The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of
the 11th Month in the Year of the Veteran
November 9, 2005
This Remembrance Day caps off a phenomenal year of honouring
our veterans and those who gave their lives for the freedom
and peace we enjoy today.
This is the Year of the Veteran, and it is immensely
satisfying to know that, for many Canadians, this week’s
veterans events are not the first for them this year.
Indeed, the entire world took time out to honour veterans
of World War II on the 60th anniversary of VE-Day (victory
in Europe).
This was also the year the new National War Museum, an
appropriate facility to pay tribute to Canada’s
veterans, peacekeepers and serving members of the Canadian
Forces, finally opened its doors in the Nation’s
Capital.
I would like to share with you one of the most touching
moments I experienced this year in honouring our vets.
Those who attended the ceremony this past July to mark
the re-location of the Fort St. John Cenotaph to its new
home at the Legion Hall have heard this story.
On May 8th – VE Day – I had the privilege
of attending the war museum’s grand opening which
kicked off with a gathering of several hundred veterans
at the national war memorial in Ottawa.
The veterans then paraded down Wellington Street in World
War II-era military equipment – tanks, armoured
personnel carriers and jeeps. All along the street, on
the way to the new War Museum, thousands of men, women
and children assembled, cheering, clapping and reaching
up to shake the vets’ hands and to say thank you
for preserving our way of life.
To the vets, it must have seemed as though they had traveled
back 60 years to the streets of Holland and France as
school children and war-ravaged citizens ran through the
streets to thank them and celebrate their freedom.
It was a tremendously moving event. And yes, this politician
was almost rendered speechless by the raw emotion of the
moment. I was particularly touched by two young boys,
the younger of whom was desperately standing on tiptoes
trying to reach the vets. Seeing his predicament, his
father reached down and picked the young lad up so he
could make personal contact and shake the veterans’
hands.
I believe that the publicity and enthusiasm surrounding
these kinds of events and others related to the Year of
the Veteran, have served to belatedly generate a sense
of alarming awareness that time is ‘running out’
to record our vets’ experiences. This year more
than others, we learned about the tragedies and heroics
of our vets and how war has affected their lives. This
has helped to provide better meaning and understanding
of the term ‘Lest We Forget’.
This year, I will be in the beautiful Village of McBride
for Remembrance Day. We’ll start off at the Legion
and march to the train station, where the cenotaph is
located, for a ceremony at the 11th hour on the 11th day
of the 11th month. A moment in time we’ve honoured
every year since the guns fell silent in 1918.
To all of our nation’s veterans and currently serving
members of the Canadian Forces, please accept my heartfelt
“Thank You”.
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