Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues who have indicated their support for my motion. We have talked about the pain and suffering of various veterans from the past wars, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the need to recognize their sacrifices. I will put into context what those sacrifices were.
I have not known war in my lifetime. I have learned about war from history books as many people in the House have. We have heard stories from veterans at our Remembrance Day ceremonies. Let us look at some of the past wars and experiences. I would like to share a few with members now.
Bellenden Hutcheson won the Victoria Cross and the military cross. He was in the 76th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery at Vimy Ridge. In a letter he wrote to a colleague, he said:
I felt particularly sorry for the young artillery men, (and many of them were about 19) who were being subjected to the ordeal. I remember one man who had a ghastly wound which would obviously prove fatal in a short time, pleading with me, amidst the turmoil of the explosions, to shoot him...Every soldier who has seen action since knows that it requires the highest type of stamina and bravery for troops to lie in a trench and take a heavy shelling without being demoralized and panic stricken, therefore I shall always remember the orderly rescue work carried on by the officers and men of the artillery in the face of the concentrated shelling that occurred that afternoon.
I do not think we can realize the horror of war. However. when we hear accounts of a soldier asking his doctor to shoot him amid heavy shelling, it gives us an idea of the pain and suffering that people went through during war time.
During the Korean War, for example, a Military Cross recipient Lieutenant Colonel Edgar Hollyer, in documenting why he received the Military Cross, talked about what he had done and the terrible situation in which he had put himself. Not only was he in a situation where he exhibited bravery, but he was surrounded by enemy troops in the Korean War. In order to fight for his country for freedom, he asked them to bombard the coordinates where he was sitting because he was surrounded. He said “bomb me where I sit because there are army troops around me”. He thought that was the most effective strategy. He put his life on the line so he would have the most impact in the war theatre.
Many of our colleagues in the House will remember a gentleman named Smokey Smith from New Westminster, B.C. As an MP, we often entertain guests in the gallery after question period. On of the proudest moments I had was when Smokey Smith was guest. Many members will remember the rousing ovation we gave him as the last surviving Victoria Cross winner.
There was an interview with Smokey Smith about his time in the Italian campaign in World War II. They had just knocked out a tank. He lost everybody in his group, and he was left alone. In the interview, he said the tank out. The interviewer then asked about the German infantrymen who were in the back of the tank and who swarmed around to the front and came toward him. He said “That is right”. The interviewer asked him how far would they have been from him and he said, “Oh, 30 feet, 25 feet, something like that”. The interviewer then asked who was firing at him and he said, “Nobody, just me because Jimmy was still in the ditch, he was wounded”. The interviewer said “So these 10 or so German infantry men were coming at you and you fired at them”? He said “ I opened up”. The interviewer then asked him what happen and he said, “Well, I got four of them; the rest of them took off, thank the Lord”.
Another story comes from my family's hometown of Saint John West. A gentleman named Donald Thompson talked about freedom. He talked about meeting a German gentleman in Inverary at the unveiling of a Canadian museum. The German gentleman talked about the fight with Germany and he apologized to him. The German said that he was sorry if he was offended by anything he had said. He said that he was not offended by his comments. He said that every thinking German would agree with him when he said, “If Hitler had won, we would not be free. So thank God you won”. That is the important thing that comes from war.
Those were in the words of Donald Thompson. He went on to say, “Mr. Thompson, it is important that young people and future generations of Canadians come to understand what you and your generation endured.
He responded by saying, “I think it is important from the point of view of the future of the country and the value of freedom. I think freedom is such an important thing, and it is something that comes at a price. If we take it for granted, then we can lose it. We can lose it, not only just from external forces, but we can lose it from internal conditions. So I think it is important that they realize the price that has been paid and realize that they have to be willing themselves, maybe not to”--