Canada’s Forgotten Veterans
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Kate | Friday, November 11, 2005 |
As Canadians observe Remembrance Day, some veterans aren’t invited:
Doug Carey won’t be at the national War Memorial this morning. If he’d been made to feel welcomed, made to feel honoured, made to feel remembered, he might have decided to go, but the Canadian government doesn’t have any such sentiments for Doug Carey, veteran, Doug Carey, Canadian, or the 20,000 of his fellow countrymen who fought, or the 103 who died.
There’ll be words spoken in the cold November air about our brave soldiers who fought and died in World War I and World War II and the Korean War, but there’ll be no words spoken about the long and terrible and bloody conflict known as the Vietnam War. There’ll be invited ambassadors with wreaths for the laying from countries that are our military allies, and from countries that were once our military enemies. There’ll be invited military personnel from countries that are our allies, and from countries that were once our enemies.
It will not be mentioned that among those whose sacrifice is being commemorated, who fought and who died in Canada’s 20th century wars, were Americans; Americans who chose to fight in the uniform of another country, our country. They, too, are being honoured this morning by Canada, but Canada is not honouring, and has not respected, the thousands of young Canadians who crossed the border to sign up for the Vietnam War wearing the uniform of the United States of America.
103 of the names on the Vietnam Memorial are Canadian.
About the Author: Kate is a freelance commercial and automotive airbrush artist living in Saskatchewan, Canada. She was one of the original guest bloggers at OTB in November 2004 and soon joined the permanent stable, contributing through January 2007.
Eventually, she turned to writing full time at her own blog, small dead animals, which was voted the Best Canadian Blog in the 2004 Weblog Awards and has been generally considered that country's best blog ever since.
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They, too, are being honoured this morning by Canada, but Canada is not honouring, and has not respected, the thousands of young Canadians who crossed the border to sign up for the Vietnam War wearing the uniform of the United States of America.
Why in the hell would Canada "honour" people who fought in some foreign country's war? It would be as if an American went to fight for the Ivorian Popular Movement for the Far West--nobody in the US would care.
It's as though Americans had joined Canada's military in the days before U.S. involvement in WWII so they could fight as part of the commonwealth.
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