This year marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War in Europe. The conflict expanded to include nations from around the globe, and is now often referred to as the First World War, or variations.
More than 11 million combatants died in the 1,561 long days of conflict, for an average of about 7, 687 deaths per day, every day of the war, on all sides. An estimated 64,990 Canadians died in the Great War, averaging over 41 Canadians per day, lost in trenches, mud, air combat, and forever gone to the bottom of the sea.
This of a total of just 7.2 million Canadians at the time.
From this slaughter, the concept of Remembrance Day was born. Not to glamourize or glorify war, but to make sense of the indescribable losses, and to simply remember those that died, at so young an age, for, in many cases, no plausible reason.
The nature of death in the Great War was mechanical, mass-produced, and completely impersonal. Soldiers were essentially cannon fodder, using 19th century combat tactics against an unknown 20th century industrialized opponent.
The scope of death was so huge as to be virtually impossible to imagine, and yet impossible to ignore. Hence, the concept of remembrance.
Regardless of politics, religion, background or heritage and social standing, Canadians sailed east on the Atlantic, landing in England before transferring the the killing grounds of the Western Front, and almost 65,000 remain overseas, some in graves, many never identified, and many who have never been found.
It’s the loss of life alone that we remember. The value of so many lives never realized; what contributions could an entire generation of Canadians have made to our society at the dawn of what was once described as “Canada’s century.”
And so in 1919, the first Remembrance Day services were held throughout the British Empire; a tradition that will continue again this coming Tuesday at 11a.m. at the Richmond cenotaph outside city hall.
On Tuesday, Canadian veterans, serving military personnel from 39 Service Battalion, members of the RCMP, Richmond Fire/Rescue, Canadian Border Services agency, the BC Ambulance Service, and cadets from Sea, Land and Air corps will parade to the cenotaph for a service that will culminate in two minutes of silence at 11a.m.
During this moment of, all too brief, silence, we will remember them. The dead of the Great War. We will remember the dead of the Second World War, the Korean War, and Canadians who have died in the service of their country in places such as Bosnia, the Gulf Wars, Afghanistan, and on myriad peace-keeping and security operations at home, abroad, and on the high seas during our countries history.
We will also remember warrant officer Patrice Vincent, and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, recently killed in the service of our country, for the sole reason that they wore the uniforms of Canada.
We will wear our uniforms with pride and without fear, and in our act of remembrance, give meaning and worth to every life given in the service of ours, the greatest nation on earth, Canada.
Please, wear a poppy, and join us.
Matthew McBride (Royal Canadian Navy., Ret’d) is chair of the Richmond Remembrance Day committee.
