NVWSP 2025 video for a teen audience (grade 7 to 12)
Video / October 21, 2025
Transcript
Narrator (voice-over):
- A soldier lies here.
- No name. No rank. No unit patch.
- Only silence … and sacrifice.
Twenty-five years ago, his remains came home from a First World War cemetery in France— One unidentified Canadian standing for thousands who never came home.
For every family who waited at the station or the docks and watched the horizon… But never got to say goodbye.
Bringing him home reminded us that remembrance isn’t just history— It’s a living promise.
A way to honour not only those we lost…
But the values they fought to defend.
CAF Member #1 (Army):
- In 2000, Canada laid this soldier to rest.
- We didn’t know his name, but we knew his story—
- because it belonged to all of us.
- He could’ve been one of us.
- From a small town in Nova Scotia…
- A farm in Saskatchewan…
- A Northern First Nation…
Not from Newfoundland, we know — it wasn’t part of Canada yet.
But the men of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment stood shoulder to shoulder with Canadians at places like Beaumont-Hamel.
And in 2024, we brought one of them home too—
An Unknown Soldier now laid to rest in St. John’s.
When we speak of the Unknown Soldier, we honour them both…
And all the others that they represent.
- How old was he when he left his family to go fight for freedom in the First World War?
- Was he someone’s brother? Husband? Uncle?
- Or was he barely older than some of you?
CAF Member #2 (Canadian Ranger):
Was he a rifleman — pushing forward into no man’s land…
Mud to his knees, fear in his throat?
- Maybe he was a signaller — stringing wire through shattered fields…
- Digging deep under cover of night…
- Burying lines to shield them from shellfire and keep the messages moving.
- Perhaps he was a stretcher bearer — crawling through craters to reach the wounded…
- Unarmed. Exhausted. Comforting them with a calm and quiet certainty he almost certainly didn’t feel…
- Telling them “You’ll be okay.”
And maybe thanks to him, they were.
CAF Member #1 (Army):
- There are so many ways he might have served …
- All of them dangerous.
- All of them necessary.
- All of them derived from a sense of duty…
- And all of them conveying a courage, compassion and conviction that we all strive to carry forward today.
Canadian Armed Forces members may serve in different roles, in different times, in different places…
But we all share the same promise:
- To protect this country and the people in it.
- To serve with honour, integrity, loyalty, and bravery —
- In snowstorms and sandstorms…
- Through fire and rain…
- At sea, in the skies, and on the ground…
- At home and across the world…
Narrator:
- The Canadian Army answers the call — whether the threat is across the world or across the street.
- Fighting for freedom in Afghanistan.
- Delivering peacekeeping aid in Mali.
- Serving with NATO allies in Latvia.
- Helping after hurricanes in the Caribbean.
- Supporting communities across Canada when crisis strikes.
They do it not for glory — but to protect lives, support peace, and defend what matters most.
CAF Member #2 (Canadian Ranger):
Canada’s military is made up of people just like you.
I’m sure you know someone who has served.
- We are parents, relatives, teachers, neighbours — everyday people who made a choice…
- To stand up for others…
- To stand on guard for this great nation…
- To stand for something bigger than ourselves.
And standing together is how ordinary people can do extraordinary things.
CAF Member #1:
- We don’t know his name.
- But we know what he stood for.
- And we carry that forward.
CAF Member #2 (Ranger):
And you can too.
- By remembering — not just with words, but with actions.
- By listening to Veterans’ stories.
- By learning what they lived through.
- Because remembrance is more than memory.
- It’s responsibility.
- Remembrance is not about the past.
- It’s about who we are now.
- And who we choose to be.
Narrator:
This Veterans’ Week:
- Remember the Unknown Soldiers —
- Not for the names we’ll never know…
- But for the sacrifices we’ll never forget.
- Remember the battles —
- Not waged for glory…
- But out of duty to defend what matters most.
Remember those who came home changed…
and those who never returned.
- Remember those whose service was too long forgotten —
- Indigenous, Black, and racialized Canadians…
- Who have always served with valour, even when their country failed to honour them in return.
And remember this:
Freedom is not a given.
- It must be fiercely guarded…
- Bravely defended…
- And relentlessly pursued — not just in war…
- But in how we live with purpose...
- Lead with conscience...
- And honour what was won and what was lost.
Lest we forget.