By the Hagersville Legion, Branch 164
The mission of The Royal Canadian Legion is “to serve veterans and their dependants, to promote Remembrance, and to act in the service of Canada and its communities.”
In essence, the purposes and objects of the Legion were born of the need to further the spirit of comradeship and mutual assistance among all who have served and never to forget the deeds of the fallen.
It is paramount that the Legion strives to pass on these goals and traditions to the families and descendants of our ex-service personnel and to raise this awareness among all Canadians.
The major source of funding for the Legion to accomplish this most important work is the annual Poppy Campaign, the foundation of our Remembrance Program. It is the generosity of Canadians that enables the Legion to ensure that our veterans and their dependants are cared for and treated with the respect that they deserve.
This November campaign, which sees poppies distributed to Canadians of all ages, serves to perpetuate Remembrance by ensuring that the memory and sacrifices of our war veterans are never forgotten.
If you were to visit Europe today you would see part of the Canadian identity on over 100,000 gravestones: a simple maple leaf, telling passers-by that Canadians who fell in battle lie here.
If you visited Belgium or France, you would find elderly people who fondly remember the young soldiers who came from across the sea to defend them over 80 years ago.
In cities such as Dieppe in France, people still cry when they think of Canadians. In Holland a maple leaf on your car is a passport to incredible hospitality and gratitude. Holland was liberated by the Canadians in World War Two, and today even the youth feel an intense sense of gratitude. Children in Holland are proud to take care of the graves of our fallen.
At the Holten Canadian War Cemetery in the northeast area of the Netherlands every Christmas Eve, Dutch school children place candles on the graves of the Canadian soldiers. It is an amazing tribute. They say, “Tonight the flames of more than 1,350 candles will softly glow throughout the cemetery. We will always honour and thank the Canadians who gave their lives for our freedom.”
In the Great Wars more than 1.6 million Canadians volunteered for military service. Additionally, 2,500 Canadian men and women have served along with 36 other countries in Afghanistan, helping to build a stable, self-sufficient, and democratic society. Unfortunately, since 2002 we have lost 160 soldiers involved in this mission.
October 22, 2014 – 10 years since
Corporal Nathan Cirillo, 24-years-old, was shot and killed as he stood guard over our nation’s most sacred War Memorial and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Cirillo was a proud member of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada. He was also a loving father to his young son Marcus, a musician, an animal lover, a man of great character and strength, who was loved and now is mourned by his family.
We know the pride that Cirillo felt when given the honour of guarding our National War Memorial, a place to thank our soldiers who died in foreign lands. And now Cirillo’s blood has been shed at the base of the memorial itself.
Cirillo died a true soldier. Killed while fulfilling his duty to stand guard, a proud sentinel, brutally taken as he did his sworn duty.
At the time of his funeral, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said, “Freedom is never free. It is earned by a soldier and then donated to all of us.”
Our military heroes are ordinary – but extraordinary – people. People who willingly set aside their personal hopes and dreams to aid in the battle against oppression and domination. People who set aside their hopes and dreams to protect a land that they love and felt worth defending, an ideal worth pursuing, and a peace worth sacrificing personal safety.
In total, 116,160 have given their lives so that we may live. We who take for granted our way of life, our freedoms, purchased with their blood – we must remember. If we do not, the sacrifice of these lives will be meaningless. They died for us, for their homes and families and friends, for traditions and values that they cherished, and for a future that they believed in.
The meaning of their sacrifice rests with us. We acknowledge their courage and bravery. We respect the pain and horror endured so that we can experience a peace that at one time in world history was not foreseeable. We accept the torch and will hold it high.
We will Remember them
At this time of year, we are asked to think of what war is and what effects it has had on all those involved. Remembrance reminds us of our responsibility to promote peace, to promote understanding and tolerance, to protect the dignity of all people. But above all Remembrance demonstrates our thankfulness for those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice dying or sustaining long lasting injury for us.
They gave of themselves so that we should not know anything but peace.
