Posts Tagged ‘The Armistice’

Of all the expressions known to humankind, nothing captures the essence of remembrance more than a prolonged period of silence. When the First World War ended 90 years ago on Nov. 11, 1918, it wasn’t a loud celebration that erupted from the trenches; it was the rise of pale silence. The true nature of that silence cannot be completely understood by those who weren’t there and didn’t experience the unspeakable horrors of a war that killed approximately 10 million people and maimed millions more. Among those who did serve in the war, only a tiny number remain, including Canada’s Jack Babcock, [...]

Canada is on the razor’s edge of lived memory. At the time of writing this story, there is only one Canadian veteran left alive from the First World War. In fact, there are only a handful of these veterans still alive from around the world, with France, Turkey, and Australia’s last Great War veterans having passed away in recent years to join their millions of comrades who had already marched into history. While we totter from memory to history, the war remains a poignant event that continues to resonate across the divide of more than 90 years. The Great War for [...]