WHITEWATER REGION (Cobden) — On Monday, beginning with march on the colours and a president’s welcome, the Remembrance Day ceremony in Cobden saw the closing of Main Street and around 100 people in attendance. Grades four to eight students from Cobden and District Public School (CDPS) braved the cold with the First Cobden Scouts group, who marched to the cenotaph in line. Both laid wreathes during the service.
O’Canada was sung, followed by the last post and two minutes of silence. The hymn sung was Onward Christian Soldier, which was followed by the laying of the wreaths, a time for remembrance and the royal anthem. After march off the colours, people lined up to pay their respects at the cenotaph and added their poppies to the wreathes.
Rev. Patricia van Gelder gave the chaplain’s address.
I couldn’t believe it the first time I heard this. But then I heard it again — a little different, but basically the same and I began to accept it as truth…
A couple of people were sitting at a table in a store or a mall. There was a sign on the table — a reminder that November 11 was just around the corner. And there was a box of poppies.
People walked by. Some paused to get a poppy. Others smiled and nodded. And one stopped and said, “every year I see these around and I always meant to ask someone — what’s the poppy all about?”
The first time I heard that, I thought the person must have been kidding — making a really bad joke. I mean, how could anyone not know? But then I heard it again — different details. Same message.
What’s the poppy all about?
I shared it with a friend who is retired military. And he said he wasn’t surprised. And then he told me about someone who came up to him while he was in uniform and asked him about Vimy, “you keep talking about Vimy. What’s Vimy?”
What’s Vimy all about? I was shocked. My friend — not so much. He said,
“We assume everybody knows the reasons we do these things and the stories behind them but they don’t. Not anymore. And it’s getting worse.”
I shouldn’t have been so shocked. We’ve all known this was happening. We just didn’t want to think about it. The stories are being forgotten. And many of the people who could tell the stories first hand are gone.
How many of you have thought about that today? About the World War One and World War Two veterans who used to be here with us on November 11 and who wouldn’t have missed being here today, but have died.
Which means if the stories are going to be learned and remembered — it will be up to the rest of us to learn them and to tell them.
That came back to me full force this past summer when one of my nieces and two of her children came to visit. My great niece and great nephew, aged nine and 12, were looking at the family pictures that hang on one of my walls.
When they came to this one, they asked about it. It’s a picture of my mother, in her Air Force uniform. And I know you can’t see it, but if anyone would like to later on, just ask.
She graduated from high school in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia and, the following week, volunteered for service. And so did almost everyone else in her graduating class.
When I was a kid, she used to sometimes take out her high school yearbook and tell stories about her classmates and, if she was in the mood, or if the day was right, sometimes she would point out all those who never came home again. And so many didn’t.
I told my great niece and great nephew about that. And I told them how my mother, their great grandmother, was a stenographer, a secretary. And that she worked for most of the war in Toronto, which is where she met my father, who was also in the Air Force.
Most of it was new to them and I could see them trying to reconcile this 18 year old in uniform with the old woman they knew at the end of her life. But it was their mother’s reaction, my niece’s reaction, that really caught me off guard.
“I forgot that Nana was in the Air Force. And that Grandad was, as well.”
Oh dear. Shame on us, on my generation, for not telling the story often enough or for not telling it in a way that the next generation will remember.
I want to say how glad I am that our World War Two veterans, Marian McQuaig and Ed Stairs, are here today. Thank you for your service.
And I want to applaud our local schools, especially our elementary school teachers, who are doing an amazing job at not just teaching the fact about Remembrance Day but helping the students care.
And, finally, I want to encourage us to use the example of our local teachers as our guide. Let’s remember and help share the stories. And help the next generation care.
Prayer:
Gracious God, always with us —
We thank you for the opportunity to come together here. To stand together and to support each other. And to remember.
We remember the reality of the wars that Canada has been a part of — all of those conflicts.
We remember men and women who have served, and died, defending this country and others. Who have understood that there are things worth dying for.
We honour their memory.
We remember lives disrupted. And lives destroyed. Military and Civilian of all nations.
Especially we remember with love and gratitude those we hold in our hearts.
And as we move forward into another year of hope and fear, strengthen our resolve to care for the veterans of our wars. And to listen to them.
Then give us the strength and insight and imagination to tell their stories… well.
On this day of memories, grant all veterans some peace. Amen.
