“Don’t goof up so we have to do it again” — Canadian D-Day Veteran, Juno Beach, Normandy June 6, 2019

Each year when Remembrance Day rolls around in Canada, there is always someone will wish me a happy Remembrance Day. For some reason, they see it as a holiday to be celebrated.

It’s not.

We commemorate the lives lost to the horrors of wars. We don’t celebrate those losses. Their deaths are too horrendous to even consider their loss to be celebrated.

The word “commemorate” comes from the Latin root ‘memor’, meaning mindful. English speakers have used the word to remember important events since the late 16th century. When we commemorate an event we usually do so with public gatherings and ceremonies designed to be dignified and remind us of the importance of the event.

“Celebrate” is a synonym of “commemorate” but is used in a different context. When we celebrate an event we do so with great joy and often a holiday to be able to celebrate and enjoy family and social events together. Canada Day or the American July 4th are two examples of celebration times.

Commemorating D-Day

Today is a good day for me to write on this topic. In Europe and the United Kingdom ceremonies have been taking place to commemorate D-Day seventy-five years ago. There will be ceremonies here in Canada and in other nations to commemorate and remember.

Just before midnight on June 5, 1944 the largest seaborne invasion in history got underway from England. Over 150,000 Allied soldiers moved toward five beach areas on the heavily fortified beaches of Normandy.

Among them were 14,000 Canadians who would land on Juno beach. Every one of them had volunteered to leave the warmth and safety of their homes in Canada to join the fight for freedom.

Fortress Europe needed to fall in order to push Hitler’s troops out of the countries they had invaded on the continent.

As the landing craft hit the beaches and the troops poured off them into the hell of battle, one out of every two would become casualties during the first waves of the landing. Later on that day the casualties would be one in nineteen.

Today, 75 years later, of the 14,000 Canadians who landed that day, there is an estimated 60 surviving veterans of D-Day. They are now in their mid to late 90s. Of those surviving vets, 38 of them were able to make the trip back to Juno beach today.

They were seated in a place of honour near the Juno Beach Centre. The Centre is a museum and cultural centre paying homage to the 45,000 Canadians killed during WW2. Built by veterans and volunteers as a permanent memorial to all Canadians who served during WW2, it opened in 2003.

This morning 359 young Canadians streamed across the beach carrying flowers and combat boots. Each of them represented a Canadian who died on Juno that first day.

^{Major (ret’d) Jim Parks landed on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day as a rifleman with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles}

An honour guard of Canadian Armed Forces members marched across the beach. They came to a halt, turning to face the assembled D-Day veterans. The veterans of today coming face to face with the veterans of yesterday who made it possible for them to be there in peace and freedom.

The Ceremony

Today’s ceremony was led by three young Canadians who interspersed the formalities of the ceremony with stories of those who landed there 75 years ago. Some of those stories were about the veterans who were present. When the veteran would wave in acknowledgement of hearing his name, the crowd would erupt with applause.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also spoke of some of their actions to secure our freedom during his remarks.

Among the D-Day veterans present was Honourary Lieutenant General Richard Rohmer _{OC, CMM, OOnt, DFC, CD, QC} — an aviator, lawyer, advisor, author and historian. He was one of the leading forces on the creation of Juno Centre. As a young adult I read his three fiction thrillers unaware he was a Canadian veteran.

In the formal part of the ceremony three young Canadians spoke the “Commitment to Remember” in English, French and Cree. English and French is Canada’s official languages. The Cree represents the contribution of Canada’s First Nations during the war. In many First Nations communities across this country up to 90% of those of age to serve volunteered.

They were young, as we are young,
They served, giving freely of themselves.
To them, we pledge, amid the winds of time,
To carry their torch and never forget.
We will remember them.

The appropriate response to these words is We will remember them.

The Commitment to Remember is followed by a bugler playing the “Last Post”. Tradition has it the Last Post was played to signal an army settling in for the night. The watch was in place and they could rest. It’s played to tell the fallen to rest in peace.

On the playing of the last note, silence follows for two minutes. During the silence we reflect on the losses. A lone bagpiper breaks the silence with a mournful “Lament” to the fallen.

Having mourned the loss, the “Rouse” is played to call us to return to life. To carry on in their memory. In remembering them, we’ll have better tomorrows.

Remembering the Lessons of History

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
— George Santayana, The Life of Reason: The Phases of Human Progress - Vol 1. Reason in Common Sense— 1905-06

As the living memories, those who lived through and made our history, fade it becomes even more important their sacrifices were not in vain. They left their homes and families here in Canada and every other allied nation to fight against a force of evil.

It was a force which had arose not from obscurity but had taken form in a world that wasn’t paying attention. The world had been through the ‘war to end all wars’ in WW1, few were willing to believe as they watched the conditions which led to Hitler rising to power, could or would lead to war.

The lessons learned in those two conflicts led to the formation of organizations designed to forge ties between nations. Ties which would be hard to break and disintegrate into future conflicts. The United Nations, the World Bank and NATO are but three of those organizations.

As we move into the 21st century, a century away from WW1, we need to be wary of the rumblings which parallel those of yesterday. We need to feel the alarm when we see and hear those who would create a world in which they would be greater than others because they were born to a particular race, gender or sexual orientation.

When we fail to see the equality of our neighbours, we fail to see their humanity.

When we fail to remember history, we fail to see the rumblings of it repeating itself. For repeat it shall without vigilance on our part.

We will remember them

References:

Richard Rohmer
OC — Order of Canada
CMM — Order of Military Merit
OOnt — Order of Ontario
DFC — Distinguished Flying Cross
CD — Canadian Forces Decoration
QC — Queen’s Counsel