19 Nov Let’s Always Remember
My dear friend Jonathon Furlong wrote this heart felt letter to his father years ago and shared it with me. I re-read it every Remembrance Day and it stays with me for many days to follow. I think that we should remember the hero’s every day. It is easy to forget even after we dedicate a day to remember. I choose to save this until now to share. May we ALWAYS remember. Thank you for sharing a piece of your heart with us Jonathon.
Dear Dad,
I’m writing You this note long overdue.
It is from My heart to Yours, should You care to share it with Your fellow Vets in Heaven, well I’d be proud. Should it be just Ours, I will be equally so.
Dad, we are doing our best to take care of Mom and Your Sister, Our Aunt Helen, as I know You would…as You always did.
It never feels like it’s quite enough, and I hope You’ll reach down and help us through the tough times ahead.
It is with great Pride when I speak of You to Friends.
It is with great fondness and Love when Mom and I share stories of You.
I feel closer to You in some ways with You looking down upon us, as Your kindness and silent support never made any of Your sons feel You ever looked down on us …when we could see Your eyes.
I love You My Father, always my Friend.
As I become older, the knowledge of all Your sacrifices sets in.
Your service in flying in Lancaster’s fighting for our Country’s freedom in the RCAF.
World War 2
To 17 Amulet st…
A door always opens to those in need.
Cold showers before work as we and all our friends had used up all the hot water.
A trench coat and a Fedora that I recognized in every hospital hallway, and on the sideline for every single game.
I’m not sure where I should be on this Remembrance Day, but I know with Your guidance, and the example You set for us all, I will get there.
Watching with Mom many wonderful shows depicting what You and Your Friends went through in order to secure the world Your sons were to grow up in, … Is both surreal and inspiring.
Your gentle spirit, and peace-loving nature,
must have stood in sharp contrast to the madness You all were facing together
in the madness of war.
You all were noble.
You having run off in a spare class at school to enlist
Against Your Dads wishes.
Him wanting to protect His only Son.
You and Your Mates rose up to fight against what would have been a very different World.
You I guess, were doing the very thing Your Father was …protecting Your sons, as yet unborn….your friend’s daughters, all of your wives…. Yours yet to come.
Fighting for your Parents, and for the parents all the sons and daughters alive today, may one day become.
You said often as You watched the world change, that what we, the Youth of this great nation needed was a good war to put things into perspective.
As I watch some of the fabric of society fray, I can understand what You felt.
What You all fought for is in some jeopardy.
I do now know what You really meant.
What was missing in the generations that followed You…was the bonding experience that brought all of You together side by side …. Differences set aside… To fight a great fight against an uncommon and ruthless foe.
I know You didn’t want to see another war,
You wanted to see comradery.
All for one, and one for all.
You and the men You fought alongside brought us that notion, and that notion saved nations.
Nations full of sons and daughters, parents and grandparents.
Our fight now Dad, is a different one. There is no conscription and with the many wars being fought all over the world, it’s hard to identify who the enemy is we have in common.Like You I fashion myself a thinker.
My thoughts lead me back to your generation and although freedom in Canada doesn’t seem to be threatened presently,
However, the nobility and looking after the core values that makes this nation great…is
Comradery is,
Collective good and the power that collective good has, needs a boost.
I am lucky to have like-minded friends.
We are looking to help, to give and to care.
I am Your Son Dad, You and all you’ve done for our family registrars more and more each day.
As a Veteran, what you great men did was help to change the course of the world.
You bound together and lost great friends in that horrible time.
You stayed bound together.
Our job, I hope You agree
Is to see smaller battles, ones that aren’t fought with guns and planes, ones that we only need integrity to win,
compassion to win,
and true caring for our fellow peoples….to again, Win.
Small wars are hard to fight they say,
It is only with the acknowledgement and respect for your sacrifice, which took lives, yet yielded my generation and the generations to come…
I know Your wish is for never another war.
Yet as man is man and if war must continue,
Might we fight with the same spirit, using softer tools,
in smaller theaters…
our voices, our reason…
to bring into being the world you all fought for.
All of our veterans fought for.
A world of …
and at ….
Peace.
Thank You
Harry James Michael Furlong
We will never stop loving You
We will never forget You
Your Son,
John
