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Letter: A Remembrance Day message to young people

The Editor, I had the privilege of growing up in The War Amps Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program, which was started by war amputee veterans.
Tri-City News
Marcus Fahrner, the Port Moody Station Museum coordinator
Marcus Fahrner, the Port Moody Station Museum coordinator, reads a letter from home while perched in a "funk hole," the dirt cubby WWI soldiers had to dig into the walls of their trench to serve as sleeping quarters. Fahrner is one of a handful of re-enactors who have demonstrated the routines of daily trench life in the museum's.MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS

The Editor,

I had the privilege of growing up in The War Amps Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program, which was started by war amputee veterans. Through Operation Legacy, which is made up of members of CHAMP, we pay tribute to the veterans who founded the association and all those who have served our country.

I have participated in Operation Legacy as far back as I can remember by laying wreaths and attending remembrance ceremonies. I have only scratched the surface of understanding how much these soldiers sacrificed but I am eager to spread the remembrance message to other young people so that we and the generations after us know who to thank.

Canada as we know it today exists because of the men and women who served, sacrificing life and limb so that future generations could live freely and safely. As young people, we are that future generation. It is up to us to say thank you and remember them because their sacrifices weren’t for nothing, they were for everything.

On Remembrance Day this year, I challenge young people to attend your local ceremony, wear a poppy over your heart or, at the very least, take a moment at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11 to pause and say, "Thank you."

Rachel Quilty, The War Amps