We in Canada are approaching a seminal event. Within the next few years we will witness the passing of the last Canadian Soldier who took part in The Great War. A chapter will end and a book will close. Between 1914 and 1918, Canada produced an army. More than 590,000 answered the call of King and Country to serve. Some joined up for adventure, others for patriotism, some for regular pay, others simply to escape the life they were living. All of them would pay a price.
They sacrificed their comfort, their safety -- their lives for something bigger. Of the 590,000 recruits more than 325,000 saw service overseas. 68,000 would never return home. After the war, those who survived came back to the lives they left behind. Some of course, were able pick up where they had left off and continue on, they had lost friends and family, but for some reason they were able to deal with what they had seen and done. Others had lost limbs or their sight and could not return so easily to what they had known. Still others, the 'shell shocked' would never be the same. These men would fight the war for the rest of their lives.
It is hard for us to imagine what these men went through. What they must have felt during four of the most devastating years the world had ever seen. What they must have had to do.
In my own family three men answered the call. William Earl MacDonald joined the 132nd North Shore Regiment. When he got to England he took a voluntary reduction in rank to private so he could get to the front sooner. He fought with the 87th Grenadier Guards at Vimy Ridge, was exposed to gas near Lens, France and was near Mons, Belgium when the Armistice was signed. He was one of the lucky ones who returned home in 1919.
Willard John MacDonald enlisted on the same day as his cousin Earl. He too joined the 132nd NSR. When he got to England he was transferred to the 42nd Royal Canadian Highlanders. He was 20 years old when he fought at Vimy Ridge. He died there.
Charles Deveber Trevors enlisted in the 2nd New Brunswick Forestry Battalion. He transferred to the 44th Battalion Canadian Infantry and saw action in France. He was killed on September 27, 1918. Just over 6 weeks before the end of the war. His mother waited until the day she died for him to return from the war.
So to Earl, Willard, Charles and so many others – Thank you. Your lives, your sacrifice, your memory will not be forgotten.
'…and at the going down of the sun,… We Will Remember Them."
1 comment:
I just watched Paschendaele last night. I could only watch it from a mother's perspective; those boys were my son's age. I can't imagine how they were expected to sign on for that. My heart aches.
Post a Comment