I was born a week after what is now called VE Day, so this is from acquired, not direct knowledge

All my uncles served in WW2, one on the farm he ran from 1933 on the others in uniform. Those in uniform were variously posted some seeing what we now like to call “action.” They were humble and quiet about what they did and saw. Honourable people all.

What we most often see in current remembrances of VE Day are cheering celebrating crowds. From what, over probably too much time, I’ve finally learned is that those who were there acted in a very different way. As those close to me know, I listen to CBC a lot. My father (who was in the RCAF medical corps) listened to CBC from my earliest memory. I (with a normal youth’s interspersions of music stations) have listened to CBC since then. CBC, with all the faults you can name still brings Canada to Canadians.

One of their programs on the end of fighting in Europe brought home the mind set of those we tasked to accomplish victory in Europe head on.

The story (with apologies for my lapses in precision) was of an infantry unit. A dispatch rider had just brought the daily message back from HQ. His CO read it, “It’s over” and asked the rider to keep the message quiet until a formal announcement was made. The dispatch rider just sat down. The CO made the announcement. The camp went silent.

When I hear our current leaders’ speeches about such things, I remember this tale of the front line’s reaction.

Words don’t come close to a proper remembrance.

The Plaidneck