Lest we forget...

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Shorts days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Dec 8 1915 John McCrae
(1872-1918)

Sunday is Remembrance Day in Canada, a day to remember our brave men and women who fought for our freedom in World War I, World War II and the Korean War. My paternal Grandfather survived the second world war, he was a signaller on the Lancaster bombers as a serving member of the Royal Air Force. My grandfather, Fred Berry, would never talk about the war though we tried to get him to tell us his stories. You could see that the horror of what he had witnessed haunted him and it was a subject he would never speak of. We lost Grandpa in 1994 and with him went moments of history that we can never recover. I wish I could say that we have learned lessons from what he and so many others lived through and died for, but as we watch the modern world still in turmoil and people still killing others it makes my heart heavy to know that it may have been in vain. This Sunday please pause at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month to remember those who gave so that we can enjoy the freedoms we take so much for granted.

I would like to share some precious photos my Mom loaned to me recently. I didn't know these photos existed as my Grandparents' home burned to the ground when my Dad was a young boy and they literally lost everything. These few precious photos were found by family and friends and are such a gift. I adored my Grandpa and he adored me right back. I miss him so.

My Grandma and Grandpa (centre couple) on their
wedding day December 27, 1941
Warrant Officer Frederick Noel Berry, Signaller
(back row, far right)Grandpa (back row far left) with his Lancaster bomber crew
Winter, 1944 The crew's signatures on the back of the photograph
(my grandpa is bottom row, far left)
My Grandparents with my Grandma's (Pat (Stanley) Berry) family
at the end of WWII, England, Summer 1945
Grandpa is back row 3rd from left and Grandma is
front row second from leftThe cycle continues, my Dad with Grandpa
May 1964 as Dad joins the RCAF
My Dad as a shiny new pilot! :o)
Me and my Grandpa August 1991
I love you and miss you.