Today I have with me my Grandmother’s brother’s Bible that he was issued when he joined the Royal Navy in the Second World War. This week at a prayer meeting one of our members read to us from a Bible his father received in 1918 as a prisoner-of-war in England.
Today things are very different than past Remembrance Day ceremonies. Covid-19 has affected every aspect of our lives – separating us from friends and family. People have not been able to be with loved ones as they passed on from this life to the next one. People are dying. We hear of outbreaks in different cities and other places where our family is and we worry and we wonder. I have a daughter on the mainland working with vulnerable people and so we follow reports closely. 1914-1918 and 1939-44 there was a large sense of worry and loss and grief and fear that gripped our world, our country, and even our valley here more than 100 years ago and more than 75 years ago in the world wars.
Today we are standing outside in the cold, the damp, the wind, the rain. 100 + years ago today many of our service people, our family members, were standing and living outside in the cold, the damp, the wind, the rain; in trenches, trembling while they were shooting and being shot at by others who were standing outside in the cold, the damp, the wind, and the rain, equally trembling from the cold, the fear, what they saw, what they felt, and what they did. Many young people went from their home here to serve us and our country there and many never did return home here to see their families again.
When World War One broke out Canada was a country of just over 7 million people. 619 000 Canadians served in WWI and 66 976 never returned. That was almost 1-out-of-every-5 boys aged 16-24.
In the Alberni Valley, of the 1600 people who lived here at the time 116 of them signed up to go overseas in just the first few months of the war alone.
Today we are here to remember them. Today we here to remember those who lived, died, and served in the First World War. This year is the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2. Today we are here to remember those 1 million Canadians who served and the 45 000 Canadians who lost their lives in the Second World War. Today we are here to remember those who served in the Korean Conflict, the UN peacekeeping missions, other conflicts, and our servicemen and women who are still serving and seeing and experiencing many things that thankfully you and I can probably not even imagine. Our veterans are still passing on from this world to the next. Let us remember them.
In the Christian faith, of which I am a pastor, we have a hope for a future where there will be no more wars, no more death, and no more sorrow – only peace. May that day come soon! And let us always remember all those who have lived and died so that you and I could have a chance, even now, to live out our lives in peace and security. Let us remember.
We will remember them.
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