Remembrance Day: Lest We Forget.

[joedales]

On Remembrance Day, I think of my grandfather Grattan Bernard Flanigan who served in the Canadian army in the First World War. Recently I found some of his military records online. I thought others might want to look up their relatives and included the link below. It is a strange feeling to see their signatures on forms. My Grandpa Gratt was fortunate to return home and have a good life. He did not talk about the war but apparently saw action in the 5th Canadian Pioneer Battalion, he once told my father about how terrible the shelling was...


Search the online Canadian Military Records

[URL="http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/search.aspx"]http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/search.aspx[/URL]


Here is an image of his enlistment papers - he survived 3 years from 1916 - 1919.

[joedales]

Remembrance Day was a sad time for my mother and grandmother.
My grandmother's brother Lt James Ambrose Horan was killed in action in the Somme in Oct 1916.
He left behind a wife and three children.

[grassfarmer]

It seems incredible how fast the survivors of the two world wars have passed on. My grandmother and a great Aunt were kids through the Boer War, nurses through WW1 and my great Aunt widowed in WW2. Her husband was in the Merchant Navy torpedoed by a U-boat in the same week their house was destroyed in an air-raid. She died when I was a 14. It doesn't seem long since WW1 veterans were still attending the Remembrance ceremonies, now the WW2 veterans are getting scarce. My Dad was a kid in WW2 and soldiered in SE Asia in the 50's - now he is in his 80's. We are losing this generation that lived and fought through the biggest conflicts the world has seen. Hard enough for those of us who knew them to relate to what they went through. We MUST remember them for the sake of our kids and grandkids.

[Braveheart]

My Grandfather, Clifford Bridges, was wounded in the hand at Vimy Ridge. After treatment for the wound he drove an ambulance instead of returning to infantry.

I remember Grandpa going to work in the Legion club room. Mostly though, he spent his time in the Sanatorium in Ninette as a gas attack had left his lungs damaged.

My wife's uncle, Ben Johnson, was killed in Germany in the last days of WW2. His death haunts the family to this day. Ben had been a popular young man in his hometown of Baldur. It was very sad.

Spring ahead to present day. One of my Karate classmates is a veteran with PTSD. He struggles to find employment. He's young, fit, and well educated, but his file contains things the PTSD caused that makes potential employers pass him by.

Tomorrow I will remember. I will remember the sacrifice, supreme or otherwise. For me the day is sacred. The men and women that serve are not gods, sons of gods, prophets or otherwise divine. They are just people. Sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, ordinary, yet extraordinary.

[bucket]

We must never forget.....but I do wish our leaders would learn before they sent Canadian troops in ...with them coming back with PTSD and less support.


If the war in the middle east is affecting our sovereignty then fine but the soldiers coming back should have all the required support for their sacrifice.

In the earlier wars didn't they give soldiers a quarter of land returning?

[SASKFARMER3]

Take a Minute of your day to stop the combine or cart or truck and just sit and think about all our freedoms we Canadians enjoy. Just one minute is all you need. Think about it. No bullets are flying while your harvesting, no one dragged you out of your home and shot you, no one took you livestock, no gov confiscated your land, you can speak your mind, you can do pretty much what you want.

Thank a Veteran.

To my Uncle thank you.

[bgmb]

Yes, What a thing to sign up to fight for your country, such a risk, such a sacrifice. Dads dad was in II signed up along with some of his brothers. Scary and nasty stuff we hope to never see again.

[Guest]

thanks joe , thats pretty easy to use . dads uncle , who was killed in WW1 comes up right away. it was nice to hear trump thank veterans in his speech and say they wouldn't be forgotten . not trying to make this political , but i sure hope he means it . they are forgotten here by to many people and politicians also . thanks

[foragefarmer]

Had a neighbor who lied about his age and went to fight in WW2 at the age of 16. He came from a large poor family in rural SK, told me there was nothing else for him to do. Such blind bravery. He show me a Nazi Swastika flag he brought back to Canada after the war. Such a wonderful man, think about all the time.

Thank you to all Veterans who have served Canada, the greatest country in the world, past and present.

[Flatlander]

Thanks to all who fought or still stand on guard. In my family, it was my grandfather and four of his brothers that went. Two were killed in action. Ones of the fallen bros. is in small Belgian cemetery and the other who died in the second battle of Ypres has his name on the Leivin Gate at Ypres along with scores of others who died there. Grandfather said that that same battle at Ypres ended up saving his life as he caught a piece of shrapnel through his forearm and because of that ended up in the Royal Air Force 41st squadron, where he was a natural in the cockpit and felt much safer than in the trenches.

[sumdumguy]

Dad was a 5'11, 22 year old. He first hitch hiked on the trains to Vancouver to join the navy. Due to a punctured ear drum he was rejected. He then took the train back to Yorkton where he trained as a Blenheim twin engine bomber pilot (because at 5'11 he was too tall to be a fighter pilot). After training he was posted to England. He was the lead plane for the squadron, usually ten fighters heading to North Africa. He made several trips leading fighters because they had no navigation. He flew from England to Gibralter to Malta, the island off the coast of Italy. He spent three years in India out of Calcutta, bombing the Burma Road. Much of the bombing was done at night without instruments or lights. His navigators and gunner were shot out a couple of times. He tells stories about staying up all night to keep dingos from chewing off the tires of the plane. These were harrowing times for a young farm boy being the only plane returning when five planes went out. He grieved his many friends who never made it. It affected his life forever. He was proud to serve but the loss of young life was horrendous. I think he considered those flights suicide missions - sending young guys out in planes that fly 200 miles an hour when the Germans had fighter planes like the Folker Wolfe and Mescherschmidt that flew 400 miles an hour. He was truly humbled and came back to live his dream as a kind and gentle grain farmer. He always had a plane parked at the farm and all of his grandsons have pilot's licenses. He lived to the ripe old age of 94 and did 100 push-ups a day until in his mid-eighties. Today we will go and take our grandchildren to his grave.

[therealnorthernf]

It is the VETERAN , not the preacher,
Who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the VETERAN , not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the VETERAN , not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the VETERAN , not the campus organizer,
Who has given us freedom to assemble.
It is the VETERAN , not the lawyer,
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the VETERAN , not the politician,
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the VETERAN , Who salutes the Flag,
It is the Veteran , Who serves under the Flag,
ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.
I don't usually suggest that many emails be forwarded, but I'd be EXTREMELY proud if this one reached as many as possible. We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.
God Bless them all!!!


Author Unknown to me