Take the Time to Remember

Clarkie · Veteran Member

Take the Time to Remember

73SC · A Poncho Legend!

I am always reminded of my family on this day, both Grandfathers wounded in action in France WWI and my father who served in RCN in WWII. My dad always remembered his best friend who was lost in the St. Lawrence to a Nazi sub.

My Father and his Corvette: Leading Stoker Harry James White and HMCS Brantford.

Stoker First Class H J White.png

HMCS Brantford.jpeg

66 Grande guy · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Thanks Ray, true heroes indeed. Canada was a pretty small country but did an outsized roles in both wars. I must say I thought the corvette's role in the movie Greyhound (and in C S Forester's book as well) was a nice gesture to all those guys!

In the vein of small country/small population it was a bit of a surprise when we visited Vimy Ridge a few years ago to see quite a few soldiers of my mothers family name carved on the monument. Made it kind of real and certainly made me think of how much they had paid to earn a place in this country.

ABC123 · Uber Guru

Like me, my grandfather was colour blind.

Like me because of being colour blind he was blessed with 20/15 or better vision.

Being colour blind, his eyes were not fooled by camouflage.

They did eye testing when enlisting and recruited those with this type of vison.

He spent the 1944 and 1945 in that bubble under the plane doing reconnaissance.

Awarded 3 metals for service.

He didn't have to shoot anyone but boy was he a sitting duck in that bubble under the plane.

One of the lucky ones who made it home.

I thought about this just now, on my way home from my eye exam.

Not sure if he was in a Lancaster but, you get the idea.

Avro Lancaster 683 B GR MkIII RAF - The last aircraft to see active service with the School of Maritime Recconnaisance RF325

-- Edited by ABC123 on Wednesday 11th of November 2020 05:52:22 PM

Lemans64 · Poncho Master!

Yes Special Thanks to All that have Served. We have our freedom, thanks to them.

No attendable services today, but we did watch our local one on TV, Then seen the flyover of 6 assuming

vintage aircraft. Was cool. Again Thanks.

Clarkie · Veteran Member

I made sure to lead our school's Remembrance Day ceremony. We couldn't meet in an assembly due to COVID-19 protocols, so the laying of our class wreaths were laid and broadcasted to each classroom via Teams and I gave a little speech, recited "In Flander's Fields" and cued up "The Last Post, the moment of silence and "Reveille" over our PA system.

I take this day very seriously and feel as an educator that it is my duty to ensure our students don't forget the sacrifices made by those that came before them. In fact, in my classroom, we've been doing lots of learning about Canada's military actions over the past two weeks.

Pontiacanada · A Poncho Legend!

Stopped everything at 11 o'clock.

My Dad was in the army for 25 years ... served in Korea and missed serving in WW2 due to the war ending.

Randy, my Dad was colour blind also. I had to pick out model paints for him when he was painting camo on model airplanes. smile

Canadian Poncho · A Poncho Legend!

I had great uncles who were in the war, one of which lost a leg. I never learned many details as it was not something you talked about back then.

DonSSDD · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

All of my grandfathers brothers served in WW1 and all of my moms and dads brothers of age served in WW2, Dad was refused enlistment for flat feet, served on a tanker from 39-45. Travelled to Venezuela, Canada and US east coast and did the convoys to Europe. Was in the convoy in that movie where several uboats surfaced in the middle of the convoy. Saw many things from ships torpedoed he would never talk about.

norontcan · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

My day started when I checked Facebook and a cousin had posted a picture of our grandmother laying the Silver Cross Mother's wreath many years ago. By the end of the day we had determined that she had done this numerous times in at least 3 communities. We had a chat session among the cousins where we each contributed a little bit of our families war history. Very educational as we were able to fill in many blanks and also clarify some points.
To all those affected by the wars and especially those who served a big Thank You

73SC · A Poncho Legend!

Thanks Ted for that, the mothers, impossible to know the emotions of losing a young son like that, we should never forget them and we don't by placing them in such a prominent role each Remembrance Day.

One of the most poignant moments of my life was the day I was fortunate to hold a Silver Cross of a mother of one of the servce men killed in our community. Her niece had brought it in a jewelery box it was given in to a ceremony, I had never seen one before or since in person and I was struck by it's beauty and quality but most of all it's daintiness, afterall it was a piece of jewelery for a woman. I cupped it in both hands and stared at it, closed my eyes, said a prayer and cried, the emotion and tangible feeling of being so close to a personal sacrifice was and is forever moving.

-- Edited by 73SC on Wednesday 11th of November 2020 11:54:43 PM

MC · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Was disappointed that we couldn't attend a ceremony in person, but understand that it was the best decision for all given everything surrounding this pandemic.

Every year we attend Remembrance Day ceremonies to show our support and to take the time to think about all of those who sacrificed so that we can have the privilege of living in a free society, in such a wonderful country. We have lots to be thankful for and I never forget that - it has become even more poignant during these recent years of all the political divisiveness that we've been exposed to - I hope and pray that we can get it together and keep our country unified. Past societies have shown how quickly democracy can be taken and our veterans have shown how hard it is to get it back.

To the educators: thank you so much for passing the knowledge along to the younger generations - it means so much to have them understand that all we have is owed to those who sacrificed in order that we may continue to have it. Many years ago when I was in junior high, our school arranged for a Holocaust survivor to speak to the class and that meeting has stayed with me for life. He spoke of things that were unimaginable to our young minds and explained why it's so important to understand and remember what happened, and to never allow such things to happen again. I know how hard it was for him to do it by the emotions he displayed, but on that day it all became real to me and set me on a path to try to learn as much about the world wars, and how and why they happened. I will forever be grateful to those in my school who arranged for that experience for us.

From me, a heartfelt thanks and much gratitude to all our veterans and to all currently in active service! We all are indebted to you!