Honored Dignitaries and Fellow Citizens:

Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord. And may thy light perpetual shine upon them. May they rest in peace.

Sister Constance Bruce wrote: "Those who came forward had not stopped to count the cost…excitement was thrilling, the lottery alluring and the cause glorious." UnQ. That sweet-bitter taste rapidly changed the face of patriotism. No war would end all wars. A Readers Digest article notes "a teenager leaving the prettiest girl in town." From John McCrae's poem we read: "Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields." Our Veterans Dep't records "…dying and badly wounded…dirty dressings,…pools of blood. The air, rank with the fumes of gas, was thick with the dust of flying plaster…stifling…" Life in trenches, broken equipment and supply lines, poor medicare, raw knees, frozen extremities was war routine.

The Canadians rendered large numbers (compared to our small population) at the front, in World War 1, 1914 - 18, and again in World War 2, 1939 - 45, in which countless youth gave their lives; while, at home, civil and volunteer workers underwrote the war efforts. In 1941, our men and women were sacrificed defending Hong Kong. Prisoners were fed scraps of rice, carrot tops, spud peelings and brewed buttercups. Sidney Skelton tells us that his body went from 145 to 89 pounds. In describing the shambles beach at Dieppe, Lucien Dumais, wrote how the wounded swam to his flotilla, "the sea red with their blood…We stood by as they died, powerless to help; we were there to fight, not pick up the drowning…"

While victory in Europe was declared in May 1945, the US atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought surrender in August of 1945. Canadian forces were again deployed in the Korean War, from 1950 - 53 and its mop-up where about 34,000 Canadians served. The Tomb near Vimy Ridge honors more than 116,000 Canadians who died for peace and freedom. In the century from the African Boer War unto current Afghanistan, 228,000 Canadians have been wounded.

Most heroic ventures go unrecorded in the midst of such devastation for both warriors and the citizenry, where homes are no more, vermin swim the streets, people are horribly wounded, infrastructure is destroyed; families are torn apart, children stricken, communications and utilities non-existent. Let us remember on this Armistice -Veterans-Remembrance Day that war, terrorism and civic anarchy are closer than the scrapbooks in our attics.

Apart from building our moral fiber, we need to provide funds for the proper care of veterans and adequate military supplies; all Canadian needs could be paid for from out of the horrendous waste by our present governments. There may be places our wheat and hay, potatoes, pork and beef, could go to alleviate third world starvation. Possibly, civil war in Africa and the war on poverty in South and Central America might be addressed if we not merely pay attention to those places where our corporations can seize financial advantage. We have lost one war because we have avoided fighting it constructively: the war on substance abuse destroys persons and families with untold cost to the public purse. Our warriors fought that life would be better for us at home. We must not let them down.
Our King George VI said in 1939 (before most of us were born) that "Without freedom there can be no ensuring peace and without peace no enduring freedom." As Heather Robertson stated in her book, "They died for us…for a collection of traditions they cherished and a future they believed in; they died for Canada." UnQ.
Such has been our history but where do we go from here? It has often been said that old men make wars in which young men are killed. Then, war making is not something which maturity overcomes. Before our time, loyalty to one's tribe, monarch or homeland - even protection of one's own property, family and possessions had to be fought for, so as to survive. Nowadays, technology, world trade, politics and the ever-deceiving lobbyists and media moguls brainwash citizens into conspiring pride of rights, empowerment for avarice and hunger for the almighty buck, so that legions of people who do not sensibly follow politics and economics and do not act on the Auditor Generals report, are persuaded to make enemies of those who are just like us but whom we have never met. We see inflicted upon them gross bloodshed and hardship. They are innocent victims whose ecological environments, life style and home securities are devastated by first world allies. Few countries are innocent of complicity by way of armaments and coercion. Bodybags do not signal success. Soon, history will reveal that the grandkids of our former enemies become our friends. Meanwhile, the war at home is always fuelled by special privileges for the elite and ethnic groups, so the sooner we have equality for all Canadians the better.

How do we address such wretchedness which flows in the blood of humankind? We see so much anger, vengeance, jealousies, and social sickness around us. Peace is not merely the absence of warmongering. Peace is an inner yearning which spiritual folk nourish through trying to get beyond craving for what is not ours, by being wholeheartedly thankful for the gifts of safety, health, life and village. To be content and to work holistically with all around us, to build thriving communities - that is our lot. This transformation of heart is an inside job, which we must choose to do ourselves, if our world is to take on the joy and gladness which our military, our peace-keepers, merchant marines, firefighters and law-enforcers have given their lives to secure for us. People discover that by speaking well of others and by praying for them, yes, praying for them, the hard edges chip away and prejudice softens. Despite my public ministries, I have a small, private chapel in my backyard to which I will resort at noon today, for memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. So, if any of you want to join me today, you are welcome.

At the going down of the Sun and in the morning, we shall remember them.

Let us pray.

GIVE REST, we beseech Thee O Lord, to the souls of our departed brethren, and grant that we, who do honor to the memory of their sacrifice may so be filled with the spirit of their love and fortitude that, forgetting all selfish and unworthy aims, we may live to the glory of God, and to the service of our fellows.

Grant to the living, grace; to the departed, rest; to the Church, the Queen, the Commonwealth, and all humanity, peace and concord; and to us and all His servants, life everlasting: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and all whom you love in this world and the next. Amen.