Who do you remember?

[Sharon]

Captain G.E.Dainard C.D

overseas from Dec.1939 - 1945

Gave his best , all he had, and came home a shadow of himself.

Thank you Dad.

Picton ON 1939

[patvetzal]

My Dad and my Uncle. They both earned purple and both came home...

[sawbill]

There was no one in my family that I know of in the service. What I do remember every Nov 11 is having to learn the poem "In Flanders Field" for memory work in grade school. At the time it meant little to me but as the years went on and my interest in history, especially Canadian history grew the poem became more and more significant and meaningful.

[Sharon]

Yes, getting older brings a whole new meaning to Remembrance Day. John McCrae wrote that poem after his best friend was killed.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/poems/john...ers-fields.htm

[line052]

All friends or co-workers of mine. This is not a happy time of year for me

Afgan

Ainsworth Dyer
Robert Short
Robert Beerenfenger
Bobbie Girouard
Albert Storm
Jamie Murphy
Anthony Boneca
William Cushley
Anthony Klumpenhouwer
Frank Mellish
Rick Nolan

Plus all my friends who got wounded and the many who have taken their lives in suicide, due to the lack of help by this government and the previous one.

Bosnia

John Ternapolski
Mark Isfeld

Somalia

Mike Abel

[mosquito]

There are three I am remembering,my Dad and Mom both served in the military but not in war. My Uncle was the only one that served over seas in war and passed away just a couple years ago. He told few stories but liked the one about how the one day they were up on a hill and their morning supplies didn't come, the guy they sent came back shouting about German's everywhere. They ended up sitting on that hill while the battle of the Bulge went by them (unknown to them, until they needed supplies) and then went back the other way. He had an interesting military career.

"As a member of the 8th Army Air Corps, he was the sole high school graduate selected to join the first class of college graduates for training in the new, top-secret Radar service. Attached to the 482nd Bomb Group, he became a radar specialist with a B-17 Pathfinder bomber crew conducting missions out of RAF Alconbury Air Field in England, using the H2X radar which he helped design.

In the final months of the war he served at ground-based radar stations in France and Germany near the front lines. During the Battle of the Bulge, a turning point of the war, his radar unit accurately directed bombers to important enemy targets and greatly aided the defeat of Hitler's Nazi forces."

There are interesting stories to be heard and told, I learned nothing about the flying part until I read his obituary. There are still heroes out there, I saw a picture of Russ Bannock making an appearance at an air show a few years back, no relation to me but I've always been intrigued by the intruder stories so I hope he is doing well. I've read his story in a couple books, I wonder how many other unknown uncle (cousin, grandfather...) stories are out there, I hope some take the time to ask.
http://www.constable.ca/caah/bannock.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Bannock

[Targetor]

Flander's Field is a poem we studied in grade school and it is one of the few poems I have ever been able to remember - word for word. It had a profound impact on me.

I met a WWII veteran in 2002 - he had been with the Canadian artillery pushing north in Italy and he was strafed by a German fighter plane and the shells took a good chunk of his calf away - and killed a number of his battery mates.
My father-in-law is a former Korean war infantry soldier - he was a Bren gunner and a member of the Royal Canadian Regiment. He doesn't speak of the war too much - he can't. But he still has nightmares about it. And PTSD at age 89. I felt compelled to give these old soldiers something in recognition of their service and sacrifices - and this morphed into a poem I wrote called "We Remember". The perspective is that of ghosts from WW1, WW2 and Korea reaching out and imploring us to not forget them. Every year, at this time, I remember them all. Lest we forget.

We Remember

We remember a shrill whistle piercing the chill of morn
Urging us, old boys and young men to scramble over the parapet
And run, crazed of eye and damned of heart
Toward enemy trenches lying in wait in the early mist
Until cut down by lead-winged scythes
We become one with the reaping red ground

We remember the smell of cordite fumes
And the sweat of fear, cold and slick on our backs
As we struggle to bracket the thin, black crosses
Of enemy planes between the tracing arcs of shells
Spewing from our bucking guns
Until we witness the fiery end of foe
Mere moments before we are consumed by flak

We remember wave spume blown on grey expanse of sea
While the deck pitches and rolls beneath our feet
And the look-out’s anguished cry – too late the warning
As white-waked death comes stalking, comes charging
Comes crashing through hull plates and detonates
Breaking our ship’s back and, trapped within
Our souls surrender to eternity’s icy embrace

We remember slogging through rice paddies
Burdened by pack, rifle, lack of sleep and bitter cold
Looking up the snow-capped mountain
Where other men wait to repulse our advance
When suddenly unleashed, artillery shells
Come screaming and tearing through the air above
Erupting the ground beneath us
And shredding our bodies with furious finality

We remember that you mourn us less and less
We who once fought – and died – for you
And that our deeds fade from your eyes
With each passing season

Forget us not …
Not today
Not tomorrow
Not ever

Else you shall fail to keep us forever living
Within the comradeship of shed blood
And extinguished youth

Dan Beaudry 2002

[Rodbender]

I'll just place this here For all the Vet's and my Grandfather

[Dythbringer]

I had a great uncle who served in WW2. I think of his service on this day. However, I don't forget about all Canadians who have wrote a blank cheque for their fellow countrypeople.

If anyone is interested Farley Mowat wrote of his experiences in the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment during Operation HUSKY. The best book of his writings is The Regiment. I read it when I joined "The Hasty P's". It is a great read and I have read it many times since.

Dyth

[Sharon]

I had a great uncle who served in WW2. I think of his service on this day. However, I don't forget about all Canadians who have wrote a blank cheque for their fellow countrypeople.

If anyone is interested Farley Mowat wrote of his experiences in the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment during Operation HUSKY. The best book of his writings is The Regiment. I read it when I joined "The Hasty P's". It is a great read and I have read it many times since.

Dyth

You joined the Hasty P's!!! MY father was a Captain in the Hastings and Prince Edward regiment from, 1939-1945. Good for you.

Farley was their intelligence Officer- great books.