Mr. Speaker, during this week leading up to Remembrance Day there are commemorative activities going on all over Canada: in schools, community centres, concert halls and churches.
Everywhere we look, the crimson poppy reminds us of the torch of freedom thrown to us to hold high. Canada is holding that torch of freedom very high. Our armed forces are serving under very challenging conditions as peacekeepers all over the world. Here at home, we civilian Canadians help to hold that torch high by remembering and honouring all those who served so bravely and so well.
I remember last year being invited to a school in the early part of November where a distinguished veteran was visiting a classroom for a question and answer session on his wartime experience. What impressed us both was how many of the students wanted to talk about their grandfathers or other relatives who had been involved in the second world war and how proudly they spoke of them.
Indeed, just such a young Canadian e-mailed a group of our veterans who were preparing for their recent pilgrimage to Italy to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the Italian campaign. She wrote that although she never met her grandfather, who was killed in that campaign, she had gotten to know him through the many stories told by her grandmother. She said:
Until such time that I am able to so, I wonder, would someone wish to stand for two minutes in silence at his grave. I would be most grateful. My grandfather's name is William Berry. I cannot express enough gratitude for your bravery, but please know that in my family we will never forget.
Sincerely,
Darlene Halsey.
Today, we not only honour those who made that supreme sacrifice, but those who survived the terrible rigours and horrors of war and found the strength to recover and to rebuild their lives in the peace that they fought so hard to achieve.
