, 11.11.2023 02:35 AM

Remembering my Dad on Remembrance Day


Here he is, age 20, at officer cadet training in the Summer of 1952. Front row centre.

He went on to join the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps but the war ended before he could go over. He always regretted being unable to fight fascism and anti-Semitism in battle, but he taught us to always oppose all forms of hate.

We miss him every single day – and on this day, even more.

God bless him and everyone who serves.

27 Comments

  1. hugh says:

    Lost a lot of friends in our most recent war,
    we all join for our own reasons but at the end of the day what it all comes down to is
    Pro Patria!
    (For Country)

  2. Robert White says:

    My grandfather White was Canadian Infantry for the First World War. He was injured in France and lost one of his legs there. His fellow soldiers took him to a farm in rural France and made sure the farm family took care of him until they could retrieve him the next day.

    My father was RCAF in the Second World War but he was only a potato peeler/machine gun cleaner as he wore coke-bottle glass and had flat feet.

    I never had any interest in war or battlefields. In brief, the military is a destroyer of people & lives. Rational people would never join such a cause IMHO. Peer pressure likely forced many to enlist merely to be a part of the crowd.

    Ghandi had the right idea about war.

    RW

    • Robert,

      I agree entirely as regards WWI and other more recent conflicts. But when it comes to DemonSeedsTM like Hitler, it’s for all intents and purposes, God’s War against Evil of the highest order. Didn’t necessarily know that in 39. Found it out rather quickly after that.

      In any event, we should always thank our troops for their service, regardless of when or where they served their country.

    • AndrewT says:

      I served and still serve.

      Why?

      Because I believe that despite all it warts Canada is still a nation worth risking one’s life for.

      Rational people still believe in putting their lives on the line for the greater good.

  3. Raymond says:

    Very cool.

  4. the real Sean says:

    Every Remembrance Day I miss my grandfather. In his early 20s, his job was to spot U-Boats attacking the North Atlantic convoys. On the day the war ended, when everyone was partying in Halifax, his ship was ordered back out to sea to accept the surrender of Nazis ships. I always loved that story. When everyone was celebrating, my grandfather was still at sea getting it done.

  5. My Dad was pissed off by this but here it goes: they were 11 offspring in my Dad’s family. Granny Blanche thought that Frank M. was the apple of her eye. Playing favourites never good but I digress.

    So…she told Grandpa Frank A. to use his Conservative political connections. My father wanted to join the Navy but Blanche quashed that one as well. Instead, three bigwigs got together and arranged “the physical exam”. End result: discharged from being enlisted in the Army because of flat feet. Never served a day, despite his desire to serve. (His brother Cliff was with the Royal 22nd in France and saw action in France and Germany (WWII) and fortunately made it back.) However, Blanche’s manoeuverings never sat too well with him either.

  6. Dave says:

    What regiment was he with? (besides the Armoured Corp) Hussars, Dragoons, Dirty Strathcona’s.?

  7. Greg says:

    “Through the mud and the blood to the green fields beyond.”

    Your dad would recognize that phrase.

    As someone who wore the black beret I salute your dad’s memory.

  8. Peter Williams says:

    My uncle served with the West Nova Scotia Regiment in Italy and The Netherlands. Prior to him going overseas his youngest sister, my mother, gave him a pocket sized prayer book. He kept it in his left breast pocket, closest to his heart. In the same pocket he kept his pay book.

    On April 15, near Apeldoorn my uncle was shot by a German sniper. The bullet passed through the pay book in his pocket, didn’t touch the prayer book, and then busted up the bones in his upper left arm. Took multiple surgeries, and a year for my uncle to recover.

    I have the undamaged prayer book, and the pay book with the bullet hole.

    In the pay book you can see he was paid $1.25 a day.

    My Uncle has passed on, but I often think of him.

  9. Peter Williams says:

    Everyday I visit the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

    I pick a day, and look at the entries for all those serving with the Canadian Forces and merchant navy, who died on that day.

    Very sobering.

    https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/results?surname=&forenames=&initials=&keyword=&regiment=&cemetery=&war=100&book=100&fmonth_of_death=11&fday_of_death=11&fyear_of_death=1944&umonth_of_death=&uday_of_death=&uyear_of_death=&submit=Search

    In 1995 I visited Normandy. During my stay I went to the Canadian Cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer. I stopped by each of the headstones. I realized I was older than every Canadian buried in that cemetery. A very emotional moment. As I write this today it still brings tears to my eyes.

  10. Martin Dixon says:

    A friend of mine sent me this story about his cousin. Look at how old these kids were. The mind boggles. His cousin was the pilot:

    https://legionmagazine.com/en/james-andrew-watson-ww-ii-bomber-pilot-sacrifices-life-to-save-crew/

    This is my mom’s dad who died when I was 5 and, unfortunately, I have no memory of him. Apparently he walked me to school once in a while.

    https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=2254642361377339&set=a.810910915750498&notif_id=1668171490666484&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif

    He had a relatively peaceful war compared to Flight Lieutenant Watson. Came home, got married a few years later and raised 8 kids, including my mom.

  11. western view says:

    On this Day of Remembrance, we give thanks for those who serve in our Armed Forces and mourn the lost lives and fractured families. We mourn for those who returned from the battlefields but are physically and mentally scarred for life.
    Canada has had things pretty easy for a long time, living under the military umbrella of the USA. This safety net has allowed us to divert military budget funds toward generous social programs. In the process we have squandered the reputations of brave Canadian soldiers, airmen and seamen who never faltered and passed us generations of peace and prosperity. Those who paid the ultimate sacrifice would be pretty disgusted with our collective starving of a modern military of equipment and enlistments needed to protect us and honour their legacy.

    • Martin Dixon says:

      And the fact that our PM and his PMO couldn’t coordinate his schedule to be around for the ceremonies. Stunning. Jetting around the world increasing his carbon footprint. His attitude is WHY they have been starved. He can’t be running again.

      • western view says:

        The solemnity of standing in dignity and placing wreaths at the National War Memorial seems counter-intuitive to a serial attention seeker running out the clock of his hopeless tenure bungee jumping, karaoke serenading and flitting here and there on the government dime.

      • Martin,

        Let’s get real here. Defence is a low priority for most Canadians given the fact that the next war will rapidly escalate to nuclear, biological or chemical warfare. Conventional armies will be of little use under such a scenario.

        It’s like our glorious purchase of F35s. A shiny new toy that will have minimum impact or effect on the next world war once it comes. The F35 is the ultimate fiscal obscenity but Canada like so many other countries wants to have a feel-good moment with a longer and thicker penis than the Russians, Chinese or North Koreans. A total waste of money. You don’t need F35s to intercept Russian bombers in international air space, bordering Canadian air space. But bullshit won out once again in the end…

    • WV,

      I suspect that you are correct but democracies other than the United States are butter over guns countries. The best example is Reagan’s 600-ship Navy. It didn’t last very long given budgetary considerations.

      Another example is the state of the British forces in the interwar years between WWI and WWII. Baldwin and Chamberlain started re-arming far too late and much too slowly. But their attitude was a perfect representation of British society’s pacifist demands in those years.

      • western view says:

        If all Canadians want is an Armed Forces standing around to bail out the Provinces when disaster strikes, let’s cut to the chase and get on with it. A few planes for search/rescue and tooting our senior government ministers around and a few ships for search/rescue and checking the odd lobster trap.
        That would be a fitting ending to the Trudeau “post national” dream: an Army of sandbaggers and nursing home diaper changers. As we are now an Un Nation, we have no sovereignty to bother with and we can cede the Arctic and Oceans to the greedy bastards who actually have some vision.

        • WV,

          We long ago conceded the Artic and Oceans to those greedy bastards. It all started with Dief and the Avro Arrow.

          Rearm to the teeth and we still couldn’t control what the United States, Russia, China and anyone else does in the Artic or elsewhere. We may have physical sovereignty but Canada will never, ever, have sovereignty based on our defence posture in said regions.

          The Americans don’t even recognize the Northwest Passage as Canadian sovereign territory. They claim it’s in international waters.

  12. Peter Williams says:

    One of my most prized possessions is a series of 11 post card sized watercolours painted by a great uncle who served in WW1. I’ve mounted them on my upstairs stairway, so I see them multiple times a day.

    Six are predominantly black tones. They are very somber.

    I remember everyday

  13. Martin Dixon says:

    This was about the best thing I saw today. From my friend and stereo guy. “Think of Howard.”

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1695640037580692&id=100014041361775&mibextid=VI5BsZ

  14. Warren,

    Are most of us males even capable of rising to the level of the greatest generation? I think not. But circumstances will not wait for the masses to seriously grow up. The school of infinite hard knocks is beckoning dovetailed with the generalized fog of an all-out war. In my book, it’s going to be Good vs. Evil all over again and in short order.

    Humanity, decency, democracy and liberty will be in the balance. Alas, I regret most of us are not Douglas, or even Warren Kinsellas, for that matter. It won’t be pretty. (Talk about an understatement.)

  15. Warren,

    From CBC News:

    And then there’s our local hero who saved D-Day.

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/young-quebec-soldier-walked-away-with-d-day-plans-1943-1.5257652

    I hope he has at least a bust or a statue inside the Chateau-Frontenac or at La Citadelle. Couture deserves both.

  16. Pipes says:

    How do we repay the debt of their sacrifice? We do that by not forgetting them but remembering them.

    For the last 21 years I have presided over Remembrance Day Services. During most of that time I was and am a RCL Chaplain. I have heard their stories and bore witness to their tears.

    They were young, as we are young,
    They served, giving freely of themselves.
    To them, we pledge, amid the winds of time,
    To carry their torch and never forget.
    We will remember them.
    Response: We will remember them.

  17. Pipes,

    Amen. The veterans are lucky to have you.

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