opinion ~ expression ~
6 - Southpoint Sun
Honour our veterans Thursday The debt we owe to the veterans of this community can never be repaid. Many young men from this area went overseas during both World Wars, never to return. So many families lost their sons, uncles, fathers and big brothers. Many others returned but were never the same. The horrors of war are no secret. We’ve seen them depicted in movies and television shows over the years. Those dramatizations probably don’t do them justice. My father was a veteran of the Second World War. He served in Canada and in England during those years and came back here unscathed to raise a family. He would have been 101 last week if he were still with us. I have uncles who also served, as did my maternal grand-
father. I have an uncle who served in the navy at the end of the Second World War and through the Korean Conflict. He also came back unscathed and currently lives in long-term care in Leamington. His name is Bob Sovie. To this day, he gets recognized by people who thank him for his service. There is a local Korean family who send him chocolate bars and lottery tickets to thank him for helping to liberate their country as part of the Royal Canadian Navy. Sadly, the amount of veterans of those wars are dwindling with each year. From one Remembrance Day to another, we lose a few more each time we gather to observe that day. For my uncle Bob, he was an avid Legion member who attended the march,
Wednesday, November 10, 2021
and other musings
RIB’S RAMBLINGS
service and luncheon every single year until he was no longer able to do so. He also made daily trips to the Mark Ribble Portuguese Club, where everyone there loved him and nicknamed him “Spoons.” I’m proudly involved in the LeamNow, he passes his days in long-term ington Hometown Heroes banner comcare, with a still-sharp mind but a failmittee and can say it’s one of the more ing body. He turned 95 this year and I rewarding things I’ve done in my life. remember as a kid listening to some of To see the look on the family’s face his stories of being on the sea and stawhen they see their loved one’s banner tioned in Tokyo for some time. up on that pole is the payoff for me. Those stories are our connection to On Thursday, let’s take the time to the veterans of the past. observe the day, whether it be at home, With the numbers dwindling from on the street, out in the woods, or at one that era, it’s important for us to carry on of the local services. those stories so that generations behind And talk to a veteran if you are lucky us will know that sacrifice and apprecienough to encounter one of them. ate just what these people did for their Someday that will no longer be poscountry. sible.
The significance of Remembrance Day
Special to the Southpoint Sun By Dick Grolman Remembrance Day is but a single day to draw attention to the sacrifices so many people have made to rid the Western World, and particularly Western Europe, of an enormous evil perpetuated by a psychopathic individual. However, the annual event of laying artificial wreaths around the cenotaph and playing “The Last Post” seems to be sorely lacking in the true meaning and understanding of who and what really ought to be remembered. You see, I was there during the fiveyear struggle in Holland. I was there to experience some of the atrocities. I was there to see the pain and suffering because of fear and hunger. I was there to experience events that defy description. I was there to feel real hatred. And I was also there to witness the ultimate destruction of incredible evil, and I do feel and share in the euphoria
of the knowledge that good does indeed triumph over evil. Seen through the eyes of a 15-yearold, the events taking place in a small village in Holland in March/ April of 1945 were enormously exciting. Aerial battles, patrolling fighter planes shooting at anything that still dared move in daytime, damaged heavy bombers crashing before they could make it back to safe territory, individual enemy soldiers totally defeated and leaderless, desperately straggling to get home to a family that probably was not there anymore. The almost total absence of sound was deafening, only the occasional roar Jim Heyens PUBLISHER
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of airplane engines did break that silence. The odd retreating army vehicle disturbed the silence in the darkness of night. A darkness so deep and intense, impossible to imagine, impossible to describe. No electricity anywhere, not even a lit candle visible from the blackedout homes, even the stars seemed reluctant to contribute their little illumination. It was in that atmosphere on April 6th, 1945 a distant engine noise could be heard, sudden and unexplainable, exciting. Not sounds in the air but on the ground. Revving up of engines and then stillness, and again revving and stillness, over and over and over, coming ever closer. The suspense was unbearable until finally, yes, oh yes, there they were. Four armored vehicles coming into view, stopping, gun barrel swiveling, crew alertly searching for possible enemy remnants, advancing again for 50 me-
tres, engines roaring, braking, stopping. THE CANADIANS, THEY WERE HERE, THE MANITOBA DRAGOONS, OUR LIBERATORS! Everyone jumped, yelled, waved, Dutch flags mysteriously appeared seemingly out of nowhere. But our enthusiasm was ignored, after all these advance troops still had a war to fight. However, during the next few days the main army came through and no longer was the population ignored. The Canadians loved the unbelievable adoration. They threw chocolates, candies, cigarettes – all things we barely remembered even existed. To this day I am still awestruck by the overwhelming numbers of troops, armored vehicles, weapon carriers, trucks pulling heavy guns, tanks appearing through the fields, an awesome display of power. This was our freedom returning, the end of so much fear and anxiety. Safety, security and a life of hope was looming again. To the 15-year-old boy, those days in April 1945 left an indelible mark and an everlasting appreciation of all things Canadian. REMEMBRANCE, not just today, but always.
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