Canada’s veterans and war dead deserve respect
By Lethbridge Herald on November 8, 2024.
LEAVE IT TO BEEBER
Al Beeber – Managing Editor
Remembrance Day is on Monday, the solemn day we honour the men and women who served and too often sacrificed their lives so we in Canada can enjoy the freedoms we have to this day.
During world wars and international conflicts, so many Canadians have lost their lives valiantly fighting for our country and its allies against tyranny and oppression.
Some among us, however, refuse to wear the poppy which is emblematic of their call to duty, they won’t stop to give a minute of silence, they won’t respect the dead who are the reason we live in a country with freedom of expression, freedom of religion and peace.
While we are a country with internal conflicts, we have those conflicts because we don’t live under authoritarian rule where opposition can be a death sentence. We have the right to debate and argue and disagree because of the sacrifices made by the men and women who donned uniforms to serve Canada.
We owe the veterans – living and dead, we owe the men and women who serve this country in the military right now for the rights and freedoms we have. And we need to remember the people who call this great country home cannot ever take for granted the way of life we enjoy.
Yes, life is difficult here for many but just look at countries overseas where residents can’t freely oppose their governments, can’t choose their own religion to worship or dress the way they want. Be grateful Canada is a country that welcomes inclusion and diversity.
When I stand at the Cenotaph on Monday morning covering the ceremony, I’ll be thinking of two family members who served this country bravely and with honour.
One will be my great grandfather John (Jack McEwen) who was born in 1876 in Inverness, Scotland and died in 1960 in Vancouver.
Great granddad McEwen served both in the Boer War and again during the First World War with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force. During his military career, he also served with the the Canadian Mounted Rifles, 21st Alberta Hussars, and Lord Strathcona’s Horse.
A mere 5’5” tall with a dark complexion and blue eyes, Sergeant McEwen signed his attestation paper to join the Expeditionary Force on January 11, 1915 at the age of 39 years and five months.
On Dec. 1, 1916 he was determined to be permanently incapacitated due to injuries and no longer able to serve.
First settling in Carberry, Manitoba where he met my great grandmother Margaret Whitelaw, he ended up in Cochrane working for Brewster Transportation in its early years as a blacksmith and farrier. A family story has him being so excited about the birth of my grandmother Molly he rode in by horseback to Calgary to have her birth registered in what was still known as the Northwest Territories and after a few too many celebratory drinks, had the wrong date put on her birth certificate.
Great granddad McEwen was a Canadian hero who served even after being wounded, his service and loyalty to his new home even though he had a family which shows what a courageous human being he was.
I’ll also be thinking of my late brother Grant who was destined to be a soldier from childhood. That’s all he cared about, it’s all he read about and after enlisting at the age of 18 in 1973, he served decades with the Canadian military including a long stint as the supply technician for the Canadian Snowbirds based out of Moose Jaw. Grant died way too young at the age of 65 a few years ago in Wainwright, and I know Remembrance Day meant the world to him.
I considered a military career, as well when I was with the Air Cadets in Raymond but a two-week summer camp in Penhold convinced me that wasn’t a lifestyle for me. I’m sure I would have enjoyed a long and successful career in the military but I was a long-haired gentle kid who wanted to be a writer and at 14, I decided I was not meant for a regimented life. At least in uniform because as a journalist, I’ve had to follow some pretty regimented deadlines over the decades.
While I never followed in their footsteps but on Monday I will honour the paths they forged along with so many others for this country. I’ll wear the poppy proudly on my heart and think about the sacrifices made by Canadians who often were still in their teens as they bravely faced death in the field, at sea or in the air. Young lives lost not in vain but for the future of the country that we call home, a country that serves as a beacon of hope for those seeking their own freedoms.
Canada’s soldiers who have died wearing a uniform for this country died in the name of freedom and on Monday they deserve to be honoured as the heroes that they truly were.
19-18
I had to wait a few days to calm down before responding to this one.
All very well said. The trouble is, there is very little “follow through” to support veterans “after their Day in November”. We still hear the horror stories of a veteran losing a limb and VAC requiring proof? Or homeless veterans that have been diagnosed with PTSD that affects them badly, are paid a stipend and cannot manage for themselves because of the disability and are ignored.
We talk eloquently of providing for our veterans, we wave the flag, we give them “their day” we slap on the bumper sticker but it pretty well ends there.
I have never done the comparison but I would suggest that if WCB had a client that was missing limbs from an industrial accident, they are treated better, mind you, I have heard horror stories there as well.
So again, we wave the flag, shed a tear, then move on for the other 364days while a veteran is starving and homeless? At the same time those among us wearing the bumper stickers, and pump up the Vet on Veterans day spend the next 364 days, pumping billions into Drug Addicts who decided they were bored with a normal life so decided to get high, and get care 24/7/365!!!! BUT, lets not forget Nov 11 is coming up for Vets so lets play that card to the hilt for one day!!! So you’ll have to pardon me for adding your rant to the pile of other BS that is piled high for Veterans.
We talk of spending Millions in our city on Drug Addicts, we have LHA planning to place them throughout the community as if they will make wonderfuk nieghbors! We have Councils, MPPs MPs conjuring up millions everyday to service people that gave up on life and CHOSE to do drugs.
No one chooses to lose a limb, an eye, an arm, 2 legs, 2 arms, lower torso, but if you OD in the street, EVERY MEDICAL SERVICE UNDER THE SUN COMES RUSHING IN TO “save lives” because thats what were doing, “savin lives”. We have a theatre of drama professionals crying on Que and pleading for more and more money, the entourage is amazingly well organized.
Time for a realignment of brain waves! The unfortunate thing is some are lacking in that category and you can’t realign what you do not have.
So now, we all can put away our 1 day Rant, for another 364 till the next Vet day appears. Pretty soon I will have no “ducks” to give on this issue, I am tapped out, so you guys win, drug addicts win, Veterans …..not so much!
Sit as an MP for 6 years you get a immediate lifetime pension allocation of $1000s of Canuck Pesos! MP moves to a “high paying job” because after all, he/she was a respected MP/MPP
Sit as a CAF member , lose a body part, get released from the Military and spend the rest of your life Arguing with Veterans Affairs Canada for $1.20. Military Member cannot move on, very few jobs to be had, and generally the ones that are, were not his or her aspirations in life, their life PERMANENTLY changed, people just don’t give a crap what your aspirations were, its what hole they can stuff you in that strokes their ego that “they did something”!
The closing statement says it all I quote” Canada’s soldiers who have died wearing a uniform for this country died in the name of freedom and on Monday they deserve to be honoured as the heroes that they truly were.
Read that over and over again, and you have described “Canada” very well, well done!
Think I am overstating? Try this, for one year treat a VET with ALL the services and MONEY available to an ADDICT and then treat the ADDICT with ALL the services we provide VETS. I will bet you by the end of the year, the ADDICTS would be dropping like flies, freezing in the dark, starving to death and totally ignored, VETS? Would be lovin it! but we won’t do that so thank God Nov 11 is coming up, we can all cleanse our souls!
Got spare cash Mr Trudeau, send it to a 3rd world country to help with Climate Change and look really important for about 30 seconds.
Disclaimer- I am not a journalist