Many Powell Riverites have been proudly wearing poppies in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day, November 11. The poppy was originally a reminder of the blood-red flower that grew in the fields where many Canadians died in Flanders.
During the battle of Ypres in 1915, Canadian Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae wrote the poem “In Flanders Fields” when he saw poppies growing beside a grave of a close friend who died in battle. The poem triggered the adoption of the poppy as the flower of remembrance in Canada, France, the United States, Britain and Commonwealth countries.
Donations from the distribution of millions of replica poppies provide funds for the Royal Canadian Legion that go toward helping ex-servicemen and women.
Members of the Powell River branch of the Legion have again this year mounted a memorial wall in Town Centre Mall, depicting each of the 158 service personnel who lost their lives in combat in Afghanistan. These members of Canada’s armed forces and the sacrifice they and their families made will be honoured and remembered this year at Remembrance Day events, along with those who died in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and during peacekeeping missions.
The war in Afghanistan was Canada’s largest overseas mission since the Korean War more than half a century ago. It was also the bloodiest and most expensive.
In addition to the 158 Canadian troops who were killed in Afghanistan since 2002, four Canadian civilians also perished, two aid workers, a diplomat and a journalist.
Canada spent $1.65 billion on reconstruction and development in Afghanistan from the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 through last year. Ottawa has committed another $300 million from 2011 to 2014 for development projects and humanitarian assistance.
Canada officially ended its NATO-led combat mission in Kandahar province on December 1, 2011. However, it continues to support its allies and Afghan partners through Operation Athena, with a primary objective to help the Afghan government establish a stable and secure environment that will allow sustainable reconstruction, development and good governance to take root and flourish.
Remembering Canada’s veterans serves more than one purpose. Keeping memories alive and continuing to honour those who served their countries are two of the best ways to avoid war in the future.
It is only by remembering that nations can continue to work for peace instead of war. The hope is to carry the desire for peace in our volatile world into the future and eliminate war as a way to solve conflict and injustice in the world.
