Remembrance Day 11/11/10 ~ Lest we forget...

I'm taking a moment today to think of, and especially thank, all the men and women who have served our countries so selflessly, giving the ultimate in service and sacrifice and going above and beyond their call of duty.  I'm thinking of both of my Grandfathers who served in 2 different branches of the Canadian military.

My Grandpa Humphreys fudged his age and enlisted when he was at the ripe old age of 16 where he was promptly sent overseas.  He was stationed in Italy, France, Germany and Africa (there may be more area, but I can't remember...), and saw action in every one of them.  There are many interesting stories that I've heard throughout the years, like when he was in the outhouse and heard machine gun fire close by, so he peeked out and saw clouds of dust spattering across the ground!  He jumped out of the outhouse just in time before the enemy splattered it full of bullet holes.  And then there was the time that he was mistaken for a German soldier and was held at knife point across his throat as he madly tried to pull out his Canadian ID :)

My Grandpa Severny was a career Submariner, making many, many trips on many, many submarines :)  He took his family overseas to England and Scotland for 4 years, and then Nova Scotia for 4 years, before they drove across Canada and settled once again in Victoria.  He retired from the Navy as Chief Petty Officer 1at Class.  He died in 2001 just a few days short of Remembrance Day, and at his funeral all of his grandchildren pinned a poppy on a heart shaped pillow with his medals attached to it.

I unfortunately don't have any photos of my Grandpa Severny in uniform, but I have plenty of my Dad's Father, my Grandpa Humphreys.  Here are some of my favourites:

And some of his medals...

I'm so proud of everything he did for our country - he didn't have to enlist, but he wanted to serve.  I'm extremely proud and thankful for both of my Grandpas.  I'll have to see if I can get some photos of my Grandpa Severny in his uniform from my Grandma.  

Alina is a Brownie leader (she's Snowy Owl...I'm sure she'd appreciate it if all of you called her that as much as possible), so she got to be a part of the candlelight ceremony at the Legion last night, as well as the Remembrance Day parade this morning.  So of course, I had to go along and be her official papparazzo ;)  These are from last night at the candlelight ceremony, where they honoured the 25 men who fought in WWI and WWII from Sooke.

Jordan joined me for the parade this morning, which I was very thankful for, as he provided me with someone to people watch with and of course laugh with ;)

On Remembrance/Veteran's Day in 2008, I was able to visit the Fort Logan National Cemetary in Colorado. It was an incredibly humbling, overwhelming experience.  If you're ever in an area that has a military cemetery, I recommend paying it a visit - it puts things into quite the perspective.  I tried to maneuver the narrow, little twisting roads with tears in my eyes, thinking with every turn I would see the end of these tiny, white, identical gravestones....but with every turn I came upon acres more.  It was heart wrenching.  To think that all these gravestones memorialize someone's father, mother, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, best friend.....I couldn't help but sit in my car and cry.  I knew none of them, but felt the weight of all of them as I sat gazing at these white plaques literally as far as my eye could see.  It was an incredible experience.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

~ John McCrae (1915)