The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
As the artillerymen swung three abreast down Main Street, traffic stopped and people watched from the sidewalks. Some stood in silence. A few wept. Some cheered a bit or called out to soldiers they knew - to an officer who had for years devoted his spare time to the militia battery, to a genial giant from the slums, to a farmboy from Taylor Village, to a man with a police record, to a teenager leaving the prettiest girl in town. (The Canadians at War 1939/1945. Volume One. Montreal, Reader's Digest, 1969. Excerpt referring to the departure of the 8th Battery from Moncton, N.B.) When war came, Canadians volunteered readily to serve their country as champions of liberty. They came from farms, from small towns and large cities across the country, riding high on the initial wave of indignation, excitement, and patriotism. They joined Canada's war effort prepared to defend, to care for the wounded, to prepare materials of war, and to provide economic and moral support. War has always meant death, destruction, absence from loved ones, but in the initial surge of patriotic fervour these played a secondary role. For the men and women who rallied to support their nation's cause, the threats of war seemed far away and unreal. In the fall of 1914 as the First Contingent of Canadians left the shelter of the St. Lawrence for the open Atlantic, some of the realities came into focus. Nursing Sister Constance Bruce wrote: Those who came forward had not stopped to count the cost, for the excitement was thrilling, the lottery alluring, and the cause glorious; but now that the confusion was passed, and the fulfilment of vows alone remained to be faced, things took on a more sombre aspect .... How could they know that four long years of death and destruction were ahead? Again in 1939 when the mobilization orders came for the Second World War, Canadians flocked to enlist. They included veterans of earlier wars, boys still in high school, and thousands of unemployed. The recruits came from many regions and from varied backgrounds. Aubrey Cosens, 18 years of age, a railway section hand at Porquis Junction, Ontario was rejected by the RCAF but did get into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Robert Gray, on graduation from the University of British Columbia, joined the Navy. John Foote, a 35 year old Presbyterian minister, joined the chaplain corps. All were typical Canadians and all distinguished themselves and won the Victoria Cross. Even as they experienced the brutality of the war, some men took time to question the forces which had brought the hostility between countries to its present state, and to ponder on the ability to return to normal. Donald Pearce wrote these words from a front line dugout: When will it all end? The idiocy and the tension, the dying of young men, the destruction of homes, of cities, starvation, exhaustion, disease, children parentless and lost, cages full of shivering, starving prisoners, long lines of civilians plodding through mud, the endless pounding of the battle-line. (Donald Pearce, Journal of a War: North-West Europe, 1944-1945. Toronto, Macmillan, 1965.) For those who witnessed first hand the barbaric realities of combat, the desire for reason and for peace was dominant. Yet only a few years later, in 1950, Canadians were again called to uphold the cause of peace and freedom. The men and women who served under the United Nations flag in Korea included new recruits as well as veterans from the previous war. Along with various army units, the navy and the airforce provided vital support and endured months of hardship in the hope of maintaining world peace. For all of these conflicts fought in far-off lands, there is much to remember. Foremost are the people, the men and women who served wherever they were needed. They faced difficult situations bravely and brought honour to themselves, to their loved ones and to their country They were ordinary Canadians who made extraordinary sacrifices.
