HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-11-05, Page 8, ' .Pg4V03
LEGION BRANCH 109
HIJRCH
PARADE
Sunday, November 9th
at 11:00 a.m.
to
St. George's Anglican Church
HEY DID NOT DIE IN VAIN
It is Remembrance time again and we will
again pay tribute, with appropriate
ceremony, at the cenotaphs and memorials
erected to our war dead throughout Canada,
and beyond.
Eighty-seven years have passed since the South
African War began, 72 years since the begin-
ning of World War 1, forty-seven years since
World War 11 broke out, and even the conflict
in Korea started nearly 17 years ago. Thus
there must be a large number ot young people
who cannot, from personal memory, have a
full appreciation of the meaning of Remem-
brance, even including some sons and
daughters of those being honoured at the
Remembrance services.
Are we informing?
As we partkcipate in these ceremonies - by ac-
tual attendance at the services, not in front of
television sets, I hope - we must ask ourselves
what we are doing to inform our children, our
youth generally, of the significance of this oc-
casion.
Perhaps we might go further and ask if we can
analyze it for ourselves satisfactorily.
Well, why do we hold Remembrance services?
Why should we attend them, especially when
the wind is chill or more attractive pursuits
beckon.
Undoubtedly the first reason is the war dead
themselves; more than 112,000 of them in the
four conflicts listed above. Their names and
their regiments are permanently inscribed in
Canada's four Books of Remembrance, and
in the hearts of those who knew and loved
them.
Their graves are in far -away places and in the
seven seas. It is a sobering experience to walk
among the serried rows of headstones in the
war cemeteries and note theiv names,
sometimes familiar ones, and their ages - 18,
20, 23, 25; truly the flower of youth, its pro-
mise unfulfilled.
But not all of them have markers over their
final resting places. Those who "vanished"
are commemorated on the great memorials
erected by Canada and the Commonwealth
War Graves Commission, of which Canada is
a senior member. They are but names, a
single line to each, on panels of stone or
bronze; 11,285 on the ramparts of the ma-
jestic Vimy Memorial alone.
Why did they have to die? Was their sacrifice
worthwhile?
Their lives were part of the price demanded of
the free world for the preservation of
freedom. For freedom is never "free". It is,
the prerogative only of those who are
prepared to defend it. Failure to resist each
encroachment upon it inevitably means that it
must be redeemed, eventually, at an
spympispol.enenean
awesome price.
The 15 years that culminated in 1945 are a
classic example of that axiom.
Was it worthwhile? Only those who have lost
their freedom can adequately answer that.
Only those who know the tyranny of a dic-
tatorship, and the darkness that descends
when justice is abrogated, know what it is like
not to be free.
There are many such people in your com-
munity. Let them speak!
Let us, on this Remembrance Day, honour
those who, by their sacrifice, gave us the right
to live in democratic freedom.
An inspiration
Let us make it our resolve to preserve their
memory, and to inspire in our children the
ideals for which they gave their lives.
Let us, with sympathy and enthusiasm, do all
we can to care for their widows and their or-
phans, and for their surviving comrades
whose wounds and scars were also part of the
price of freedom.
These men, and those who marched with
them, fought not for personal gain, nor for
glory or for conquest.
Their homeland was their love; duty was their
creed; meaningful were their lives; truly they
are Canada's heroes.
Let us, in our time and in our way, be worthy
of their tradition.
THANKS TO THESE COM
The
Royal
Canadian
Legion
-BRANCH 109-
, Goderich
"1I9 iEwEd tiff e.,2t4! (My not (47,0"
On November lith,
Let us Remember
Banter & MacEwan
Insurance Brokers Ltd.
12 Victoria St., Goderich 524-8376
On this Day of Peace
Let Us Give Thanks in
Prayers for Those who Died
For Our Freedom
59 Hamilton St.,
Goderich 524-8307 Travel
Tholmas
cook
Look at the names on the
Cenotaph
and think of all the
dreams that never
came true.
Lest We Forget.
LAKEPORT
STEEL
INDUSTRIES
Si
Lest We Forget
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Bet -ween the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the s4
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead, Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields ,
Take up our quarrel with the.foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
'If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not.sleep, tho poppies grow
In *Flanders fields.
Lieut. -Col. Iohn McCrae
THEIR GENEROUS
LEST WE FORGET
"Let us remember those who fought
to keep our land free"
thruway
mufflercentre
191 Walnut St., Goderich
524-4200
Let Us Remember
Those Who Died
For Our Freedom
For those who gave of themselves
so that we may be free,
"Thank You."
Gr ayhur st
Business Supplies Ltd.
5242648
EAST STREET, GODERICH
"Lest we forget...."
W.J. Denomme
FLOWER SHOP
AND STAFF
,
68 COURT HOUSI SQUARE OQINEITOWN 00DERICH
524.7335.
vro
Suncoast Mall
Goderich
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