remember

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5 years ago

REMBRANCE DAY

Just some thoughts on a sunny day that caused me to put pen to paper and I thought you would like to dwell on it.

This is a garrison town. It is hard to mistake it with the streets lined with yellow ribbons and every overpass and cross streets stationed with fire trucks, ambulances, police cars and cheering crowds as the troops come home on their rotation out of Afghanistan.

I went to the Cenotaph on Armistice Day. There were the usual contingents of soldiers, cadets, and aging veterans, wheel chairs and all, moving in measured step as if reliving yesteryears when they were all kings. There was the usual military tattoo as soldiers, dressed in the period uniforms worn by the combatants of their day stood in solemn silence. The police/military pipe band played “Wings” as the garrison soldiers marched into the square. That is when it struck me, this is a garrison town and a lot of the Afghanistan dead are from this base. I looked around the crowd of thousands and noted tearful eyes clutching small children, framed photographs and the folded flag. Then I noticed all the young faces. Not just the military brats but the young people from the high schools, university and even street people who had their own sorrows but were here anyway. All stood in serried silence as the lone piper played "the Battle is Over" and the base commander read out the names of his troopers that had fallen. Then it was over at least until the evening when Amnesty International would have a candle light parade to honor the dead and pray for peace. I remember thinking that for many Canadians this is for real, the Boor War (284), WW1 (65000), WW2 (44000), Korea (650), Vietnam, (500), Afghanistan (220), these were wars where all gave some and some gave all and the price for supposed freedom for others was extracted in real blood by hard men who did horrid thing we don't want to know about so we can sleep comfortable in our beds at night. A day doesn't seem long enough.

Sleep well.

Michael