Editor:
“We will remember them.”
This is the promise our nation’s servicemen and women make to their fallen comrades. It is a promise they keep every day, and a pledge Canadians fulfill annually on Nov. 11.
Over the years, I believe our government, our schools, our media and our society have done a superb job in reminding us who we honour on Remembrance Day and why it is important that we remember them.
Only through our combined and concerted efforts will the importance of remembrance be passed on to future generations. This is of the utmost importance.
We all know that the older generations of veterans are passing on. Those who served our nation in the First World War are gone; many of those who fought the Second World War have also departed.
Our country has benefitted greatly from our veterans’ service and the wisdom of their experience. We mourn their passing, but I’m not sure we fully understand what the loss of their leadership will mean for Canada in the long run.
In addition, the organizations our veterans are leaving behind are changing. Specifically, Royal Canadian Legion branches in communities throughout our nation are struggling to adjust. For the legion as we know it to survive, those who have never fired a shot in battle will have to become its chief supporters.
This changing of the guard reflects the fact that the wars our veterans fought were successful in creating a more peaceful planet. Still, I worry that shrinking membership will not allow the legion to serve the veterans of today’s conflicts in the same manner as their predecessors.
Canada’s role in the Afghanistan war is coming to an end. A new generation of veterans is coming home to join the peacekeepers who saw our country through the Cold War. I believe it is up to us, those who have mercifully been spared the physical and mental scars of battle, to ensure the Royal Canadian Legion lives on to serve them.
That is just the first of many reasons why I am so proud to be a legion member.
Time marches on, as do our soldiers. But one thing will not change.
“We will remember them.”
Blake Richards,
Wild Rose MP
