True Patriot Love; There Was Never More...

We will remember them

This Or That

A couple weeks ago I picked Nolan up from daycare, paid Julie for the week and off we went. We returned on Tuesday. While Nolie hung up his coat and the beautiful red Calgary Flames ballcap that adorns his sweet little head everyday (I'm so proud; Paul rolls his eyes; mwahahaha), Julie mentioned that I had paid 5 dollars too much. I tend not to remember what I had for lunch the day before, so the overpayment was long forgotten.

She offered, "You can either have your five dollars in a bill or cheese curds."

Well, gee, that's tough. Not sure if I took one second or mulled it over for as long as two seconds before declaring, "Cheese curds please!"

I continued on into work with my treasure. As I put the bag in the fridge I noticed the label read $5.66. Good golly. I owed Julie 66 cents. 

Yesterday, I paid up. "Julie," I said, "I owe you 66 cents. Do you want it in change or two freshly laid eggs?" Her reply came in the standard one to two seconds. Nolan handed her the eggs. Some would call this the informal economy. The folks I know, call it country living.

Cheese curds and still-warm eggs

Yesterday, on the way home from the Remembrance Day ceremony in Oshawa, brother Enos and I stopped at the orchard and picked up close to a bushel of apples. We had a good chat with the owner who, it turned out, had grown up in the 'Shwa and went to the same schools that we went to from grades 7 thru' 13. And, if that wasn't coincidence enough, her sister's first house after she married, was next-door to ours. Enos got that far-off look as he reminisced about the beautiful, red '69 soft-top Camaro that they had. And I got that far-off look as I thought about the bushel of apples that I was going to be turning into sauce. Which is today's job. So off I go. Enjoy the day all! It's a beauty out there.

The Cenotaph in Oshawa after the Service

At The Going Down Of The Sun And In The Morning, We Will Remember Them

Cecil Thackeray returned safely to Canada in the spring of 1919. He courted and later married Muriel and they moved west to Saskatchewan to farm. Ten children were born. Times were tough as they struggled through the Great Depression. In the fall of 1939, Cecil and Muriel packed up their belongings and their children and returned to Gores Landing, Ontario. A few years later, their eldest son Roy enlisted and sailed overseas, fighting battles in France and the Netherlands. On April 28, 1945, 'Duck', the 3rd Division's amphibious operation to take Leer and nearby Loga, began. Roy, with the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, encountered heavy opposition. As their boats crossed the Ems, they were engaged by machine-guns from both flanks. Roy was killed. He is buried at the Holten Canadian War Cemetery in the Netherlands.

Lest We Forget

With notes from this site, page 596

Front Lines - The Life of the Soldier

Courtesy of The National Film Board of Canada

We Honour Them

Peterborough Examiner, Sept. 2010 - The process will begin in the early morning hours in Montréal as the first flatbed truck gets fitted with two massive granite boulders. Another truck will go through the process an hour and a half later, and then another, until all 12 rocks are en route to Peterborough. As the first truck enters the city, a crane will be in place in the parking lot of the Armouries, ready to put each rock, weighing between 15 to 20 tonnes, into place. Once set, the series of black granite boulders will make up the long-awaited Veterans Wall of Honour memorial in Confederation Square, commemorating the service of some 11,000 veterans from the city and county who returned home from the First World War, the Second World War and the Korean War.

*******

This day dawned bright and beautiful beneath a delft blue sky and warm October sun. This was a day to enjoy the company of family and to give thanks, both for the bounty at our table and to the nation-builders before us who fought on foreign soils, defending humanity against aggression. This was the day, twelve black granite boulders were officially unveiled behind the Cenotaph in downtown Peterborough. Two men, my grandpa Cecil and his brother Clarke are among 11,000 names carefully etched in stone. This day, we honoured them.  

Lest We Forget - The Cenotaph at Confederation Park

Proud - The Colour Guard begins its march from the Armouries to the Cenotaph

Respect - Two minutes of silence, the Last Post, God Save the Queen and O Canada

We honour them.

November 11th, 2009 - Oshawa, Ontario

A beautiful day to remember.

Lest We Forget

~ Holten Canadian War Cemetery, the Netherlands ~
On this beautiful day, take two minutes to remember them