day in Canada. This year Remembrance day is just days before the 90th anniversary of the end of WW I. The last veterans of that war have died, but the National Vigil project is designed to keep their memory alive. The project began on November 4th and ends at sunrise November 11th.

Here is how it's described on the Vigil website:

At sunset November 4th through to sunrise November 11th, this site will present a vigil commemorating the 68,000 Canadians who lost their lives in WWI. The names of the 68,000 war dead will be projected over a week of nights onto the National War Memorial in Ottawa, buildings in other regions of Canada and onto the side of Canada House in Trafalgar Square in London, England.

On this page you will see the Ottawa National Vigil streamed live from the National War Memorial. It will run for seven nights, starting at 5:00pm each evening. The first name appears at 5:15pm. Each night’s vigil will be 13 hours long, ending at sunrise the following day. The vigil will then recommence at 5:00pm and run another 13 hours. The last name will appear as dawn breaks on November 11th.

The Ottawa National Vigil site is here.

What a great idea to keep the names of these people alive! How thankful I am for these men and women, who gave their lives to preserve our country and its freedoms.

Remembrance Day

"Lest We Forget" mural - Lumby B.C. (click on photo to enlarge).

The Unconquered Dead
by John McCrae

". . . defeated, with great loss."


Not we the conquered! Not to us the blame
Of them that flee, of them that basely yield;
Nor ours the shout of victory, the fame
Of them that vanquish in a stricken field.

That day of battle in the dusty heat
We lay and heard the bullets swish and sing
Like scythes amid the over-ripened wheat,
And we the harvest of their garnering.

Some yielded, No, not we! Not we, we swear
By these our wounds; this trench upon the hill
Where all the shell-strewn earth is seamed and bare,
Was ours to keep; and lo! we have it still.

We might have yielded, even we, but death
Came for our helper; like a sudden flood
The crashing darkness fell; our painful breath
We drew with gasps amid the choking blood.

The roar fell faint and farther off, and soon
Sank to a foolish humming in our ears,
Like crickets in the long, hot afternoon
Among the wheat fields of the olden years.

Before our eyes a boundless wall of red
Shot through by sudden streaks of jagged pain!
Then a slow-gathering darkness overhead
And rest came on us like a quiet rain.

Not we the conquered! Not to us the shame,
Who hold our earthen ramparts, nor shall cease
To hold them ever; victors we, who came
In that fierce moment to our honoured peace.

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John McCrae, a Canadian doctor who served in the Boer War and World War I also wrote the well-known poem "In Flanders Fields" , first published in Punch (England) December 1915.

Several other poems of his are on the subject of war as well. More of his poems are online here.

we remember

Ernie and I joined hundreds of others at the Cenotaph in Cloverdale this morning for a Remembrance Day ceremony.


On the way to the square, we caught sight of these Mounties, all ready to join the parade of dignitaries.



A special event this morning was the unveiling and dedication of a new statue on the cenotaph memorial

The representation of a World War 1 soldier, kneeling at the grave of a fallen comrade was commissioned to replace an earlier similar one which was melted down to make bullets for World War II. This new piece was paid for in part with funds raised by Surrey school children.

Before we left, we unpinned our poppies and placed them with hundreds of others on the memorial as a token of our remembrance and thanks to Canadian soldiers past and present.

We remember.

...let's not forget

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Canadians customarily observe 2 minutes of silence to reflect on our freedom and the men and women who sacrificed so we could have it.

Here is a story about that day.

On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a Shoppers Drug Mart store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store’s PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.

Terry was impressed with the store’s leadership role in adopting the Legion’s "two minutes of silence" initiative. He felt that the store’s contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.

When eleven o’clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the "two minutes of silence" to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.

Terry’s anger towards the father for trying to engage the store’s clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, "A Pittance of Time". Terry later recorded "A Pittance of Time" and included it on his full-length music CD, "The Power of the Dream".

Read more...

Watch video - "A Pittance of Time" (click on ‘Video’)

Thank you, Terry, for reminding us in this poignant way of the meaning of this day, and that we need to keep the torch of gratitude burning.

*********
Who is Terry Kelly?

A native of Newfoundland, in 1979 Terry Kelly won two silver medals in the Canadian Track Championships and was a member of the Canadian track team that competed in the 1980 Paralympics. He is the third blind person in the world to run the mile in under 5 minutes.

He is a musician and has recorded five CDs. His project "The Power of the Dream" "is the first commercially-produced music CD in the world that includes Braille on the liner notes and is packaged so that the entire text contents can be accessed by the blind, the visually impaired and sighted alike from the enhanced CD."

In 2000 he was presented the King Clancy Award and in 2003 he was appointed by then- Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to the Order of Canada.