Padre's Corner - We will remember them
November 8, 2023 - Padre (Maj) Troy Dennis, Senior Brigade Chaplain, 1 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group
On Nov. 11, we will once again honour our fallen Canadian Armed Forces personnel.
In ceremonies dotted across the nation, people will pay homage to the more than 112,000 who gave their lives in service of our country.
My first memories of Remembrance Day ceremonies are from my childhood. In Beavers I was chosen to bear a flag at the local cenotaph ceremony on P.E.I. It seemed quite an honour as the adults demonstrated how to lower the flag at the right time. Only later did I appreciate why we gathered every year at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Those we honour are not all in the distant past. We lost many in Afghanistan, but even more recently we have lost lives in training accidents and operations. There is always a cost for freedom and some pay the ultimate price, even in peacetime. Our veterans, old and young, deserve our honour and gratitude.
Caption
A veteran lays his poppy down on the Cenotaph at the end of the Remembrance Day ceremony on November 11, 2014 at Patricia Park Memorial PPCLI, Griesbach Village, Edmonton.
Photo by Robert Schwartz, 3rd Canadian Division Support Base Edmonton Imaging
We live in a time of great change. The pandemic changed things permanently. Supply chain issues disrupt commerce. Economic conditions are turbulent. Wars threaten global stability and bring great uncertainty to the world. And culture change means we are re-evaluating which traditions we will keep and which we pass along to our children.
Remembrance Day is one of those traditions we need to teach to the next generation and pass along. It still brings meaning to me because someone taught it to me as a child. I’d like to think that if something happened to me, or to one of our comrades in arms, our society would remember our sacrifice.
At every Remembrance Day ceremony, we hear an old refrain:
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
And then we respond, “We Will Remember Them.”
This Remembrance Day, if not tasked out, join a service. Signal to others that this is important. Teach it to the next generation. Invite someone to attend with you. Honour it.
For those who find Remembrance Day difficult, please reach out. And if you know someone struggling, do a buddy check. This, too, is part of how we honour Remembrance Day.
We will remember them.