Thursday, November 10, 2011

Remembrance Evolves Over a Life Time.

       Remembrance of those who served our country goes back a long time and things change and evolve. On thinking about remembrance I began to think about the various stages that we have gone through.


      I was born a few days after the WWII started. I can remember some things about the war through a young child's eyes. I had uncles who were overseas and my parents told me about them. My Mom was forever sending parcels to her brother and cousins. I was impressed with the many men I saw in uniform. We lived a short distance from a major training airbase and had many planes fly over each day.


      I remember young men coming back home and trying to reestablish their life. Most of them left the district after a few years for better opportunities elsewhere.


      My high school teacher was a navy veteran and some days I felt like he thought we were recruits he was training. He was an excellent teacher and influenced many a kid to do better.


      The first Principal I taught under in 1959 was a veteran. He was an able administrator who cared for his students and staff. Since my teaching career began in 1958 , there were many veterans teaching in the school system. When I was in the Arctic many government people were former service people as they had been given employment by the government. Of course, there were the baby boomers who attended school and most of  their parents had gone through the war.


     Most of these veterans who went through my life contributed immensely to the communities they lived in. There was a job that had to be done in the community and they just went out and did it. For example, many indoor hockey arenas were erected. They had learned this attitude during their wartime experience. They had a job to do and they went out and did it whether it was extremely unpleasant or not. 


      Over these years of my contact with service people I did not hear very much about their war experience except for the hijinks they were involved in. Much of their memories and experiences were kept to themselves or sometimes shared with someone who had gone through the horrors of war with them. 


      My son was in the reserve forces in Canada and that influenced the way I thought about our forces. I attended one remembrance service with him.


      Now many of the armed forces people from WWII have left us. Those who are still here are very elderly.


      So over the years my remembrance of what occurred has changed as things are added to my experience and understanding.


      I now have a friend who went through the war as a Flight Sergeant. He has been very good about telling of his war experiences. He has not shied away from telling of some of the horrors he experienced. The war shaped his life greatly. He had just finished high school and thinking about what to do with his life when the war came along and made that decision for him. He found his life's partner as he was training. They decided to marry after the war. The five years of war caused him to miss the normal experiences of life in a community. When he returned it was a struggle to become established. He worked hard and was successful in business, family and community.


      Today at 89 he still contributes. He leads a senior skating group and is the driving force behind its success. It's still the same . A job has to be done and he just goes out and does it.


      So I am thankful for all the people who went out and did the very nasty job of fighting in WWII. Their sacrifices were many. Many sacrificed their life. We owe our gratitude to the men and women who went out and "did the job."


      

11 comments:

  1. Well written Bluey
    I watched the 11am ceremony at the Cenotaph at Anzac Square in Brisbane this morning. The active/serving soldiers were selling red poppies for Legacy, an organisation which gives wonderful support for veterans and widows.
    These soldiers based in Brisbane were scattered throughout the CBD and it was great to see so many people buying poppies and badges to show their support and respect.
    Yes a very solemn day here in Australia.
    Colin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Colin for sharing the experience of Remembrance in Australia. Interesting how you're a day ahead of us. Our ceremonies are tomorrow. Some years it is a challenge because of the weather. With the aging of veterans we've come to our senses and moved activities indoors.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, I am very grateful for our veterans, all of them. The ones who are struggling today and those from half a century ago. Very well written post, Red. Thank you for sharing your memories.

    ReplyDelete
  4. DJan, from someone who was raised in a military family , you would have your own perspective on remembrance.
    One thing I tried to get across was that many suffered in silence.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am grateful for the many Canadians who fought and risked their lives in World War 2. My parents grew up in England, during the blitz. Things were bad, but they could have been much worse without that supply line from Canada and the support of Canadian troops. My grandfather (who had lived in Canada for a while) met many of the Canadian soldiers in London and would often bring them home for supper and chats about Canada. It was one of the first links our family made to the country we would eventually adopt as our home.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Phil, as Canadians we were aware of how the English were extremely hospitable to Canadian forces but it was really hard to grasp the reality.
    The Dutch showered Canadian forces with appreciation.
    My wife went through the war in England. As a little girl she remembers most the blackouts and bomb shelters.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We are losing so many of these WWII veterans so fast...will we then forget the horrors of war? I think so...we have already forgotten and are involved in more wars...Putting our young people into those same awful situations...and for what???why would we intentionally inflict those memories on our young people...so sad...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Judy, Hitler was a different story. He wanted to conquer the world. We had to do something not only for ourselves but all the other people he threatened.
    I think today we have been poking our noses into other people's business. I think we could have helped in other ways than going into battle.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Loved your article!!!!
    Tracey

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks Tracey. There's much more I could have said but then I wanted people to read some of it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wonderfully said, Red. There are so lives forever changed because of war.

    ReplyDelete