by Max Normandeau - age 12
Why would anyone freely volunteer
to go fight a war on enemy shores
With no guarantee you’d ever make it home
to the good life you had before?
With the odds of death far too high
and daily horrors that overwhelm your mind
yet on Canadian soil, it was calm and fine…
How could anyone leave that behind?
….but my great-grandpa did.
Does anyone really love their country
So much that they’d give their life?
Why would young men from different countries
battle to the death with gun and knife?
Closing his eyes knowing again the next day
Honour and horror would collide
young men like him but just a different team
Can’t imagine how it’d tear you up inside
….but my great-grandpa did.
He loaded bombs onto allied planes
Knowing the damage they would wreak
Lost new friends behind enemy lines
And hoped for a letter from home that week
We can never forget or honour enough
These selfless heroes who gave their all
We will never fully appreciate
The true meaning of peace and freedom for us all
…but my great-grandpa did.
In the memory of my great-grandpa,
Victor J. B. Normandeau – Feb. 1916 to Jan. 2004
READ MORE: VIDEO: Vernon remembers
READ MORE: LETTER: Remembering the forgotten
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letters@vernonmorningstar.com
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