AFGHANISTAN WAR BRINGS HOME MEANING OF REMEMBRANCE DAY
(OSOYOOS TIMES — Nov. 8, 2006) —
It's Remembrance Day on Saturday, and this year more than any in recent memory, the real meaning of the observance stares us in the face.
For the first time in five decades, except for brief action in the 1991 Gulf War, Canada's men and women in the Armed Forces are actively fighting in a protracted war and are losing their lives.
In the years since the end of the Korean War in 1953, our veterans have been fading from the scene and making the remembrance of why we honour them an increasingly remote notion.
We knew we owed our army, navy and air force heroes from the First and Second World Wars and the Korean conflict a huge debt of gratitude for defending our freedom “ but as fewer of them appeared at November 11th ceremonies and the anniversaries stretched to 40, 50 and 60 years from 1945, for many younger people the reality of the sacrifice was bound to become less real.
Today, it has again become all too real.
As of a couple of days ago, 42 Canadian soldiers, including one woman, Cpt. Nichola Goddard, have been killed since 2002 in the Afghanistan war.
Without complaint, our troops are serving in an extremely difficult and dangerous situation. It appears they have been handed one of the toughest assignments in Afghanistan's southern provinces and are suffering a disproportionately high casualty rate, compared to other allied forces.
But our government has asked them to serve, in an effort to help the good people of another country enjoy the freedoms that we do, and they are serving with courage and honour.
Whether one agrees with the current war or not, it brings home to us more than ever just how much thanks we owe to our men and women in uniform.
