Tomorrow, November 11^th, 2011 is Remembrance Day in Canada, Common Wealth and Veteran’s Day in the United States.   The armistice came into effect at the 1100am hour, of the 11^th month, on the 11^th day of the year 1918 to end World War I.  Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae of Guelph, Ontario was posted as a medical officer and served at Boulogne No 3 General Hospital as officer in charge of medicine and stayed in this position until his death of pneumonia, on 28 January, 1918.  While serving as a combat doctor he wrote this most notable World War I poem.  As a child I learned it in school and it is still read and studied by our children today -In Flanders Fields:

 In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

My local newspaper, the Ottawa Citizen, reported “starting today and continuing well into the next decade, the Citizen will keep this ancient faith through the modern channel of social media.  Beginning at 11 minutes after 1100am, today, the Twitter account “WeAreTheDead” will begin reciting the names of Canada’s war dead, one each hour of every day.  It will take more than thirteen years to tweet all the names finishing sometime in late June 2025, depending on the number of new entries added to the list. There is no reason why we should only do so once a year, when we march and mourn and pray and lament.”  Bravo Ottawa Citizen, what an incredibly honorable use of social media technology.  

I am a proud Veteran and like my father and grandfather before me, I followed their path and served in the Canadian Armed Forces.  My grandfather’s service brought him to the shores of Dieppe, France.  He was a Medic with the Royal Military Medical Corps.  During Operation Jubilee, August 19th, 1942 he was one of the 6100 troops who stormed the beaches of Dieppe, France. He survived the assault but sustained shrapnel wounds and tuberculosis from the incursion.  In the summer of 1991, while visiting battlefields across Europe, I visited the shorelines of Dieppe.  It was a poignant reminder of the travesty of war and of the over 900 Canadian lives lost on that beach to defend world peace; conversely, kneeling in the sand prayed and gave thanks for my grandfather’s survival and safe return so that I could honor him.

Many years later, my father served on a different front during his 25-year tenure. My father was part of the Canadian contingency of the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF), at Camp Rafah, Egypt from Sep 1961 to Sep 1962.   The first Canadians arrived in Nov 1956 and to paraphrase the text from the Department of Veterans Affairs Canada:  “The mandate was given to secure the removal of Israeli, British and French troops from the Canal Zone and the Gaza Strip and to maintain peace in the area. The first Canadian troops arrived in Egypt on 24 November 1956, and Egypt abruptly asked them to leave in May 1967, leading to the six-day war between Israel and Egypt. Thirty-two Canadians lost their lives serving with this force.” Again, with overwhelming gratitude, I was blessed that my father was not lost during that conflict.

My 20 years of service included a deployment in Germany from 1989-1993.   I was a proud member of 439 Tactical Fighting Squadron.  Its Battle Honors include Fortress Europe 1944, France and Germany 1944-45, Normandy 1944, Arnhem, Rhine and the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War, which I participated.  Appreciatively no lives were lost during that campaign.  Every year I took part in Remembrance Day ceremonies however; it was in the years of active service in Europe that I couldn’t be more proud.   I was honored and chosen to represent Canada in Remembrance Day ceremonies with other countries.  

Tomorrow, I will take part to honor and remember, marching alongside my brothers and sisters in arms, with tears of tremendous pride and at the same time, tears of absolute sadness honoring those who had fallen. We Canadian soliders have fought in many battles and continue to do so in our present day in Afghanistan which is now coming to an end; and although no one else in my family since my retirement has worn the uniform, we are forever grateful to those men and women who serve our country with pride and distinction.  I wear my medals and the poppy in honor and with profound respect they who have lost their lives have not died in vain.  “We will remember them”.