Book by 31 Oct. 2018 to join the Nov. 11th outing and reception.
As we are all aware, November 11 has a special significance for all Canadians as we pay tribute to those who have given their lives in defence of their country and its values. Over 115,000 Canadians have paid the supreme sacrifice in armed conflict and peacekeeping missions in order that we may enjoy the freedoms and liberties that we take for granted today. Over a 20-month period from July 1943 to March 1945 more than 93,000 Canadians took part in the campaign that led to the liberation of Italy. During this campaign Canadian casualties totalled more than 26,000 with nearly 6,000 paying the ultimate sacrifice for our country. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Ortona -- one of the most strategic and bloodiest battles of WWII for Canada, as it opened the way towards victory for the Allied forces. Resting in the Moro River Cemetery are 1,375 Canadians.
The Embassy of Canada will be represented by Ambassador Bugailiskis and Colonel Tom Endicott at the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery (near Ortona) at the Remembrance Day Ceremony at 10:30 on November the 11th.
The Embassy will sponsor one bus to Ortona on November 11 (pending sufficient participation) and CCR members and friends are welcome to participate. The Ortona plan will consist of bus transportation from Rome to Ortona, a ceremony at the Moro River Cemetery and transport into Ortona, where guests will have the opportunity to visit the War Museum prior to a light catered buffet lunch. The bus will depart Ortona mid-afternoon and finish at the Official Residence in Rome, where the Ambassador invites all participants in Ortona to attend an evening reception honouring the Canadians and Italians who sacrificed their lives. Transport from Rome will depart Villa Grazioli at 7:00 a.m. and will return to the Official Residence in Rome no later than 6:30 p.m., in time to attend the reception starting at 7:00.
Those wishing to use this bus transportation and participate in Ortona and at the Official Residence in Rome on 11 November are requested to advise Sergeant Sonia McLean (sonia.mclean@international.gc.ca) by email no later than 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday October 31, 2018. A decision regarding the hiring of a bus will be rendered on November 1st.
If you have any questions regarding Remembrance Day events, please direct them to Colonel Tom Endicott, Canadian Defence Attaché, or Sergeant Sonia McLean.
Showing posts with label Rememberance Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rememberance Day. Show all posts
Saturday, October 27, 2018
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Lest We Forget
November 11 - A Personal Reflection
Like many Canadians and members of other Commonwealth Countries I have been wearing a stylized poppy on my lapel the past few days. My Italian dentist, asked me on Monday what it meant. Was it for some sort of "festa" or celebration, he asked. I'm sure my explanation in bad Italian left him as perplexed as when he asked the question. But then I began to think - why have I worn a poppy this time of year for almost as long as I can remember? What does it mean? Or perhaps more accurately does it still mean anything?
I would probably have been 4 or 5 when I wore my first poppy and stood for two minutes of silence with the rest of my classmates to remember the war dead. Back then World War II was still a recent event - I had friends who had lost relatives in the combat, my uncle had served overseas, we had people in our neighbourhood who had come to Canada after their homeland and families had been devastated by the war. Unfortunately we also picked on the few German kids in the area because they had "killed" Harry Simmons' uncle. It was history but it was recent history. So when we stood, uncommonly quiet, in school assembly it had a resonance that we may not have understood completely but felt none the less.
I recall that in those early years there were a few veterans of the Boer War at the Cenotaph in Toronto. As time passed they had joined their fallen comrades as did veterans from World War I - the last known Canadian veteran of the Great War, John Babcock, died this past February at the age of 109. And today at commemorations throughout Canada and the world, the men and women who honour friends and colleagues who died in World War II and even the Korean War are becoming fewer and fewer.
So perhaps for many Canadians the reason for remembering is fading from memory. But sadly battles continue, though not on the scale of those "Great Wars," and we still have reasons to remember. I hear of the death of a former young colleague’s husband in Afghanistan and know their son will never get to meet his father, I see footage of the cortège of another Canadian soldier making its way from Trenton along the 401, I witness the struggles of friends who have served in our military abroad as they come to grips with what they have experienced – and I see that these events have as much resonance for me today as those of 50-odd years ago.
But why a poppy and what does it signify? The poppy's significance comes from Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields. McCrae, an army physician who died in January 1918 at a field hospital, wrote the poem during a lull in the fighting in May of 1915. The poppies grew wild in the battlefields and cemeteries around Flanders. They soon came to represent both the blood shed in war and the sacrifice made by the men and women who served. And tradition says that it is worn on the left close to the heart.
When I got a little older and joined the school choir I remember we sang McCrae's poem at school assembly every November 11. I don't believe this is the version we sang - I know there are several - but I found this rendition particularly moving.
How can I not do something as simple as wearing a poppy to remember?
Will Hobbs
Like many Canadians and members of other Commonwealth Countries I have been wearing a stylized poppy on my lapel the past few days. My Italian dentist, asked me on Monday what it meant. Was it for some sort of "festa" or celebration, he asked. I'm sure my explanation in bad Italian left him as perplexed as when he asked the question. But then I began to think - why have I worn a poppy this time of year for almost as long as I can remember? What does it mean? Or perhaps more accurately does it still mean anything?I would probably have been 4 or 5 when I wore my first poppy and stood for two minutes of silence with the rest of my classmates to remember the war dead. Back then World War II was still a recent event - I had friends who had lost relatives in the combat, my uncle had served overseas, we had people in our neighbourhood who had come to Canada after their homeland and families had been devastated by the war. Unfortunately we also picked on the few German kids in the area because they had "killed" Harry Simmons' uncle. It was history but it was recent history. So when we stood, uncommonly quiet, in school assembly it had a resonance that we may not have understood completely but felt none the less.
I recall that in those early years there were a few veterans of the Boer War at the Cenotaph in Toronto. As time passed they had joined their fallen comrades as did veterans from World War I - the last known Canadian veteran of the Great War, John Babcock, died this past February at the age of 109. And today at commemorations throughout Canada and the world, the men and women who honour friends and colleagues who died in World War II and even the Korean War are becoming fewer and fewer.
So perhaps for many Canadians the reason for remembering is fading from memory. But sadly battles continue, though not on the scale of those "Great Wars," and we still have reasons to remember. I hear of the death of a former young colleague’s husband in Afghanistan and know their son will never get to meet his father, I see footage of the cortège of another Canadian soldier making its way from Trenton along the 401, I witness the struggles of friends who have served in our military abroad as they come to grips with what they have experienced – and I see that these events have as much resonance for me today as those of 50-odd years ago.
But why a poppy and what does it signify? The poppy's significance comes from Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields. McCrae, an army physician who died in January 1918 at a field hospital, wrote the poem during a lull in the fighting in May of 1915. The poppies grew wild in the battlefields and cemeteries around Flanders. They soon came to represent both the blood shed in war and the sacrifice made by the men and women who served. And tradition says that it is worn on the left close to the heart.
When I got a little older and joined the school choir I remember we sang McCrae's poem at school assembly every November 11. I don't believe this is the version we sang - I know there are several - but I found this rendition particularly moving.
How can I not do something as simple as wearing a poppy to remember?
Will Hobbs
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
