Read the real life stories and experiences of freelance writer Mike Gagnon.

REMEMBERANCE DAY

Grandpa Gagnon

My Grandpa Gagnon used to serve in the Canadian military. He was a part of her majesty's infantry, which means he was on the ground and fighting the enemy on the front lines. He served in the Korean war.

The sad thing is that so many people can sacrifice so much and be forgotten. In any war. Today when people look back at Vietnam they say that they don't know why there ever was a Vietnam War. If you think that's bad, when people talk about the Korean war a lot of people don't know it even happened. I personally don't remember anything on Korea in History class.

But my Grandfather was there. He lived it and to him it will always have been real. They call Korea the "forgotten war". To me I kind of see that as an insult to the service men and women who fought bravely, and for some never returned. And and insult to all of the families of those that served. My Grandfather saw a lot of horrible things and lost many friends in the so called "Forgotten War".

I think today everyone should really think about this. While you're paying tribute to the family and friends involved in any war, see if you can't find out if there's anyone else from your family that served in Korea that you didn't know about. No war should ever be forgotten. The phrases "Lest ye break faith with those who died" and also "lest we be doomed to repeat it" Come to mind.

I'd have to say that I am damn proud to say that someone in my family served this country. I know myself, and I know that I don't have what it takes in me to make the sacrifice that every soldier made there every day.

In World War II 2.3 Million Japanese Died. In Korea 4 Million Koreans died, Canada lost 516 Soldiers and nearly 3,000 were wounded, America lost 55,000 and 104,000 were wounded, The UN lost 4,000 soldiers and 12,000 were wounded. UN Soldiers represented Canada, U.S., France, and Britain.  If you'd like more info I suggest websites like : www.kvacanada.com, http://collections.ic.gc.ca/books/kamain.htm, www.koreanwar.com, and lots more you can find at www.google.ca or www.google.com respectively.

My Grandfather was lucky in a way. He was one of the ones numbered in the wounded. Although I don't know if that's when he came home. He's told me stories and shown me the scars of where he was hit with enemy fire.

I've seen photos of he and my Grandma during that time, and beautiful pictures he drew of her while serving his tour of duty for his country.

If he had been mortally wounded during that war I wouldn't be here today, and for that I owe him a lot.

Thank you Grandpa, our country owes you a debt of gratitude.

Please show your respects in anyway you can anytime today. Never forget those who gave their lives and risked their lives so we would be free...

My Grandpa Gagnon told me that his Badge Number in Korea was SC18143 and he was with the Royal 22nd Regiment. Since they were mostly french the group often called themeselves "Veint Deu" (french for 22nd). When the other english speaking regiments overheard this they misunderstood it as some sort of nickname or classification, the words were clumsily translated to English and the members of the regiment became known to other soldiers as "The Van Deuce's". This nickname/classification is still used among war veterans today.

My Grandpa Knight

On January 20th 2003 my Grandpa Knight passed away. He had been sick and suffering for a long time and I know he's in a better place. As far as I know he was a farmer all of his life and never served in the army, but i'm ashamed to say I'm not sure. He was sick long before I was old enough to talk to him about such things and it saddens me to think that I never took the time to ask the questions when we had the time together. Regardless of whether he served his country by fighting for it or feeding it, it's Rememebrance Day and that can mean anyyone whom you'd like to remember and pay your respects too.

I remeber we used to call him "Boppa" and then as I grew up and I thought I was too mature to call him "Boppa" and switched to Grandpa. I wish that I had had one more chance to call him Boppa again.

I know someday we'll be able to talk again.

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