Every city, town, and village in Canada, and I would presume the United States, has one: a cenotaph for the people from that locale who have died in the wars that our countries have fought. In Canada some of them are old enough to date back to the first foreign war we sent troops overseas to, the Boer War in South Africa, but the majority of them start with World War One and continue on up to Korea. I don't know what's been done for the men who have fallen since that time, if the names of those lost in peacekeeping missions are just added on after those names lost in Korea, or if each different engagement has been given its own monument.
I highly doubt it would be the latter as, until recently, Canadian soldiers have not been involved in the field of battle for any extended period that has resulted in significant casualties (Outside of a supply plane on the Golan Heights shot down by the Syrians, accidentally, in which nine were killed.)
In the United States, I know you have erected the black wall in Washington D.C. in memory of the soldiers who died in Viet Nam, and perhaps local cenotaphs will have added lines for those who died in the first Gulf War, and more recently Afghanistan and of course the current conflict in Iraq. In Canada individual towns are probably doing the same thing these days as our body count in Afghanistan increases.
But what are our central governments doing? You know the guys who either sent the troops over or decided to extend their mission and increase their role exposing them to increased chance of casualties. They exhort us to support our troops by not speaking dissent against the job they are doing, but what in turn are the governments doing to recognise the fact that son, husbands, and fathers aren't going to be coming home to their loved ones?
What recognition of the responsibility they have for causing these young men (and in some cases women) to spend their lives because they were ordered to do so, have they offered? Are there monuments springing up for the soldiers being killed in Iraq? What is the Canadian government doing to honour the troops who have been dying on the roads of Afghanistan?
Article comments
1 - Deano
Richard,
With respect I disagree. The Liberal policy of lowering the flag to half-mast everytime a Canadian soldier is killed is a recent manifestation and one that, laudable as the efforts to honour each fallen soldier might be, is a mistaken one.
The Liberal government has never demonstrated any excessive zeal in looking after the interests of Canadian soldiers previously. They regularly placed them in harm's way on multiple peace-keeping missions in hotspots around the world - while at the same time cutting funding and equipment and reducing the Canadian military's operational readiness and capabilities significantly.
Given the openness and support the military has provided for the Canadian press to operate, I don't think anyone can reasonably complain that the government is trying to reduce awareness of the Afghan committment. I suspect levels of awareness of the Afghan committment is higher then awareness of the previous missions to Yugoslavia, Cyprus, Rwanda and other locales.
The Liberal policy of lowering the flag everytime always struck me as being more about the Liberal Party posturing to the public then about honouring the troops. It is stage-managed mourning - "(Sniff) See how much we care!", a hired "weeping widow" for a nation and it cheapens and demeans the honest efforts of the troops on the ground.
Whether the Tories will be any better remains to be seen but I don't think you can reasonably lay into them for returning the flag policy to the traditionally observed policy.
2 - Deano
Well the Tories managed to blow this one off in record time. I see from the news today that they are shutting down any press coverage of the arrival of casulaties back in Canada, exactly as the US has implemented.
I still think they are correct to restore the flag policy to something approaching sensible however you appear to be absolutely correct in reading their approach to the situation. Is it too much to ask that government stop treating their citizenry as through we are children and stop attempting to manipulate us through crass, dishonest policies.
We need to see the consequences, we need to understand and weigh the costs, not sweep them under the rug for the purposes of some partisan popularity. The men and women serving deserve at the very least, a little of our attention, a little moral weight and consideration to their efforts, not a cheap form of censorship for political gain. They deserve better than that.
3 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Richard,
I can't comment on Canada. But if our government gave adequate recognition to the casualties of war, the flag would fly at half mast each day, and the government here would be forced to face teh fact that it has not provided for the security of the citizenry here adequately at all. Instead, our children are supposed to be 'sacrificess for peace' and we are supposed to applaud.
BTW, I haven't seen the word cenotaph in quite a while.
4 - Richard Marucs
Deanno:
I absolutly hate when I'm cynical and right. I wish for once that somebody could prove me wrong. I'm not a big fan of the flag lowering thing either, but at least it was something to remind poeple that soldiers are worthy of attention.
Ruvy, your country had been at war since 1948, and if people don't understand by now the importance of their armed forces than there isn't a country on earth that ever will.
Centoaph is still in common usage in Canada, but than we still celebrate Remembrance Day as well with Red Poppies and the works. Maybe it's because the poem "In Flander's Fields" was written by a Canadian soldier we have a more emotional tie to the traditions asociated with those ceromonies.
Richard
5 - troll
IMO the US flag should fly at half mast all of the time these days....as well as upside down
troll
6 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Gee, Troll,
Haven't heard anybody talk like that since... Nam.
7 - Anthony hamm
this page tells me nothing about how many canadians died in world war 2