Sometimes I miss the man with pictures on his arm. That's what I uses to call my Great Uncle Joe when I was a little girl and didn't know the word for tattoos. My grandmother's brother spent a lot of time with me as a child playing checkers and offering words of wisdom. The tattoos were from his days in the army where he fought in the second world war. It is on this date that I take a moment to remember him.
Remembrance Day tends to mean more to me than other members in my family. I have visited war memorials and holocaust museums around the world; hidden in the trenches on the beaches of Normandy, covered my ears as cannons blasted off a few feet away from me, cringed when rifles fired off next to me, and yearned for solace as I sat next to a statue commemorating a Canadian soldier in the gardens of Hong Kong.
This post isn't related to Doctor Who or to Matt Smith, but to all those we lost in wars. I thought at first of posting pictures of all the places I have seen and experiences I had, but I decided to be a bit more generic as I thought we should just take a moment to think about what Remembrance Day means to us.
You can also see a music video of Russell Crowe'/ Thirty Odd Foot of Grunt's song Memorial Day
We all grew up reading the poem In Flanders Fields.
Canadians seldom think of ourselves as heroes and we don't tend to share with the rest of the world the tales of our past. We barely speak about those difficult times amongst ourselves. I found it quite striking that when I stepped into the museum in Caen, France that Canadians were the ones celebrated the most. When I met my tour guide outside the museum and told him why I wanted to visit the landing sites, historical areas and beaches of Normandy, we both had tears in our eyes. I just wanted to pay respect to my family and he wanted to thank my family for their service and sacrifice.
I'd love to hear what Remembrance Day means to you.
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