Remembrance Day 2009

Red for Poppy Day. Didn't go to the Cenotaph this year, but have honoured our veterans on my own. Most significant was the collection of portraits the students in the Langley Fine Arts School did of the soldiers killed in Afghanistan - absolutely amazing work - portraits are very difficult to do, and the kids created beautiful and moving tributes to all the soldiers who have died there so far. It was very moving to read the reaction of the families, as well....They seemed to appreciate the gesture from the young students equally as much as the finished portraits.

My nephew-in-law, Jake, is scheduled to go to Afghanistan with the US Marines; in fact, he may have already left, I'm not sure. He and Sophie live down in California so we are somewhat out-of-touch, although Sophie lives on Facebook, and I take my info from her postings. She is completely in the military social circle, with friends consisting of marine couples....They sound like a bunch of teenagers (although they are all around 20 years old now) having fun with bbq's and such, but the reality is, they are facing losing their spouses for a large chunk of time to a battle zone. I hope Sophie has lots of support for while she is alone and worrying about Jake.

My father was never in the military, and spent the Second World War working in Edmonton, where apparently some woman on the street handed him a white feather to indicate that she thought he was a coward for not being in the army, when the fact was that they wouldn't take him because he had had tuberculosis. He would have been 27 when the war started, so I guess people thought he should be signed up.

My grandfather, my mother's father, spent the First World War overseas driving an ambulance. I don't know whether that was because he was a Conscientious Objector, or just his job in the army. He died when I was 6 and I never had a chance to talk to him about it. His son, my Uncle Arch, was in the Navy during the Second World War and part of the crew that captured a German submarine off the East Coast, but he never talked about it either. He learned to be a diver in the navy, the kind that went down in a suit with an on-the-boat air pump (i.e. not Scuba) and he did some diving commercially after the war, before becoming a tug boat captain. Arch looked very handsome in his navy uniform, I must say - he was in his early 20's, I think.

One thing I am very grateful for is that my 2 dear sons have not had to face going to war and have had no inclination, being of an artistic bent, to choose the armed forces as a career. I remember when the first Gulf War started, that was my immediate reaction - OMG we're at war - what does this mean for Jordan and Liam? But it didn't last long, and it really was never a full-on, fight-to-maintain Canadian sovereignty type of war, so the fighting was restricted to 'career' soldiers and not the general public, as in previous wars. In fact, the Gulf Wars were so small that I cannot remember their dates - something I feel bad about, as some Canadians did die, and others ended up having collateral damage as a result of being part of it.

Anyway, I honour the war dead and the survivors in my own way, with thanks.