Remembrance notes passing of generations
David Jeffrey has spent his entire adult life in the military, first as an active member and still today working with cadets.
But as he listened to the Remembrance Day service Sunday in Chippawa, he wasn’t thinking of people he served with, so much as he was of children and what war does to them.
Jeffrey is 80 and served in several branches of the British military, but his first war experience was as a child growing up on the outskirts of London during the Second World War. He teared up a little at the memory.
“A lot of thoughts go through my mind,” he said. “I was bombed twice when I was in Britain, as a child during the war … a lot of people hear war stories and combat stories, but who ever thinks of what a child went through?”
More than a hundred people attended legion branch 396’s service at the Chippawa arena, including veterans and cadets. Branch president Tom Metcalf reminded everyone the sacrifices Canadians made in war should never be forgotten.
“Our generations are slowly passing away,” he said. “No First World War vets, fewer Second World War vets and our Korean War veterans are now in their
80s.
“So it’s important to pick up the task that was left to us by those who came before us.”
Jeffrey first served in the Royal Air Force Regiment — “which a lot of people have never heard of.”
“It’s like a ground section of infantry and anti-aircraft gunners in the Royal Air Force.”
He later joined the Royal Artillery and since 1980 has worked with army and air cadets in Niagara.
Currently he is a civilian instructor for training with the Army Cadets Corps 2835 based at the Niagara Falls armoury. He
said he loves working with young people.
Regarding military members who died in wars, “I think it’s wrong to say they gave their lives. Their lives were taken from them. Nobody wants to die.
“I’ve been in two services in Britain, and you don’t go in thinking you might get killed. It’s always the other guy. But then, sadly, people do get killed. And then you start to think, that could have been me.”
On Remembrance Day has he ever wondered, why not me?
“If I were to think that way, I would think maybe some deity said, ‘We’ll keep this one and let him go and teach,’” Jeffrey said.
“Because when I teach cadets, I don’t teach with the glorification or message that we’ve got to stand up for our country. I teach them in a subliminal way various ways they should behave … to be good leaders and to learn responsibility for their actions.”
Another Niagara Falls service is planned for Remembrance Day on Sunday, starting at 10:45 a.m. at Gale Centre.