Why do we remember them on the eleventh of November each year? The war stopped on the eleventh hour of November 11th, 1918. Those who were in the war decided it would be right to remember their friends on the day the fighting stopped. Many Canadians also died in the Second World War, the Korean War, on peacekeeping missions and in more modern conflicts, including Afghanistan. These men and women are also remembered on November 11th. When you wear a Poppy, you remember all of those brave Canadians.
We gather at cenotaphs and memorials in more than 2,000 cities, towns and villages throughout Canada. We stand with our hats off, our heads bowed and we wear a Poppy. We participate in a simple, but very moving ceremony to honour the many Canadian service personnel who have died in war and in other missions throughout the world. Canadians remember those who paid the supreme sacrifice in many ways.
Some of these men and women left high school and university classes to fly warplanes while still in their teens. Others stormed the beaches of Sicily, Italy and France or fought in the Battle of the Atlantic in tiny warships known as corvettes. Many of them did not reach the age of twenty-one before they were killed in action, but their plans for the future were as bright as yours today. They left the excitement and promise of graduation—of sharing more good times at home with friends—to serve. The war turned their world upside down. More than once in the last hundred years, generations of young Canadians were thrust into massive conflicts which threatened their way of life. Thousands volunteered to serve in Canada’s military, becoming sailors, soldiers and air force personnel. They knew going in that enlisting would probably put their lives at risk, but they went ahead anyway. The reasons they cited for enlisting varied, but most of them did so because they were concerned for the future and the security of their way of life. Today, most of us have been exposed to conflict or reports of conflict.
Remembrance Day is the time to honour those who paid the supreme sacrifice. It also gives us the opportunity to reflect on how we would feel if our whole pattern of life was threatened. Would we have the courage to do what our grandfathers and grandmothers did?
This is why it is important to wear the Poppy, and relate to those who left their homes, loved ones and friends to fight for Canada, and to remember those who are serving today. But above all, we must remember those who did not return.
