Comments on: Remembrance Day

By: CanadaJames

CanadaJames — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 04:43:45 +0000

True dat Ian.

I am very proud of our brave soldiers past present and future.

I remember with pride and love in my heart.

I have a cousin current serving in Afghanistan, so this is especially keen for me right now.

Thanks for posting the poem - I love that poem.

By: wildethyme

wildethyme — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:45:05 +0000

My great uncle’s name was Samuel McKenzie. His father commanded the Gananoque (Ontario) battery. His grandfather served in the British army in Newfoundland, Malta, Gibralter and Corfu. His uncle served in India and was present at the Relief of Lucknow.

God bless them all.

By: wildethyme

wildethyme — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:48:02 +0000

My great uncle commanded an artillery battery at Vimy Ridge. It was the denfining moment of Canada as a nation. He was never the same after.

By: Chasman

Chasman — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:38:35 +0000

My family has been out of the military business since WWII, but a solemn observance of Remembrance Day was something I learned early and never lost. 2nd Ypres. Festubert. The Blitz. The Scheldt. Peace is best.

By: Raven

Raven — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:34:30 +0000

During the Vietnam era, more than 30,000 Canadians served in the US armed forces. Fred Graffen, military historian with the Canadian War Museum, estimated in Vietnam Magazine (Perspectives) that approximately 12,000 of these personnel actually served in Vietnam. Most of these were natives of Canada who lived in the United States. The military of Canada did not officially participate in the war effort, as it was appointed to the UN truce commissions and thus had to remain officially neutral in the conflict.

110 Canadians died in Vietnam and seven are listed as missing in action.

The numbers of draft US conscientious objectors, draft dodgers and deserters that went to Canada is estimated to be between 30,000 and 70,000 by most authorities.

By: EvilParallelUniverse

EvilParallelUniverse — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:33:58 +0000

Skdadl - (There is no snark in this btw) I’ve always wondered about the idea of dying “well.” Are there better ways to die, more “virtuous” ways to die?

That idea - of dying “well” always makes me think of these lines from Catch-22

Capt. Nately: You’re a shameful opportunist! What you don’t understand is that it’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
Old man in whorehouse: You have it backwards. It’s better to live on your feet than to die on your knees. I know.

By: BooRadley

BooRadley — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:28:36 +0000

Thanks Ian.

By: EvilParallelUniverse

EvilParallelUniverse — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:17:19 +0000

I’ve always thought highly of Fussell’s critique of war literature in The Great War – and even think it has lessons for today regarding cultures and myths in the making/selling of war. But of course, YMMV, and I’m not Canadian.

By: Ian Welsh

Ian Welsh — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:10:53 +0000

It’s one of those poems that has resonance beyond the words, it’s so tied into the Canadian experience of the day, that it’s impossible to seperate.

By: skdadl

skdadl — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:07:58 +0000

Sorry to be late, Ian, but thank you for this. I was going to say “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month,” but Southern Dragon beat me to it.

My dad’s older brother died at Passchendaele in 1917 (yes, I really am that old), and both my parents joined up in 1939 (yes, that’s when WWII started for Canadians), so whatever my politics have done to me since, this day always takes me back to quiet tears I’ve seen on the faces of the people I loved most, who were remembering people born in the C19.

I don’t know that I would call us chauvinists, exactly, EPU, although we are a bit spiky, since we’ve learned that our troops are always the ones who are thrown away cheaply (certainly the story of Passchendaele, and kind of what is going on in Kandahar province right now). We fight well; we die well; that’s why everyone likes us.