HEED OUR VETERANS’ WORDS
Lest we forget. The phrase — taken from Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 poem, Recessional, and before that from the Book of Deuteronomy in the Bible — has been uttered with reverence since King George V launched Armistice Day in 1919 to honour the estimated 1.1 million Commonwealth soldiers who died during the First World War.
Over time, Remembrance Day evolved to also honour the 5.3 million or so soldiers from other Allied nations who gave their lives in that terrible war — the war, euphemistically, to end all wars — as well as the 12.8 million others who were wounded. Eventually, many on Nov. 11 would remember the 41 million military personnel and civilians from all countries who were killed or wounded in that conflict, even the enemies’ losses.
Abraham Lincoln’s “better angels of our nature” allow us at times to expand our grief from not only those harmed on our side but to our enemies, feeling through our shared humanity the unfathomable losses war brings to everyone.
As the death toll from 20th-century conflicts continued to add up, we were asked not to forget increasing numbers of servicemen and -women, and civilians, who died in or were harmed by war. That included the 70 million to 85 million people who perished as a result of the Second World War, the 1.2 million who perished in the Korean War and the nearly 1.4 million people who died in the Vietnam War.
Lest we forget, they caution us, yet generation after generation we do.
In a butcher’s bill that is nearly impossible to fathom, it is estimated that 20th-century wars claimed 108 million lives around the globe. In the 21st century, that toll continues to climb.
Those who made the ultimate sacrifice while defending our country and freedoms will always be top of mind on Remembrance Day. (While not a soldier, many people will no doubt be thinking about Abbotsford Police Const. John Davidson, who was shot to death Monday while attempting to arrest an armed robber.)
There is something else we must never forget on Remembrance Day, something that is always brought up by veterans when they meet around cenotaphs. Sure, they recall their buddies, especially those who never came home — the “real heroes.” The message most veterans convey is the utter waste of war, the horror of the experience, the lack of any real honour in killing others, and the burning wish that humans could learn to solve disputes between nations through peaceful means.
Lest we forget, they caution us, yet generation after generation we do.
This Remembrance Day is being held as many people are feeling a heightened fear of war — even, horrifyingly, a possible nuclear conflict resulting from the escalating tensions between North Korea and the U.S. and their combative, immature and vainglorious leaders. Both the pampered and sheltered sons of wealth, neither Kim Jong-un nor Donald Trump have the direct experience of war that tempers the rhetoric and bluster of leaders with military experience. This is a worry.
With North Korea either capable — or soon to be — of firing missiles armed with nuclear bombs that can reach North America, likely without perfect accuracy, the risk to the Lower Mainland and the rest of the province, while slight, is real.
Let’s hope that world leaders will not forget the horror of war we are reminded about every Remembrance Day and that they will have enough wisdom to avoid an unthinkable conflict.