The Legion is still seeking names of those who qualify to be added to the register, according to RCL Malahat president Wilf Nash.
Have you ever looked closely at the Duncan Cenotaph? If so, you’ll have noticed that, beside the obvious demarcation between the names listed for the First and Second World Wars, there are three further distinctions.
These are Killed, Missing in Action, and On Active Service.
Killed and missing are pretty straightforward. But what does it mean, On Active Service?
This is a catch-all category for those Canadian servicemen and service women who died in wartime but whose deaths may have resulted from accidents of any description and illness — not just in the frontlines and under fire, but while serving their nation wherever they were posted, at home and abroad. This includes nurses but not, regrettably, merchant mariners. (Another story for another time.)
In other words, they wouldn’t have been in that particular time and place within Canada or overseas when they became ill or were fatally injured but for the fact that they were there serving as members of the Canadian military or nursing corps — ergo, On Active Service.
So they, too, have earned their Remembrance and having their names on Duncan’s Cenotaph and those across Canada.
Since the Second and Korean wars Canada has contributed to many peacekeeping missions around the world and some of these deployments have also incurred casualties. But many other service personnel have not been so honoured and it’s these 2,300 unsung men and women who died on active service on native soil that caught the attention of the members of the Royal Canadian Legion Malahat District 134 in 2014.
That’s when Corp. Nathan Cirillo was fatally gunned down as he stood ceremonial guard at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Forty-eight hours later, W/O Patrice Vincent was run down and killed by an Islamic extremist in Quebec.
Again this year, at 11 a.m. this coming Saturday, Oct. 21, they’ll hold a special service at the Cobble Hill Cenotah “to honour…Canadian service men and women who have lost their lives on Canadian soil, in the everyday duty of keeping our nation safe…
“They have given their lives, not in war or during a peacekeeping deployment, but in the inherently dangerous every day duty of keeping our nation safe and strong.”
This year, Bob Collins, formerly of the Queen’s Own Rifles, will be joined in his day-long Cenotaph vigil (6 a.m.-11 a.m.) by two army cadets and possibly other volunteers. (Last year, a wet one, James Baird shared his vigil.) Duncan’s town crier Kingsley Benjamin Buss will play the Last Post on a First World War bugle while wearing a re-enactment uniform of an 1800 Redcoat of the 57th Regiment of Foot. As the Middlesex Regiment this unit served in the American war of independence, the War of 1812, with the Canadian Brigade in Hong Kong in 1941, and with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry at Kapyong, Korea.
Buss notes that he was a reservist in the 5th Bn. in North London, UK, and the design of his 1917 bugle orginated in 1800 but didn’t become the official military instrument until 1855.
Also planning to attend is local MP Alistair MacGregor.
An especially poignant addition to this year’s ceremony will be the display, in two volumes, of the names of casualties incurred on Canadian soil; these names have been provided by Veterans Affairs Canada.
That said, the Legion is still seeking names of those who qualify to be added to the register, according to RCL Malahat president Wilf Nash. “Soldiers who pass away will be added into the book with dates as people give them to us,” he explained. “If you know of anyone we have missed, please contact the branch by email or regular mail to ensure the names of their loved ones who have given their lives while serving in Canada have been included.”
Soon enough it will be Nov. 11 and Remembrance Day and we’ll again honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country in three wars and on peacekeeping missions. This Saturday, it’s the turn of those who died while serving their country on Canadian soil to be recognized.
This is something that was long overdue. A salute to the members of RCL Malahat District 134 for filling this void.