Those who did not return unharmed

This Remembrance Day, I will think about all the soldiers, sailors and airmen/women who served in Canada’s foreign wars from the Boer War, the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War to the Balkans and Afghanistan. I will think about our peacekeepers doing a job that soldiers shouldn’t be doing but conversely a job that only soldiers can do.

I will think about those who served and didn’t come back. I will think about those who came back with wounds both visible and non-visible.

I will also remember my friend Jim who was killed in the Balkans. I will remember my friend Gord, who, after a lifetime in the army, was killed in the Balkans after hostilities had essentially ceased and he was there in a corporate capacity to rebuild the new nations that emerged. I will remember to think about my friend Jim, whose son Mike was killed in Afghanistan. Mike was young and will never be married or have children and will never have a future.

Remembrance Day is not about glorifying war, as some mistakenly believe; it is about remembering those who were killed, were wounded or served with honour so that others would not have to live in fear. Such is the price of freedom, and there are always those who are ready to serve at Canada’s behest, knowing that some of them might not return unharmed.

Lest we forget.

Stephen Sawyer Lieutenant Colonel (Ret’d.) Metchosin