They fought for our freedom

[GordonH]

To ALL past and present who have served, thank you for service and sacrifice.

[Pitapants]

thanks, it means a lot

[Babba_not_Gump]

So many of the old veterans died a lonely life.

This story...
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=89457&start=45
...got me thinking. It's the story below the one on Janis Joplin.

I grew up in Terrace so decide to look up Alonzo J. Brackett.
It seems he served in both World Wars and died a lonely man in the "Old Men's Home" in Terrace.
The "Old Men's Home was a set of old army barracks, not far from where I lived. It was full of old men and as my father told me They all suffered from Shell Shock. That was what they originally called PTSD and were all veterans of WW1 and WW2.

We would occasionally see these old men wandering past out house. One guy even dug a large trench system over a number of months in an empty lot.

Here is Alonzo J. Brackett's Registration of Death.

What is so sad about it is "Marital Status": Unknown.
Possibly no family, no friends, no visitors.

That's how I recall many of these men, lonely, forgotten and crazy.

Let's hope our veterans today are treated better.

[Babba_not_Gump]

Remembrance Day, November 11 is coming up. That's the day flags are lowered to half-mast, especially at all government sites.
But flags at government offices are already at half-mast, so what happened November 11?

Last May Justin ordered all federal masts be lowered due to the findings of what are believed to be the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

The decision about when to raise up flag lies with Trudeau and he says he plans to keep it lowered until Indigenous Peoples want to see Canada’s flag flying fully hoisted.

Well Justin, what's the verdict on Remembrance Day when half-masting the flag at the National War Memorial and other federal sites is done in memory of veterans and Canadian soldiers who died fighting for the country?

[Catsumi]

Remembrance Day, November 11 is coming up. That's the day flags are lowered to half-mast, especially at all government sites.
But flags at government offices are already at half-mast, so what happened November 11?

Last May Justin ordered all federal masts be lowered due to the findings of what are believed to be the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

The decision about when to raise up flag lies with Trudeau and he says he plans to keep it lowered until Indigenous Peoples want to see Canada’s flag flying fully hoisted.

Well Justin, what's the verdict on Remembrance Day when half-masting the flag at the National War Memorial and other federal sites is done in memory of veterans and Canadian soldiers who died fighting for the country?

No end in sight yet bb49. .. Flag half down for 18 weeks now so the action has lost it’s true meaning. Been overdone.

From National Post:


Meanwhile, the flags on all federal government buildings across the river in Montreal and almost everywhere else in Canada remain at half-mast, as they have since May 30, and they will “until further notice,” according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canadian Heritage.

But Trudeau’s symbolic gesture without an end date is about to collide with a fixed date, Nov. 11 — better known as Remembrance Day — and the rituals associated with it. Together with poppies, two minutes of silence, the laying of wreaths and the playing of the Last Post, lowering the national flag to half-mast at sunrise and keeping it there until sunset is an integral part of remembering.

[GordonH]

I find it surprising that a number of Provinces still don’t recognize Remembrance Day as a National holiday.

Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia & Newfoundland don’t.

[Pitapants]

I find it surprising that a number of Provinces still don’t recognize Remembrance Day as a National holiday.

Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia & Newfoundland don’t.

Newfoundland has a national day of mourning on July 1st

[Babba_not_Gump]

So who is calling the shots on these flags?

Justin?

The natives?

[Catsumi]

Certainly isn’t the Veterans.

[rustled]

Certainly isn’t the Veterans.

No. They matter very little to Trudeau. Canada and Canadians in general matter very little to him.

This is flat-out wrong.

[GordonH]

Certainly isn’t the Veterans.

No. They matter very little to Trudeau. Canada and Canadians in general matter very little to him.

This is flat-out wrong.

Only time he slightly gives a damn is election time.

[rustled]

No. They matter very little to Trudeau. Canada and Canadians in general matter very little to him.

This is flat-out wrong.

Only time he slightly gives a damn is election time.

Not then either, though, IMO. He's about "what can I say I care about so people will vote for me", not actually caring about it.

[Catsumi]

Anyone see my point that flag lowered for 18 weeks has seriously chipped away at the intent of lowering it in the first place?

[erinmore3775]

Ray Deer is president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 219 in Kahnawake Mohawk territory, and his Branch has raised the flag. He and his Branch believe that lowering the flag should not be a perpetual show. A point has been made. His Brach will lower the flag on November 11 to mark Rembrance Day.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/ca ... brance-day

The current maintenance of the lowered flag has lost its significance. Few remember why it is still lowered. However, most Canadians know and Rembrance why it is lowered on Remembrance Day. It is time to raise the flag.

[nucksRnum1]

Was thinking about this yesterday looking at as old of a guy the legion could find sitting bored at a table with poppies. He probably wasn't even in any of the wars. And as time goes on the "sacrifices" of a ww over 100 years ago and another ww that was over 85 years ago seems harder and harder to be interested in. There is a huge disconnect. All the wars we seem to fight these days are all losing ones that last way too long. Not even the soldiers fighting these days know what the hell we fight wars for today. The objective never seems to be a clear-cut victory. You even see this dilemma in shows like seal team. Sons fighting a war that their dads did. In the end, I wonder how long this sombre tradition from 100 plus years ago will last. And the reasons why. Our country can't even agree on anything anymore. Not even 2 vax shots. And what was the definition of freedom 100 years ago - or what being a "Canadian" actually is - is significantly different today.