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welcome to the aldergrove legion branch 265

"'THEY SHALL GROW NOT OLD AS WE THAT ARE LEFT GROW OLD; AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN. AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM."

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THE SPIRIT OF THE WALL The Viet Nam Veteran's Memorial I STOOD BEFORE THE WALL TODAY ... COMPLETELY UNPREPARED FOR THE BITTERSWEET EMOTIONS THAT RAINED DOWN UPON MY HEAD. MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS HAVE COME ... AND GONE SINCE THAT AWFUL WAR WAS FOUGHT ... I THOUGHT THE PAIN HAD 'GONE AWAY' I WAS SURPRISED THAT IT HAD NOT. WE SENT OUR BEST AND BRIGHTEST LIGHTS TO A JUNGLE FAR AWAY ... WHERE FOR A CAUSE SO GOOD AND NOBLE, WE COMMITTED TO THE FRAY. I CANNOT BEGIN TO TELL YOU OF ALL THE PAIN WITHIN THE WALL ... OR HOW IT WAS 'WE, THE PEOPLE' WHO SCORNED OUR SOLDIERS, ONE AND ALL. AS I LOOKED AT ALL THE MANY NAMES ENGRAVED UPON THIS WALL I REACHED OUT WITH A TREMBLING HAND, AS IF ... TO CATCH THEM ... AS THEY'D FALL. MY HEART, I THOUGHT, IS BREAKING FOR THE LIVES THEY'D NEVER KNOW ... AND, AS I HEARD THAT LONELY BUGLE PLAY. I THOUGHT OF THOSE WHO'D LOVED THEM SO ... AND THEN ... I SAW A MAN - NO LONGER YOUNG KNEELING AT THE WALL... HIS FINGERS TOUCHED BUT JUST ONE NAME ... I HEARD HIM WHISPER ...'THROUGH IT ALL' OUR SOLDIERS NEVER FALTERED ... NEVER SAID THEY WOULDN'T GO ... AND , AGAIN, THIS DAY, THEY FIGHT FOR ME IN SPITE OF 'EVERYTHING THEY KNOW'. I STOOD BEFORE THE WALL TODAY ... AND REMEMBERED. from: In The Spirit of Things

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The 1st Canadian Infantry Division and the 1st Canadian Army Tank Brigade, under the command of Major-General G.G. Simonds, sailed from Great Britain in late June 1943. En route, 58 Canadians were drowned when enemy submarines sank three ships of the assault convoy, and 500 vehicles and a number of guns were lost. Nevertheless, the Canadians arrived late in the night of July 9 to join the invasion armada of nearly 3,000 Allied ships and landing craft. Just after dawn on July 10, the assault (preceded by airborne landings) went in. Canadian troops went ashore near Pachino close to the southern tip of Sicily and formed the left flank of the five British landings that spread over 60 kilometres of shoreline. Three more beachheads were established by the Americans over another 60 kilometres of the Sicilian coast. In taking Sicily, the Allies aimed, as well, to trap the German and Italian armies and prevent their retreat across the Strait of Messina into Italy. From the Pachino beaches, where resistance from Italian coastal troops was light, the Canadians pushed forward through choking dust, over tortuous mine-filled roads. At first all went well, but resistance stiffened as the Canadians were engaged increasingly by determined German troops who fought tough delaying actions from the vantage points of towering villages and almost impregnable hill positions. On July 15, just outside the village of Grammichele, Canadian troops came under fire from Germans of the Hermann Goering Division. The village was taken by the men and tanks of the 1st Infantry Brigade and Three Rivers Regiment. Piazza Armerina and Valguarnera fell on successive days, after which the Canadians were directed against the hill towns of Leonforte and Assoro. Despite the defensive advantages which mountainous terrain gave to the Germans, after bitter fighting both places fell to the Canadian assault. Even stiffer fighting was required as the Germans made a determined stand on the route to Agira. Three successive attacks were beaten back before a fresh brigade, with over