A WWII veteran remembers

After my dad's death (on December 11, 1999), I searched for his writing. I found one speech and carefully tucked it away in a journal. Last year, I was hunting for something else and found my dad's words--and I knew I had to share them with you. He delivered this speech on November 11, 1996, to veterans, members of the legion and guests.

(This is a re-posting from last year. I couldn't think of a better way to remember.)

My dad wrote...

(my dad giving a speech--circa the 1980s)

The closing words of every legion meeting.

At the going down of the sun

And in the morning we will

Remember them.

We will remember them--for they were our schoolmates. They were the kids we played with--the people we worked with.

After fifty years we remember them and the debt we owe.

We remember not only those who gave their lives but those who came home broken, wounded, scarred--both on the inside and the outside.

We remember our comrades and the price they paid for us and for Canada--

And we remember the thousands and thousands of others who paid--

The mothers and babies

The little kids

The young people

Mothers and fathers

And the old people

the grandparents

All those who died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They paid--they paid the price for us. They bought our freedom.

Don't think about the horrible price they paid--it's too awful, too terrible.

But remember them we must--and in our remembering let our hate and revulsion for war grow stronger and stronger until we join with all the people of the world to end this terrible curse of war--until that great day dawns may we ever pray

Lord God of Hosts

Be with us yet

Lest we Forget, Lest we Forget

(the radar base in northern Newfoundland where my dad served during WWII)

More...

Please click this link...

Remembering Them on Remembrance Day

to read my Remembrance Day inspired short story as well as more of my dad's writing.

"knitting one of my first sweaters"

photo by a niece

Next post:  Back to my knitting...
The Lure of Yarn (short story) a cautionary tale of how easy it is to cast on. 

Guest Post: A. J. Willetts (my dad) an advocate for world peace

After my dad's death (on December 11, 1999), I searched for his writing. I found one speech and carefully tucked it away in a journal. Just this week, I was hunting for something else and found my dad's words--and I knew I had to share them with you. He delivered this speech on November 11, 1996, to veterans, members of the legion and guests.

My dad wrote...

(my dad giving a speech--circa the 1980s)

The closing words of every legion meeting.

At the going down of the sun

And in the morning we will

Remember them.

We will remember them--for they were our schoolmates. They were the kids we played with--the people we worked with.

After fifty years we remember them and the debt we owe.

We remember not only those who gave their lives but those who came home broken, wounded, scarred--both on the inside and the outside.

We remember our comrades and the price they paid for us and for Canada--

And we remember the thousands and thousands of others who paid--

The mothers and babies

The little kids

The young people

Mothers and fathers

And the old people

the grandparents

All those who died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They paid--they paid the price for us. They bought our freedom.

Don't think about the horrible price they paid--it's too awful, too terrible.

But remember them we must--and in our remembering let our hate and revulsion for war grow stronger and stronger until we join with all the people of the world to end this terrible curse of war--until that great day dawns may we ever pray

Lord God of Hosts

Be with us yet

Lest we Forget, Lest we Forget

(the radar base in northern Newfoundland where my dad served during WWII)

More...

Please click this link...

Remembering Them on Remembrance Day

to read my Remembrance Day inspired short story as well as more of my dad's writing.

Next post:  Sunday, November 19 at 5 PM PT
Rainbow Ice cream (short story)
Think back to your childhood. Where did you first go all by yourself? What did you spend your allowance on? How did it make you feel? Reminisce along with me.

Remembering him... (short story) by Leanne Dyck

For remembrance on Remembrance Day

I once knew a man. Although he was old when I met him, by the twinkle in his eye, I could see glimpses of the young man he had once been.

He had been of age upon the onset of the second world war and like the other men of his community, he was eager to enlist--an eagerness driven by a passion to see the world. He wanted to sail from cloud to cloud on the wings of a huge iron bird. But it was not to be. While his friends saw active duty in Italy and France, he was tucked away on a radar base in Newfoundland. Yet, 'they also serve who only stand and wait'. No, this man never saw active duty. There were memories he could never share. Horrors he had never lived.

In sadness and in pride, he stood straight and tall each and every Remembrance Day. He had known the men who never returned. He ensure that I honoured them, as well. Through him, I saw the soldiers not as faded images from the distant past but as men who had 'lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow/Loved and were loved.'

I once knew a man. That man was my dad.

Written 2003

Revised 2021