Speaking Notes for The Honourable Gerard A. Phalen, P.C., M.P Agira, ItalyNovember 1, 2004 Please check against delivery Mayor Sanfilippo, Ambassador Fowler, Major General Arp, distinguished Veterans of the Italian Campaign, ladies and gentlemen. I am honoured to represent the Honourable Albina Guarnieri, Minister of Veterans Affairs, here today. As we look around at the mountainous terrain that surrounds us, it is not hard to imagine the very tough slog that faced the Canadians and how the enemy so often had the advantage of high ground. Inexperienced as the Canadians were, their long years of training would stand them in good stead in their four weeks of warfare in the Sicilian hills. The guns of war have been silent here for 60 years now. And yet, I am sure that the passage of six decades has done nothing to blur the memory of our Veterans of Italy, who undoubtedly can recall the sound and fury of battle far too readily. We are privileged and proud to be in this ancient land called Sicily, and at Agira whose roots can be traced back to the XII century BC. So many Canadian citizens can trace their own roots back to Sicily-and I have come to meet many of them in my hometown and in other cities and towns across Canada. We are equally privileged and proud to come to this cemetery, the only Second World War burial place that is exclusively Canadian. In this quiet sacred spot lie the majority of those who fought and fell in the battle for Sicily. 490 brave young Canadian men - each and everyone - somebody's son, somebody's father, somebody's sweetheart or husband. 490 stories that to this day resonate with families in Canada - families whose heartache only softens but never really disappears with the passage of time. If we can't tell all 490 today, perhaps we can tell just three. The first one was told after the war by Lt.-Col. B.M. Hoffmeister, the Commanding Officer of the Seaforth Highlanders in Sicily. He would repeat the saga of Captain W.K. MacDonald who became a fatal casualty very near the end of the Canadian participation in the campaign for Sicily. He was a Medical Officer with the Highlanders who died on August 5th 1943 serving -as always - the needs of others. Of him Hoffmeister would say: "I know of no braver man in my experience than Ken MacDonald. He was one to whom war was just the most dreadful thing anyone could contemplate. He hated every bit of it. He hated the idea of suffering, the maiming of men, and before he went into action, I'm sure he had to fight a battle with himself¿..I think the kind of courage he required to do the job he did was of the highest order. He was an extremely sensitive man. On the day he was killed, he had gone forward into an area really contrary to my orders, because I had checked him on two or three previous occasions when I felt he had gone forward too far. Medical officers, especially good ones like Ken, were hard to replace. But I could not stop him. When men were suffering, he went out to them." Captain MacDonald, recipient of the Military Cross, is buried here at Agira. You can visit him and perhaps whisper a prayer of thanksgiving. [He is at Plot B, Row E, and Grave Site number 194.] It is no secret that it is the young we send off to war. For the parents of the MacKay boys of Prince Edward Island, this must have been a terrible worry, as their sons signed up and were sent overseas at a very young age. And such are the uncertainties of war, only fate and bad luck would dictate who would get to go home, and who wouldn't. Today we are honoured to have in our delegation Ken MacKay. Ken served two full years in Italy with the Prince Edward Light Horse, driving vehicles through all types of conditions - rain, sleet, mud and snow. We are at once privileged and saddened to join Ken in tribute to his younger brother Leigh who shed his blood, his youth and his life in the Italian Campaign. Leigh Mackay of the 11th Army Field Regiment, lies here too. He was 17 years old. [You can pay your respects to Leigh in Plot D, Row F grave site 459.] Clarence Jesse Bain was a young trooper with the Royal Canadian Dragoons. He was only 21 when he lost his life in service to the cause of peace and freedom. We are so very proud to have in our delegation Mrs. Ida Crocker representing the Nursing Sisters Association of Canada. She will no doubt be visiting the site of her lost brother Clarence. [He is buried in Plot C Row E Grave Site 316] Three short stories of three young men who never got to go home to their beloved Canada and their loved ones who missed them so. Today as we honour the sacrifice of all 490, our hearts ache as we think of the futures they never got to live out, the families they never had a chance to say good-bye to. No doubt many of you have friends and comrades resting here too. So many dead. So many more wounded in body and spirit. General Montgomery would later say of the Canadians serving in Sicily "When I say you did magnificently, I mean magnificently¿..I now consider you one of my Veteran divisions." When the battle for Sicily was over it was the Canadian soldiers who had marched the most miles in the scorching summer heat. They made it up more mountains to engage in more successive battles than any other Eighth Army troops. It was Canadian soldiers who engaged the enemy the most times. All in all it was a triumph of endurance and initiative and in the end they became men who won the respect of friend and foe alike. Canadian writer Farley Mowat served in Sicily. Years after the war, he wrote that the Sicilian campaign changed the Canadian soldiers, saying that by the time Sicily was liberated: "We had been well and truly bloodied and the days of our innocence were over." For those who lie here their time in Sicily was short and tragic. But we know they died at the successful start of a difficult task that would influence the result of the Second World War. Today we commemorate the sacrifice of those who were the first fatal casualties of the long ordeal that was to come. Our country could not have been better served. All honour and gratitude are due the young men who rest here. They will not soon be forgotten. May they rest in peace.
