Allen was my Great Uncle and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Flight Officer during World War II. What follows is a partial entry out of his journal:
I do hope this war ends quickly and I can get back to something more constructive. What a waste of time it all seems and yet what centuries of progress and thought had been wasted had we refused to stand up for things people down through the years have championed and had submitted to Nazism and the Hitlerization of Canada and the whole world. In many ways war seems wrong and in many ways I suppose it is but it had been far more wrong had we not fought this war.
Allen never made it home. He died, along with his crew, on April 29th 1943 when his plane went down off the coast of England. They were returning from a night patrol and crashed at sea after reporting engine trouble. It was just a few days after his 32nd birthday. What might he have accomplished had his life not been cut short? More importantly, I think he would agree, what would our lives be like had Hitler gone unchallenged?
It doesn’t matter whether your calendar is marked Veteran’s Day, Armistice Day, or Remembrance Day. If you failed this past weekend to honor those who fought and especially the ones who didn’t return, take a moment to acknowledge the sacrifices they made in your behalf.
{ 4 comments }
Who are you?
Let’s see – Allen would be my great uncle? His brother Humphry (Hump) was my grandfather. I guess that makes us cousins at some distance.
I just talked to my dad, you are Sally’s kid…..I am Hump’s brother Carl’s granddaughter.
Yep, small world. That puts us both in the same generation – second cousins I guess. Check your email – now you have my address as well.
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