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We will never forget

“Lest we forget” is one of the most powerful phrases ever created to honour the quiet heroes who served this country and defended its basic freedoms.
RichardsHarleyMugMay23jer
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“Lest we forget” is one of the most powerful phrases ever created to honour the quiet heroes who served this country and defended its basic freedoms.

Most of these men and women were simply ordinary people who felt the need to answer a call to duty for their country.

The expression “Lest we forget” extends from the aftermath of the Great War (the First World War). It was a time when the horrible number of battlefield casualties resulted from early-20th century war technology and the ability to inflict huge damage on troops.

First World War weapons could exterminate life at a then-unfathomable rate. Soldiers were mowed down in droves by rapid-fire guns and more powerful artillery. They spent eternities in filthy trenches waiting for another round of unending horror.

We have no more living soldiers from World War One. The last soldier has joined his fallen comrades in arms and the world has lost its last link with this devastating war.

This is the part where “Lest we forget” kicks into the equation, because Remembrance Day is also Armistice Day and it commemorates the day when the First World War ended for its soldiers.

I have only vague personal recollections of time spent with my Uncle Vic, one of two great-uncles from my father’s family that were First World War veterans. The other one, John, passed away long before I was born.

I met Uncle Vic as a child, far removed from any real understanding of his war. He was simply a nice old guy who my dad liked well enough to visit anytime we got near his town. It was obvious that my father held Uncle Vic in high esteem, but he had a better understanding of the man as a person and his earlier life as a young soldier.

In retrospect, I wish that I had been smart enough to get to know Uncle Vic beyond a superficial look from my childhood days.

The Second World War was a different story because this was the war that sent the “Greatest Generation” to the battlefields. The term Greatest Generation was accurately coined by journalist Tom Brokaw, and it was a reference to a generation that had endured the Great Depression and now found themselves in the middle of another world war.

They were the generation before mine and they had no illusions about the impending war. They were well aware of the huge cost in human life that emerged from the First World War One, yet they were still more than willing to defend their country.

This was a generation of soldiers who most of us baby boomers can remember very well because they were the people who celebrated the end of this brutal war with the biggest population explosion (my generation) ever seen in Canada.

My family had five young men who volunteered for service in the Second World War Two. Most of them volunteered in 1939, including my father. He wanted to be a pilot, but his career ended very abruptly in training. It was an injury that also prevented him from service in the army and navy, and it bothered him to his last day that he was denied an opportunity to serve his country.

His younger brother Don went to war as a very young soldier. In fact, Uncle Don attempted to go to war at 15 before my grandmother put a halt to that plan. After he got a little older, he served in some of Europe’s bloodiest arenas before the war’s end.

My Uncle Don McRae served in several of the same regions as Don Sutherland. They were unaware of this fact until a family gathering had the two men comparing notes about the region. They discussed the area almost like they were back-packers on vacation, but the unspoken truth between them was left out of the conversation.

My family also lost a member in the Second World War when Uncle Rod McRae was shot down and lost at sea in his last mission as a Wellington bomber pilot. Bad luck and circumstances meant that he, like many, would not be coming home after the war.

The last living veteran from my family died this year. James (Mac) McRae joined his own brothers and fallen brothers in arms as another soldier at last post. I was named after Uncle Mac and I always had a great deal of respect for this man and my other uncles who risked so much for their country.

Men (and now women) who go to war are ordinary people who are willing to perform extraordinary duties that are well beyond our comprehension for their country. They seek neither fame nor fortune for their efforts, but they must never be forgotten for their personal sacrifices. Lest we forget. …

Jim Sutherland is a local freelance columnist. He can be reached at jim@mystarcollectorcar.com