To the Editor,
What does it mean to find the cost of freedom? Row on row in the Field of Honour at Greenwood Cemetery lay men from the four corners of this world who heard the call.
We haven't known war on our land since the war of 1812, yet in our cemetery lay the remains of many veterans who served abroad. Today the Alberni Valley is filled with many descendants from war-torn countries freed by Canadian soldiers.
When I hear the lament of the bagpipes and stirring of the drums, I rise to my feet out of gratitude and respect for all those that have fallen or suffered on our behalf. i am grateful to Canadian soldiers who went to and freed the Netherlands many years ago.
The memory of me as a young boy standing near the cenotaph some six decades ago in front of city hall, on Remembrance Day, an overcast, cold, rainy day standing beside my dad are still very vivid in my mind. Watching row on row of weathered veterans of three wars marching in step, who had given up unselfishly their prime years to respond to the call.
They came again this day to remember those that were not parading with them. Soldiers' and families' lives were changed immeasurably by the horrors of war. The stillness of the silence of the hour, only broken by the cry of a lone bugle. The gratitude in my father's eyes for Canadian soldiers who freed his homeland are well imprinted on my memory of that day.
Teach your children well this Remembrance Day, this is the day to learn the cost of freedom. Let them see you tap a soldier on the shoulder or stop a veteran's family member and simply say thank you for serving.
Remembrance Day is the day to show respect and honour to all who have fallen and served and those in uniform today on our behalf. Parents, teach your children well and take them with you this Remembrance Day so they will understand the cost of freedom.
George Koning,
Port Alberni
