Lest We Forget

A day to ponder
and remember those who served,
who didn't come home

~carliewired

In 1914 Canada was a big country with a small population - 8 million people. It had a small standing army, two ships to call a navy and no air force at all. WWI transformed Canada. By the end of WWI, 620,000 men and women were in service with a casualty count of almost a quarter million. It was a time before many safety-nets. Losing a family member, especially the breadwinner,  came with a huge cost to any family. 

Today, I listened to stories of our Canadian aviators who rose to stardom during WWI, on our national radio, CBC. Those pilots flew missions over Europe in small planes covered in painted cotton fabric, without oxygen or parachutes....As I listened, the word 'sacrifice' came to mind many times. 

Remembrance Day services resumed today after a two year absence during the pandemic. It was a cloudy, grey cold morning here. Just a few minutes before 11 AM I heard the fly past of fighter jets by the 419 squadron from Cold Lake, Alberta. The public was invited to Riverside Park for observances and the Battle Street Cenotaph was by invitation only. 

I walked around the Battle Street Cenotaph after the services. All was quiet and I had it all to myself. The wreaths and the poppies remained. 

I'm in for the day. I'd like chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy for dinner. That means I have to get out of my recliner and get to it!

It's been a mostly cloudy day with just a tad of sunshine in the late afternoon. We got to a high of -3 C.  We might expect much the same tomorrow.