With courage equaled only by the sacrifices they have made, Canada’s veterans have served this country with distinction. Every Nov. 11, we honour them.
To me, Remembrance is about much more than a solemn ceremony. Remembrance is the fulfillment of a promise made to those who willingly sacrificed so much for our country, our freedom, and the liberty of future generations.
Several years ago, I had the privilege to visit the Vimy Ridge War memorial, built on the site of one of the bloodiest battlefields of the First World War.
A seemingly impregnable natural fortress, thousands of French and British soldiers died attempting to take it, before the duty fell to all four divisions of the Canadian Corps in early April of 1917.
Fighting side by side for the first time, over four bloody days our ancestors took firm control of the Ridge. More than 7,000 Canadians were injured, and 3,598 killed.
These are the facts, in black and white, that you can get from any history book. But statistics are not the full measure of battle, as I discovered when I visited Vimy and felt this hallowed ground with my own hands. The grass that grows there is the life that grows from mud soaked by courageous blood, shed by young men in the cause of peace.
As the centennial of this transformational victory approaches, thousands of people across our nation are working to preserve Canada’s First World War legacy. The new Canadian $20 bill includes an image of the Vimy Ridge Memorial. This Veterans’ Week the Vimy Foundation is asking Canadians to “Give a Vimy for Vimy,” to help raise funds for a new education centre to be constructed at the memorial site. For more information, go to www.vimyfoundation.ca
My point is this: Remembrance can be more than a ceremony. The duties we perform every day of the year – ensuring our veterans’ legacy lives on – fulfill the promise: We will remember them.
As Canadians, we are proud of all our soldiers and veterans who fought in the First and Second World Wars, The Korean War, those who served our nation as peacekeepers around the globe and most recently, those who fought to bring stability to the people of Afghanistan.
Our duty to them is to ensure their heroic actions continue to echo on though history.
We owe them that.
