Last year, I wrote a Remembrance Day post on my personal blog about my maternal grandfather’s experience as a soldier in WWII. On a day like today, it’s worth another read… or just a read, if you’ve never seen it before.
Go ahead. Take a look. I’ll wait here.
Ok, welcome back.
When I asked my Mom if she had ever heard this story, she said no. She said that she actually couldn’t recall my grandfather ever talking about the war with anyone in her family.
This story has now become my best memory of my grandfather and I remain honoured that he chose to confide something so personal in me… something he had never confided in anyone else.
After he told me this story, he sat quietly at the dinner table. He was reflexive and thoughtful. After a while, he broke his silence, turned to me, and asked me the toughest question I have ever been asked:
Would you ever enlist in the Armed Forces?
I was completely caught off guard. If memory serves, I fumbled my way through the answer with a bunch of “times have changed Grandpa” because I didn’t know how to tell him that I don’t have the balls to do what he did for this country.
Let’s get a few things straight — my grandfather had a priest forge a birth certificate so he could enlist early. He and thousands of other Canadians boarded boats and planes and headed into an environment where men were being killed by the hundreds every day to fight for the preservation of our ideals and our way of life.
And let’s get one more thing straight — there are thousands of Canadians who still choose to fight for this cause on our behalf.
On one day of the year, we pause to remember. Why? Because this is literally the least we can do.
Lest we forget.
Thanks for sharing! It’s so important that we keep telling these stories, and honouring those who stepped up.
Great post, Shawn, and great perspectives. I really appreciate Toby’s point of view and how eloquently it was expressed. Well done!
My paternal grandfather served in WWII and did his basic training as an officer at CFB Kingston. It wasn’t until I graduated from Queen’s in 1992 that he would ever even return to the base (even though my dad also graduated from Queen’s in 1967). His army experiences were that traumatic to him: even though he was based as an officer in St. John’s NL and never saw action overseas. Just being through basic training in the army was enough that he wouldn’t go back to the base for over 50 years. On the other hand, he carefully preserved his uniform and passed it on to the oldest grandson bearing his name so the experience must have meant something not altogether negative to him as well.
At this time of year, I like to remember those men and women who, with the best of intentions, laid their lives on the line to protect our way of life. Whatever your view of war in general (I am categorically opposed to it), I think it is important to remember. After all, the point of the day and the slogan, “lest we forget” is to remember the horrors of war so we can try not to repeat them.
Thanks all for your interesting perspectives. I had a friend tell me about how his family made it through WWI and WWII living in Greece… chilling stuff. We all have such interesting perspectives.
I am so torn on this topic – my peacenik side, born of a mom who ran away to Canada with a draft dodger, is so anti-war, I find it hard to reconcile with support for things related to the military. Still, I know that, as you say, times have changed. The threat in Europe in those world wars was enormous, war itself was different, and yes, freedom itself was at stake.
I wrestle with wondering why anyone would want to sign up to kill or be killed, yet understand and have great respect for the fact that they sacrificed much, even those who came back physically whole.
Every Remembrance Day, though, with two grandfathers who were involved in WWII (one as a labour camp prisoner, one in the navy), I find these things do in fact reconcile themselves for a few days, as it is time to respect those sacrifices, express sorrow over the great losses, and hope for peace built on this remembrance of how bad it can be.
In the end, those impulses aren’t so far away from each other, after all.
I don’t know if your grandfather’s tough question had all the context it really needs to be answered properly. The right context would also help Gav, whose comment is above, understand a little better why so many of our fathers and grandfathers enlisted.
I didn’t get that context well myself until a few years ago, when I was invited to a farewell dinner at my father’s regiment’s Mess. After the meal, many of the ex-servicemen present stood to speak in appreciation of the retiring honorary colonel.
The regiment had served with honour in Europe during the Second World War and today was sending younger soldiers to Afghanistan. There were several who mentioned the commander’s wartime service, and others who linked his tradition to the campaign under way today. One older man alone made a point that took some courage in that situation.
He said that, in contrast to the campaign today, the war against Nazi Germany was a response to an enemy attack. I have to say that no matter how I try to argue it, that difference is still clear to me.
Now there could have been some resentment in the Mess that night. The active campaign in Afghanistan had brought the regiment a new sense of purpose and many younger men had volunteered. There was a grand feeling of pride. But to their credit, nobody had anything to say to that old soldier once he was finished. The talk passed quickly to other things.
The Second World War was a fight for a deeper freedom than we see threatened today. The thought of jackboots marching through the streets of one’s hometown was intolerable to a degree we have to think about in order to understand. I would never dare say it was easier to envisage giving one’s life in battle, but I do believe that there was a deeply different sense, at that time, of the justice of the fight.
That sense alone, I believe, is enough to show that your grandfather was not talking about the same Armed Forces, and the same challenge, as today… and Shawn, I believe you and I cannot know whether we would find the courage, or the balls as you say, to rise to the same challenge if we were put to the same test. That test has not been given to us, and your grandfather’s question was unanswerable.
Let us pray it never happens, and by all means let us be fully grateful for the sacrifices which have given us the freedom we enjoy, and at the same time let us remember that it was the wish of our fathers and grandfathers that we should not be put to that test. They showed us that, by taking on the fight.
oh my – what an incredible story…
We are so truly lucky.
A question many of us can’t even contemplate.
What is more unbelievable is that approx 1/3 of military aged men in Canada went off to fight in WWI and in WWII 40% of military aged men served for Canada.
Unbelievable…
Thanks for sharing Shawn.
My husband had some of the most interesting conversations with his Oma after his Opa died – he fought for Germany. The stories were never told until after he died.
My paternal Granda fought for the British army.
To this day I cannot stand at the cenotaph without a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.
We are very lucky that our cenotaph is located just a short walk from my kids school. Every year the entire school walks over and attends the ceremony and stand in honour of the men and women.