View From the Balcony

Writers Block

2005-11-11

November 11th - Lest We Forget

"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;"

High Flight - Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr

On December 11, 1941 his Spitfire collided with another plane
over England and Magee, only 19 years of age, crashed to his death.

An Era Comes To An End For Many

Pte. Ernest Alvia Smith - May 1914 – 3 August 2005- was the last surviving holder of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the last living Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross.
"Smokey" Smith was appointed a member of the Order of Canada in November 1995.

He was buried in Victoria BC after being granted the honor of the only
non-politician or Statesman to lie in state in Ottawa.

The "Bomber Boys - The Fighting Lancaster"

"They say it is the young who fight the old men's wars."

- the veterans who flew into the night skies over Occupied Europe to fight in some of the most significant battles of the war. While the brave men who were the 'Bomber Boys' of WW1 are part of a latter history, it was their descendants who added to the long list of the fallen.

Well over 12,800 died in the European theatre bombings over Germany and Belgium in the last days before the Armistice was signed declaring peace. Some 800 of those were young Canadian men barely 19 years of age.

The cemetaries bear witness to their sacrifice as most of these were WWWII 'Bomber Boys" fighting a war they did not ask for and paid the ulitmate price that you and I might know peace.

Holland

Parades in Holland to commemorate their dedication to freeing the Dutch of the German hold of those terrible days is an eye opener for those of us who tend to forget the price paid.

Men in wheel chairs, marchers in their 80's, return this year as they do every five years to share with these people the memories they will never forget of the brave men who freed their country so many years before. Yet on every face in the large crowds there is pride and a smile and continuous clapping for these brave warriors.

Even their children, today, can tell you the history of the war and the part played by these soldiers to free them. "Something .." said one sad marcher, "Canadians tend to forget to tell their children. We fought so hard to be done with war. We gave so much."

From the Beaches of Normandy, to the Somme, Yap Yong, Dieppe, to Korea, to Afghanistan, to the Peacekeepers and our soldiers who fight yet in the corner of some foreign field, they continue to fall and be remembered in the name of peace.

The theatres of war were many and the stories of soldiers that came back a hundredfold, as much a gift of history as the museums springing up all over our countries to commemorate their sacrifice.

In these services, women weep and old men bow their heads and fight the moment they wish to shed a tear over as well. A lone piper adds to the solemnity of the moment and strong eyes yield to memory.

If you did not attend a service, if you did not give them their two minutes of silence at 11am, this day, then take that time as you read this to do so. Be very thankful for their sacrifice, for you enjoy the legacy they protected then and continue to protect now for you.

"In the going down of the sun, and in the morning ...
we shall remember them "

Lest We forget

In Memory of My Uncle Clarence Frauts, 27/01/1944 age 21 years
Royal Canadian Air Force
Buried: Rheinberg War Cemetery