I wrote this many years back as a tribute to my family, but think it is worth running again as it will be thus again today. . .
At 11:00 a.m. today, I shall physically stand before the cenotaph on St. Anne Street, here in St. Albert to take part in, and witness the Remembrance Day services.
My mind however, will be elsewhere. Part of the time it will have me in the Royal Canadian Legion burial plot in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, where I will stand before the graves of my father, Lt. F. J. W. Sinclair and my mother Pt. N. M. Sinclair and salute them. They both served in WWII where my father was wounded in action in France.
It will then take me to another family plot in the small town of Lafleche, Saskatchewan, where I was born. There too, I will stand before the graves of my uncles Marvin, Donald, and Roy who also served overseas in WWII. And I will also stand before, and salute the graves of my two younger uncles who served in Korea. Uncle Benjamin, who I got to know later in life and Uncle Stanley, who I didn't get to know, dead at 33 years of age.
I shall remember that I am here, never having to go to war, because they did so on my behalf. They, and many other citizens, of many other countries, in many other conflicts. I shall remember them all.
When the final sweet notes of The Last Post haunt the still morning air, I will shed no tear, for they would not expect me to do so. I will however, have a very large lump in my throat.
LEST WE FORGET