Mr. Speaker, of all the horrific acts humans commit, there is none more grievous then war, though of all the acts of valor people commit, there is none greater than serving in a time of a war. It is with this contradiction in mind that I speak before this House on the subject of Remembrance Day.
Throughout our history, men and women of all races, creeds and ages have served in some form or another with great distinction in countless military engagements. Some storming the fields of Passchendaele, Juno and Zabul, while others tended to the home front assuring those who fought would come back to conditions where they could live in peace.
No words can do justice to the sacrifices committed by so few, but owed by so many, though what we do on November 11th is a recommitment to the continued acknowledgement of those hallowed sacrifices. That we state as one people that we will never forget what was given in order to assure that all of us here have the opportunity of existing in a free society.
Mr. Speaker, my own father, George Stanley Cochrane, as well as other members of my lineage, served throughout the Second World War, and most fortunately, all returned alive. That is not to say though that they came back unscathed. When thinking of my father’s service, silence is the word that comes to mind, for he would never voluntarily broach the subject for reasons I can only assume originate from a sense of great pain and even greater loss.
The term, post-traumatic stress, had not yet entered our vocabulary and he and his generation found other ways to cope with the horrors of the battlefields. My father was a warrior all his life; he fought on the battlefield, he fought his demons off the battlefield, and he fought to make the Canada we know today. I loved my father, and admired his strength.
A strength shared by all those who willingly put their lives on the line for duty and honour. On November 11th, I will honour all soldiers, medics and civilians who now only live on in memory, those today who are trying to return to normalcy, and those who are still fighting to return home, Mr. Speaker, lest we forget.
