Today's letters: Remembrance Day poppies are still plentiful

Monday, Nov. 11: Readers defend the poppy — and Canada's history. You can write to us too, at [email protected]

Published Nov 11, 2024  •  Last updated 1 hour ago  •  6 minute read

Re: Deachman: Where have all the Remembrance poppies gone? Nov. 4.

I read Bruce Deachman’s article on poppies while waiting at the Arras train station to take the TGV back to Paris after a day trip to see the Vimy Memorial. (My wife and I were at the end of a three-week European vacation; a visit to Vimy has been on our bucket list for a long time). Deachman will be pleased to know that poppies are in abundance here. A number have been spontaneously placed at the base of the memorial by visitors over the last few days.

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David Cuddy, from France

I read Bruce Deachman’s column on poppies with sadness. Nov. 11, the act of remembering and the poppy as a symbol have been important throughout my life.

My father’s cousin died on the night of July 3/4, 1943 while piloting a Wellington bomber back to England after a mission over Koln, Germany. Thick fog prevented the crew returning safely to base. This happened two years before I was born so I never knew him, but I always sensed the loss my family felt. To this day, I think of that handsome, likeable, fun-loving farm boy turned bomber pilot who was so tragically lost at the age of 22.

A few days ago, I received a request to provide what information I had regarding this cousin to my 16-year-old great-nephew for a school project. I sent everything I have regarding his early life, war service, the horrific plane crash, and his burial at Brookwood Miltary Cemetery, Surrey, U.K. I received the loveliest thank you from this young man assuring me he would be using all the information I had sent. His grandmother, my sister, said he was greatly interested in what he had learned.

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The point I wish to make is that there is hope. There are teachers doing a wonderful job keeping memories alive in young people in meaningful ways, and families like mine passing down the stories honouring lost loved ones. So even though it may seem the poppy does not inspire our collective memory as it once did, I have hope and faith that memories will continue to live on, down through the generations.

Dianne Lee, Kanata

I am a first generation immigrant, living in Canada for more than 35 years. I wear a poppy every November and am proud to display it. And I make a donation to the Legion.

Being an immigrant is not a reason or an excuse not to know about Remembrance, the poppy campaign, Vimy Ridge, or have general knowledge about Canada. In fact, I wonder how many Canadians born in this country know enough about the First World War, why Canadian troops were there, what happened at Vimy Ridge etc.

As an immigrant, I can assure you that nobody is forcing you (or even encouraging you) to move to Canada. This is a decision that you make on your own. Part of choosing this path is learning about the place you are coming to, and this should include some knowledge of Canadian history, especially the parts that defined Canada as a country.

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I live in Kanata, and didn’t have any problem finding poppy trays, including the veterans or cadets manning these stations. I have seen them at Costco, a number of grocery stores, some restaurants and the like.

If some schools don’t want to participate, shame on them. What else are they teaching the kids?

Marek Dziedzic, Kanata

As a veteran with multiple tours in foreign wars, I frequently talk with friends, colleagues and co-workers about the significance of the poppy. I am surprised by how many of them have the opinion that the poppy and Flanders Fields in some way glorifiy war … “to you from failing arms we throw ..”

I think there needs to be a clear understanding that Remembrance in no way glorifies war or conflict. It is a sombre acknowledgment of the sacrifices offered and endured by the men and women whom our democratic processes have placed in that position.

I think there is a secondary theme here: the poppy campaign is managed by the Legion and the relationship between it and veterans is somewhat obscure. Our various governments of all political stripes have placed an extraordinary amount of responsibility on the Legion to advocate for and support veterans and veterans issues. I think this has passed its “best before” date.

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Funding the support and wellbeing of veterans is an issue that falls squarely in the purview of Veterans Affairs Canada. The role of the Legion in this process is an anachronism; it has failed to keep pace with changes in our society and the parallel changes in our veteran community.

There is a failure of Veterans Affairs to effectively communicate, commemorate and support veterans. Get the Legion out of the equation and hold our elected representatives accountable for a role that they have consistently failed at.

Robert Bell, Stittsville

On Remembrance Day, we set aside a few minutes to honour the struggles and sacrifices made long ago by departed relatives and their fellow citizens. I was born in England 85 years ago, to grandparents born in the 1880s, so I have a tenuous, if handed down, awareness of those terrible times.

During the First World War, I was raised by those same Quaker grandparents. My grandfather was a stretcher bearer in the Great War, wounded three times on the Somme. He lost his health, a brother, and three cousins in the same extended battle. He never spoke of them. I only found out many years later when I saw the town’s Book of Remembrance opened at the name Hicks.

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We do not have a firm number for the global casualties linked to the Great War. Twenty million? The death rate was on the order of thousands per day.

The main carnage was brought to a halt on Nov. 11, 1918 at 11 a.m., signed at 5:10 a.m. in the Compiegne Forest in France by Marchal Foch for the land forces and Rear Admiral Wemyss RN for the naval forces of the Entente, and by Matthias Ezrberger, significantly a politician, for Germany.

The actual ceasefire was declared at the 11th hour due to a choice made by Wemyss — overruling British Prime Minister Dvid Lloyd George’s preference for the  opening of parliament at 2:30 p.m. — so as to save 1,000 or so lives, and also, to forever after evoke the phrase “the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month.”

An hour to the west of Ottawa, just outside of Perth, lies the village of Wemyss, named for the Scottish noble family of Wemyss, Fife, Scotland — honouring the admiral’s family, and maybe, in a small way, the Admiral himself.

Rod Packwood, Ottawa

Re: Rusting robots: Scientists fear end of COVID-19 funding will set Canada back, Nov. 5.

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The system developed by uOttawa medical school is top of the line and has been very useful to monitor and inform Canada’s COVID-19 response. Unfortunately, we do not need it at this moment. I accept that.

However, there are epidemics around the world all the time and our lab could provide the analyses necessary to help other countries with their response. It bothers me that there is no mention of any effort by the university to try to market these services elsewhere, and thus to maintain our capability for future needs.

Richard Asselin, Ottawa

When the prime minister and his ministers keep assuring me not to worry about Canada when Donald Trump takes office, I get really worried.

Herschell Sax, Ottawa

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