Halifax veteran
We decided to start and end bible study early yesterday to allow participants to attend the Remembrance Day service at the cenotaph in downtown Bowmanville. It was a beautiful morning, uncharacteristic for November, and there was a big crowd. The legion chaplain read verses of scripture and prayed, while the chairperson of the local ministerial represented us. It's interesting that this is one of the few public occasions when religion and specifically the Christian religion is included. There seems to be a sense of the deep solemnity of the occasion which transcends concerns about correctness, political or otherwise.
The crowds at Remembrance Day services are on the rise, even as the veterans of the First World War for which this occasion was instituted disappear. In Britain the service at Westminster Abbey included not a single WW1 veteran for the first time. During the last year the few remaining vets went to their reward. Of course both Britain and Canada have soldiers who are at war, today, and are dying in Afghanistan. More than thirty Canadians have died since Remembrance Day last year, a grim reminder that this is not just a historical event but a present reality.
Did you do anything to mark Remembrance Day? Should we continue this commemoration now that the veterans of the War to End All Wars are gone?
4 comments:
Yes we should continue with Remembrance Day. It is a reminder to all of us the horrors of war, the sacrifices made.
I spent the day in Claremont. The Legion puts a Canadian flag on the grave of every soldier, then the service. My Dad was in the war and he is buried at Claremont cemetery. The service was good.
Yes, we should continue with Remembrance Day. I think it is the only way our youth will continue to remember. Although it is no longer a day off school for children, as when I was young, I think that the children of today are more aware of war and it's impact on society, as they all take part in ceremonies at school. When it was a day off, not many attended ceremonies.
Unfortunately I am home sick and so watched the ceremonies from Ottawa. It is the first time I have been able to watch the ceremonies live, as I am usually involved in a local ceremony somewhere. I watched the CBC coverage and found the ceremony to be moving. It was interesting listening to the youth speak about why we should remember. They get it!
Absolutely we should continue with Remembrance Day - it should have nothing to do with whether or not there are still veterans alive.
It reminds us of the incredible sacrifices these people made for us, and we should never take that for granted.
As someone who has a keen interest in both WW1 and WW2, I often watch videos of battles and reflect on the courage that these men and women showed. I then realize how their youth was stolen from them, and how many of today's youth complain about not having the latest MP3, IPOD or some other "critical" piece of technology, and yet these "kids" during the war were sleeping in trenches and wondering if today would be their last day on earth.
I was also glad to see many youth interviewed on tv who realized the sacrifices that were made during war.
I attend Remembrance Day ceremonies and am always so impressed with the veterans who will stand for such a long time - often in the cold - so that they may partake in such ann important occasion. You can see in their faces that they are thinking about their friends who were left behind.
It appears that we are on the same page with this one. I figure I will do my best to honour our veteran, living and dead, to the day I can't get out there anymore.
I saw a brief interview with a young sea cadet who tearfully spoke about her dad in Afghanistan. It certainly tugged at my heart strings.
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