Today we honoured veterans, including those from World War II and the Korean War. I hesitated to intrude on this day with another blog post but watching the surviving veterans compelled me to say something about what we owe them.
Approximately 33,000 Second World War veterans are still alive, with an average age of 94. 6400 Korean veterans remain with an average age of 87. (Veterans Affairs – Demographics)
These folks are “old,” those that many in society devalue and say should stay locked up at home, so younger people don’t have to wear a mask into a store.
As young men, these guys went to war against a tangible threat.
The veterans interviewed today and telling their stories were young men once, as the ones we lost forever will be.
As Robert Laurence Binyon wrote in his 1914 poem,
“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not wear them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them. “
My daughter bringing an Afghanistan veteran into our family truly brought home how young those lost were, how much life they had to live.
Some came home and carried on with their lives, though often not without significant scars from the battles they fought. Globe and Mail’s Les Perreaux paid tribute in 2016 to 31 of the then 70 Afghanistan veterans who lost their lives to suicide after returning home, in his article The Unremembered.
I have no doubt we lost some the same way in those earlier wars.
Those that survived World War II and the psychological aftermath are among the seniors most at risk for serious complications and death from COVID 19.
These people went to war for our country…
to protect others…
I think it’s time we return the favour.
Let’s protect these strong (but vulnerable) soldiers of our country. Let’s protect the partners who waited for them to come home. Don’t let them die in such a horrific way after what they have given.
To reference Mr. Binyon,
They have grown old,
Age has worn them; the years have condemned,
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them too.
As deaths in long-term care once again reach a crisis point, as we in Alberta break hospitalization and ICU records, there are undoubtedly some veterans or those who love them, among the statistics.
- 217 in hospital (average age 62 years – range 0 – 102)
- 46 in intensive care (average age 60 years -range 4 – 89)
- 7 new deaths reported, 383 total (average age 82 years – range 27 to 106)
Pay tribute to these veterans.
Wash Your Hands
Stay Home if Ill
Sanitize Surfaces
Social Distance
Wear a Mask Indoors Where Social Distancing is Difficult.
They protected us. It’s now our turn, and our honour, to protect them.
Path to Pasture 