Thursday, November 11, 2010

加拿大軍人: 2010年國殤紀念日 ∕ Canadian Armed Forces-Forces armées canadiennes: Remembrance Day 2010


"War does not determine who is right -
only who is left."

- Bertrand Arthur William Russell

"When you go home, tell them of us and say:
For Their Tomorrow,
We Gave Our Today."

- Major John Etty-Leal


今天是11月11國殤紀念日,加拿大和很多國家都在上午11時靜默記念殉職軍民。我雖然是愛好和平者,但亦明白在人類歷史的發展過程中,無論是在世界那一個地方,無論是怎樣一個自稱文明進步的民族,戰爭與和平,都是無可避免的現實。

每逢11-11-11,我都不禁会想起T和S的外祖母麥金蓮博士(PhD in Mathematics),在二次大戰時她是屬加拿大國防部的一個秘密研究小組,專設計蘭開斯特重型轟炸機Avro Lancaster heavy bomber 的投彈系統,幫助盟軍改善在歐洲空戰的實力。


而大約同一時期,在太平洋的彼岸,加拿大和其他在港守軍慘受日本侵華軍隊炮擊圍攻,終於寡不敵众,在1941年黑色聖誕日被迫投降,香港宣佈淪陷,開始了三年零八個月的日治痛苦經歷。而在11月從加拿大運來的1975個援軍, 共有557人戰死犧牲,餘者成為日軍的戰俘。

加拿大和香港,就是因為戰亂,而共同成了保衛和平的戰友。為客死異鄉的加拿大軍人,我寫下了這幾句:




黃沙白土,
我在舊戰場中尋覓,
那多年戰亂的遺痕。
陣亡士兵,
長埋在異邦叢林中,
仍在靜靜的等待,
那勝利的號角,
叫喚他們,
重歸入愛人的懷抱。





References / Related links:

1. Winner of The Nobel Prize in Literature 1950: Bertrand Russell: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1950/russell-bio.html
2. "For your tomorrow we gave our today" This poem is the "Kohima Epitaph" composed by Major John Etty-Leal and is engraved on the War Memorial to commemorate the men of the British 2nd Division who fell in the Battle of Kohima in 1944. It has become world-famous as the Kohima poem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohima
3. UK Imperial War Museum: http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/

6 comments:

啤酒花™_J said...

美中带害的罂粟花,但我喜欢。
战争带来的伤害。"War does not determine who is right -only who is left." 确实如此。

Haricot 微豆 said...

啤酒花™_J:

Actually, the poppy being used to commemorate the fallen soldiers is different from the species for manufacturing opium.

啤酒花™_J said...

:S oh really? thanks. Didn't know that.

Haricot 微豆 said...

啤酒花™_J: By the way, that's the explanation of the British Officials when their PM and other VIPs refused to take the Remembrance Day poppy off during their November visit to China: The 11.11.11 poppy has little to do with the Opium War.

啤酒花™_J said...

Haricot 微豆,
thanks for the info.

Haricot 微豆 said...

啤酒花™_J:

:)

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