By Dan Hicks

Op-Ed Commentary

Cranbrook’s Remembrance Day 2025 Rotary Park ceremony was well attended – affirming our enduring reverence for Canada’s war dead, perhaps augmented by an awareness of ongoing wars and threats of wars to come, and a warm sunshiny November day whose 11 degrees Celsius high was eight degrees above average for the date.

Accommodating latecomers, the eternal 11 a.m. armisonous minute of silence was delayed by 10 minutes.

Whether from poppied Flanders Fields or any place else, those of us respectful of the fallen, yet hesitant to grasp any torches that they – in their dying moments – might toss our way, may derive some reassuring solace from American Great War soldier Grantland Rice who, apart from whatever hatred he held for the Hun, came away with an evident distain for his ranking compatriot elders vis-à-vis their insulated prosecution of the war.

Lead image: Remembrance Day flags at Rotary Park – the Maple Leaf, Red Ensign and Union Jack; Cranbrook. Dan Hicks photo

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