A child’s letter to a dead soldier
My name is Rachel. I am in Grade 4. I am writing this letter because I want to say thank you for sacrificing your life so we could live in freedom. I know I couldn’t have done that. If there was a war going on right now, I would probably go in my house and stay there for as long as I needed to. But you didn’t. Thank you.
If I were you, I would probably never risk my life for something that doesn’t even have anything to do with me. But you did. Thank you for leaving your family to go to war. Thank you.
Thank you for experiencing all this just so people you don’t even know don’t have to. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like getting off a boat with people trying to shoot you, like in Normandy. I would have told you to stop and go back. But you didn’t. Thank you.
Rachel Hamilton, 9, Barrie, Ont.
Foul weather, brave deeds
Veteran James Cross suggests Remembrance Day be held in May or August (Remembrance, Then And Now – letters, Nov. 10); I prefer the foulest, coldest Nov. 11 possible to remember the hardships endured by soldiers of both world wars.
My great-uncle and grandfather survived the muck, rain and horrors of trench warfare at Ypres in 1915; two uncles battled through Italy during the wet and soggy winter of 1943. The Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge was carried out in a snowstorm on a terrible Easter Day in April, 1917. And who can forget our D-Day boys rushing, seasick, toward Juno Beach through hard, buffeting waves?
No, weather most foul on Nov. 11 is what I and, I hope, others need to really remember.
Neil Willoughby, Toronto
The glory of the Arctic?
Your article Alone And Adrift, Teen Refuses To Give Up (front page, Nov. 10 about the young man who went polar bear hunting and had to be rescued carried a secondary headline: Young Hunter’s Resilience In A Desperate Situation Is ‘The Glory Of The Arctic.’ Glory of the Arctic? Good luck with that.
He went hunting in hazardous conditions and ended up shooting a mother bear when she stalked “uncomfortably close.” There was certainly a dangerous predator out there that day but it wasn’t the bear.
Dave Moores, Oakville, Ont.
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Of course it’s good news that a 17-year-old was saved after he’d become stranded on an ice floe, but I fail to see the “glory,” given that he had to kill a mother polar bear, leaving her cubs orphaned, almost certain to die of starvation or worse. Surely even “seasoned” hunters must realize our changing climate renders ice not as solid at this time of year as it once would have been.
Julie Element, Ottawa
In other words, so to speak
In your article Hapless Immigrant Or Terrorist Threat? Man Caught At The Border With 9/11 Videos And $900,000 (front page, Nov. 10), the RCMP is quoted as saying they’re investigating “a probable national-security nexus.” Holy Redcoat! Nexus?
I suspect a number of readers figured he was driving that well-known high-end car. Next time, keep it simple; use “link” or “connection.”
Gordon S. Findlay, Toronto
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The caption below the photo of Toronto mayoral candidate George Smitherman and Christopher Peloso is disappointingly discriminatory (Smitherman’s Intentions Put Heat On Tory – Nov. 10). Christopher is George’s husband, not partner. You wouldn’t use partner to describe half of a heterosexual married couple. Let’s catch up with the times, please.
Peter D. Hambly, Hanover, Ont.
One purpose doesn’t fit all walls
