Lest We Forget

Today is Remembrance Day.




That fellow on the left is my husbands grandfather. On the top right is my own granddad. Both men served and survived.

This is my great-granddad. He survived service too but was not unscathed. He lost the ends of both of his feet to frostbite. He was also stabbed with a bayonet while pretending to be dead as opposing forces checked bodies for survivors in the trench he was laying in.

A few years ago I attended a Remembrance Day service and the veteran who spoke said something that deeply affected me: the grief and remembrance demonstrated on this day should extend to ALL who have served and ALL who have suffered in the name of war. Today is not a glorification of war, but rather a reminder of the consequences of it.

And so today I'll remember the past (heaven help us all if we ever forget) but I'll hope for the future too.

Lest We Forget