REMEMBRANCE DAY 2005

Address at the Community Remembrance Day Service

By Rev. John R. Hannem, Calvary Baptist Church, November 11^th, 2005

   At the 11^th hour of the 11^th day of the 11^th month every year, our country comes to a virtual stand still as Canadians collectively and individually become motionless and observe a moment of silence. With an artificial poppy pinned to the upper garment we remember those who sacrificed their lives in defense of the peace of the country they cherished so much and were proud to call home. This day is known to us as Remembrance Day’.

   Originally this day was called ‘Armistice Day’ and was first conducted in 1919 throughout the Commonwealth in commemoration of the end of the First World War which officially took place on November 11, 1918 at 11 am.

   From 1923 to 1931, Armistice Day was held on the Monday of the week in which November 11 fell, the same day Canadian Thanksgiving day was at that time. In 1931 an independent Member of Parliament from British Columbia, Allan Neill, proposed a bill to hold Armistice Day on November 11. He also proposed that the word Armistice should be replaced with ‘Remembrance’. The bill was approved and in that year ‘Remembrance Day was officially observed on November 11.

   Some people may wonder just why we continue to gather, when this country has not seen war for many years. I think that there is no better reason to gather, to wear a poppy and to remember those who fell. The fact that my generation has not known world war is due, in a large measure, to the sacrifices of you veterans sitting here today, to your comrades since deceased, and to your fallen comrades who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

    It is important that we remember. ~Heather Robertson writes in her book, A Terrible Beauty, The Art of Canada at War, (quote)  “We must remember. If we do not, the sacrifice of those one hundred thousand Canadian lives will be meaningless. They died for us, for their homes and families and friends, for a collection of traditions they cherished and a future they believed in; they died for Canada. The meaning of their sacrifice rests with our collective national consciousness; our future is their monument.” (end) We must remember ...

   But remembering is something that most of us have a hard time with. Forgetting comes easy to most of us. And it seems the older we get the more we forget and the less we are able to remember. .....   How many have had the experience of walking into a room and the forgetting why we are there ... Why did I come here? What was I looking for? Retrace steps.  .....  Or we make our shopping lists so we won’t forget to pick up the things we want at the grocery store or the mall and then we go out and we forget to bring the list with us.

   There’s the story of an elderly couple who were having problems with their memory. They lived in a senior’s complex and saw each other regularly. They enjoyed doing things together. They enjoyed each others company. One day the gentleman decided he was going to ask his lady friend to marry him. Well that evening he got up the courage to ask her, but when he awoke the next morning he could not remember what her answer was. He could remember asking her but couldn’t remember if she had said yes or no. ..... So he went to his lady friend’s home and he confesses “darling, I know I asked you to marry me last night but my memory is so bad that I can’t remember if you said yes or no .... his lady friend replied .... “O thank goodness ....I got up this morning and I could remember saying yes to someone but for the life of me I couldn’t remember who it was!”

   Well we all at times have difficulty with our memory don’t we. And for that reason I want us to focus for a few moments this morning on what it means to remember on this day we call Remembrance Day. How do we remember? What are we to remember? Why do we Remember?

   First of all we remember the past. I would say that none of us here today can remember Armistice Day in 1918. A few can remember VE Day in 1945, but it, too, is a fast-fading memory. What we do remember, of course, are the soldiers killed recently on peace-keeping duty in Afghanistan. But, in remembering those six, let us also remember the 66,661 Canadians who fought and died against an aggressor in world war one, and another over 42,000 who died in World War Two, and another 300 plus in the Korean war. We need to remember what they fought for, we need to remember the conditions they fought under, we need to remember their courage in the fight for freedom and their willingness to sacrifice even their own lives to preserve that freedom. Jesus said “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man would lay down his life for his friends”.

   Veterans, I want to say to you this morning that my generation needs your help to be able to remember. We need for you, as tough as it is to talk about the things of war, we need you to tell us your stories. The things you experienced, the things you saw. We need our children to know that there is no glory in war. There’s no glory in standing in a trench of ice cold water, day after day, in the freezing cold, with men huddling together at night to keep warm. There’s no glory in seeing your comrade die next to you or leaving your friend behind on the battle field. In fact there in no glory even in seeing the enemy die.

   I was talking with a nurse at the Regional Hospital a couple of weeks ago. She told me of a patient she was tending to earlier that day. He was a sweet old guy she said. He arrived in a wheelchair. When she asked him to transfer from the wheelchair to the hospital bed she noticed he was missing a foot. She asked him if he had diabetes, thinking that might be how he lost his foot. “No”, the man replied “I lost my foot in the war” ..... and then he proceeded to tell her the story of searching trough an area seeking out enemy troops. He said I came around a corner there I was face to face with an enemy soldier. He said we just looked at each other for what seemed to be a long time. We had startled each other. He said, I wasn’t very old myself but he was only a kid.  Then he said we heard someone coming and we both fired our rifles .... “he took my foot ... I took his life” he said. She said as he finished telling the story she looked at him and there was a tear rolling from his eye. .... There’s no glory in war.

   But it is important for us to hear these stories so that we can remember the past. George Santayana said that those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. I don’t think any of us want to repeat that part of history so we have an obligation to remember the past.

   But Remembrance Day, is only partially about remembering the past, and those who have died, and the horrors of war. It is also about Remembering the present. It’s about looking around today and recognizing the freedom that we enjoy as Canadians. Proudly recognizing that Canadians are known far and wide as a peace-loving people. Our servicemen and women are serving today in many areas of the world on Peace-keeping missions

   I pastored a church in Wainwright, Alberta back in the late 80’s, the home of Camp Wainwright, one of the Canadian Army’s primary military training locations. It was not uncommon to see Army vehicles and personnel throughout the community. One day I had our oldest son with me as I went to the Post Office to get the mail. He would have been 3 or 4 years old. As I was getting the mail, there were two servicemen in full combat gear standing there in the lobby of the Post Office. David walked over to them, looked them up and down, and never one to keep his thoughts to himself he said to them, “do you guys kill people with those guns mister?” ... one of the soldiers got down on one knee so he was at eye level with my son and he replied, “no son, we protect people with these rifles” ..... 

   Peacekeeping is an important aspect of Canada's national heritage and a reflection of our fundamental beliefs as a peaceful people....... Our Canadian military today is building upon our established peacekeeping tradition to make strong and imaginative contributions to international peace and security.

   Canadian forces have been involved in over 60 Peace Keeping operations around the world since the end of World War II.  Over fifty years of experience in peacekeeping and participation in an overwhelming majority of peacekeeping missions mandated by the United Nations Security Council has established an international reputation for Canada.

   So as we remember the present we can thank God for the peace and freedom we enjoy. The peace and freedom that our veterans fought for in years past. And we can also thank God for our present day servicemen and women who are welcomed and respected around the world.

   Remembrance Day, is not only about remembering the past, those who have died, ....  It is also about remembering the present and the peace and freedom we enjoy today and the reputation of our military personnel in maintaining that peace and freedom internationally.

   And then finally Remembrance Day is also about remembering the future. It is  stating the obvious to say that we best honor those who have died by living carefully and sensibly in the present in order that the future is secure. One of the most remarkable things that Moses says to the people of Israel once they have left Egypt is his command: "Do not despise an Egyptian, for you were strangers in his land". Of the very people who had caused the Israelites so much misery and suffering and for so long, Moses says - no- commands, "Do not despise an Egyptian". Moses, suggests that "to be free is not merely to be liberated from a tyrant; it is to refuse to be held captive by the memory of that tyrant". We must remember and honor those who died in war, but we must also honor them in how we live today.

   If Remembrance Day tells us nothing else it should tell us this: that we have a duty to the future no less than to the past. If we are not prepared to link our act of Remembrance with the future, then our remembering is robbed of its power and relevance. Remembrance teaches us that we must work tirelessly for peace, and that means working tirelessly not so much with our friends as with our enemies, past and potential.

   Remembrance Day .... It’s about remembering the past, the present and the future. May God grant us the ability to remember well .... At the end of formal Legion gatherings there is a closing ritual used from the words of Rudyard Kipling Lord God of Hosts, Be with us yet, Lest We Forget - lest we forget.