Letter: If you’re lucky, you know or knew someone who sacrificed

By Letter to the Editor on November 6, 2024.

Dear editor,

Re: Thankfulness on Remembrance Day

We all understand we should be thankful for the service and sacrifices of Canada’s veterans, but, as I have come to know detailed examples of what some veterans experienced, my gratitude to all veterans has become more profound.

I am lucky to have known some Second World War veterans, now all passed away, who were luckier than many, because they survived. Their experiences are highly instructive. They fought against horror and danger, so that many others did not have to do so.

Brief descriptions of some of their heroics against the disgusting barbarism of Nazi Germany and against the brutal tyranny of Imperial Japan will illustrate why we should be grateful.

I am honoured to have known a man who served six years in the Canadian Army, in Europe. He saw things we can not imagine. Would you give up six years of normal life? He did, for us.

I am very fortunate to have known a veteran of Canada’s Navy, whose injuries destroyed his physical ability to speak. Would you, literally, give up your voice for the rest of your life? He did, for us.

I am privileged to have known a man who did not qualify as a pilot, instead serving in an RAF ground crew repairing damaged aircraft. He saw dead and wounded colleagues who were lucky enough to return to base. Would you do that? He did, for us.

I am deeply grateful to have known a Spitfire pilot, one of Sir Winston S. Churchill’s “few,” who fought in the Battle of Britain. Would you go on a mission where the fighting was nearly constant for four months, during which 415 out of 866 pilots died and a pilot’s life expectancy, on average, was 87 flying hours? He went on that mission, for us.

Every veteran had experiences comparable to those above. Many did not survive. For their service and sacrifices we must forever be grateful. Remembrance, forever, is the least we owe them.

Yours truly,

Gregory R. Côté

Irvine

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