To the editor,
The passing of John Babcock on Feb. 18, 2010, was the end of an era for Canada and has brought Remembrance of our past soldiers and their deeds to the forefront again. Many are sad that our last World War 1 veteran has passed on, but many more ask the question, “Who is he?”
The Royal Canadian Legion and its 350,000 members from coast to coast know that he was our last World War 1 veteran. Their flags flew at half-mast in his memory. But does the remainder of Canada know who he was and why his passing is so significant? Some do, I will grant that, but it would seem that many do not. Do they care about him being the last veteran of World War 1? If they don’t know how can they?
John Babcock was a symbol for the last years of his long life of a part of our history, an era, that was billed as the Great War, or “the war to end all wars,” even though that prophecy did not come true. He, in fact, was our last living contact with a war that will be forgotten, except by historians, eventually, unless Canadians stand up for Remembrance and know that with each passing day a great many veterans of Canada’s wars, conflicts and missions have passed on.
Canadians must mark them and their predecessors passing on our national day of Remembrance, November 11, each year so that we will remain a country that cares strongly about its veterans because they took on the duty of securing our future. They must also mark their passing so that we, as a country, will never forget the horrors of war.
It is interesting to me that there is a sort of resurgence of Remembrance in Canada. Whether that is a function of the increased marking of World War 1 and World War 2 anniversaries by the media, or the deployment of our troops to Afghanistan, I cannot say for sure. I suspect it is both, but one thing is for certain. We must remember all of those times so that we never forget, because it is only through remembering that we learn.
Once upon a time we could stand next to someone who fought in World War 2 or Korea. As the soldiers who fought there get frailer with age and pass away we can no longer stand next to them and they are replaced by those who have carried on in their footsteps. When they are all gone who will remember their eras?
The passing of John Babcock should remind us all that there is a final end to a specific time in history. It is when that last participant in a specific event dies.
But the event that is marked by the finality of death must never be forgotten, and neither should the participants.
If Canada is to remain a progressive nation on the world stage, its peoples, old and new must never forget the individual and group sacrifices made on their behalf since we got our status as a Dominion. Without them we would not be what we are and who we are today. John Babcock’s passing marked the end of an era for Canada just as future deaths will mark the end of other eras. But this is the last soldier of a time that saw Canada defined for the first time – at Vimy Ridge.
Wilfred Edmond
Dominion President of The Royal Canadian Legion
