Saturday, November 11, 2006

Remember



The Vancouver Province's Friday edition published a sombre reminder that this Remembrance Day is like few others that this country has commemorated since the hostilities of two world wars and the Korean conflict came to an end.

Pictured left from the Provinces Front page, are the sons and daughters of Canadians who have made that ultimate sacrifice, when sent off to a far away land to try and make a difference.

Those who remain in Afghanistan today, on patrol or at their base, walk dangerous steps at our request, and they should be in our thoughts and prayers on this day that we remember those that have gone before them.

Vimy Ridge, Dieppe, Juno Beach, Ortona, Hong Kong, Hill 187 or Kandahar, the names change over the times of history, but the memory should never grow dim when it comes to our thanks for those that walked those ancient paths or continue to walk new ones today.

That news story yesterday that shows we are woefully uninformed about our history, should be a thing of collective embarrassment. It doesn't take a lot of reading or viewing to understand the sacrifice, the horror, comradeship and sorrow that young Canadians faced during the darkest days of the worlds history, the singular lack of interest is something no Canadian should accept. To appreciate what we have today, we must respect and honour those we have lost in the past.

There is a fair amount of material in your library or on the Internet that traces Canada's participation in the Great War, the Second World War and the Korean Conflict and the current actions in Afghanistan. Ranging from well researched and presented websites, books and articles to simple offerings from ordinary Canadians.

Some of the more interesting ones that I have found today are listed below, make it a Remembrance Day mission to look for some of your own.

Remembering

Canada Remembers

In Flanders Fields

Conflict and War

The Memory Project

A Day of Remembrance

Memories and Monuments

In Pictures and Words

Ancient Battlefields

We Will Remember Them

A Silver Cross Mother

Remembrance Day at Kandahar

The Fallen of Afghanistan

The Poppy and the Poem

Lest We Forget

The Books of Remembrance

May those in harms way today, return home safe and soon. We think of them and those before them through the years, on this most solemn of days.

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