Soutenir les Troupes

"Our Troops"

By CHUCK COLPITTS (in response to the deaths of Canadian soliders in the "Ghan" (Afghanistan), April 2007

It breaks my heart, as once again, their faces streaked with tear.
   Eight men, all in step, hoist high a comrade's bier.
They're over there, the mandate says, to make it safe to live.
   And once again, our troops have given, all there is to give.
War is hell, there is no doubt, and this one's worse than most.
   To fight a foe you cannot see's like chasing a ghost.
No uniform to set apart, the good ones from the bad.
   A strong resolve to sort it out is all they've ever had.
A foreign land of rock and sand and danger every day.
   We at home must make it clear, we're with them all the way.

"New Poppy Fields"

By T. F. LAZAROFF, April 2007

Today
A fallen soldier, on his way home, passed me by.
Carried quietly by the young and strong,
Past salutes of respect,
With tears in their eyes,
With love in their hearts,
With sadness of thought.
Past family and friends with tearful sighs.
My heart is heavy.
I too must stop and cry.

On his way home, the fallen soldier passed me by.
I could hear his words on a whisper of wind
I died believing.
No doubt in my heart.
I die for peace, not a world deceiving.
Don't let me down, I heard him say.
I gave my life near a field of poppies, today.
Much like those of ninety years, to the day.
Surely we can find a way.

On his way home, the fallen soldier passed me by.
I stopped and saluted with tears in my eyes.

 

"Why I wear the red on Friday"

By EARL MCRAE (reprinted with permission)

I wear the red on Fridays.

I wear the red on Fridays and so should you.

I wear the red on Fridays to show I support our heroes who wear the camouflage in the fight for freedom.

I wear the red on Fridays because it is no sacrifice to do so for the men and women of Canada who are willing to sacrifice their lives in Afghanistan.

I wear the red on Fridays because wearing the red on Fridays does not sacrifice my life.

I wear the red on Fridays for our heroes at home.

I wear the red on Fridays for our heroes far away.

I wear the red on Fridays for our heroes who will come home.

I wear the red on Fridays for our heroes who won't.

I wear the red on Fridays not only for them, I wear the red on Fridays for all our men and women they symbolize, all our heroes who have ever gone to war.

I wear the red on Fridays for my first father who didn't come home, and my second father who did, and my uncle who didn't, and my grandfather who did.

I wear the red on Fridays for all our dead and living heroes.

I wear the red on Fridays for all our wounded heroes.

I wear the red on Fridays for the maimed who've come home without arms, without legs.

I wear the red on Fridays for the colour of the blood that has been shed.

I wear the red on Fridays for those who will never ever bleed again.

I wear the red on Fridays because wearing the red on Fridays is no sacrifice in honour of our heroes whose sacrifice in Afghanistan was their lives.

I wear the red on Fridays for Cpl. Kevin Megeney, Chief Warrant Officer Robert Girouard, Cpl. Albert Storm, Sgt. Darcy Tedford, Pte. Blake Williamson, Trooper Mark Wilson, Sgt. Craig Gillam. I wear the red on Fridays for Cpl. Robert Mitchell, Pte. Josh Klukie, Cpl. Glen Arnold, Pte. David Byers, Cpl. Shane Keating, Cpl. Keith Morley, Pte. Mark Graham, Pte. William Cushley.

I wear the red on Fridays for those among us in the streets and in the bus shelters and in the malls and in the restaurants and in the offices and in the houses of Parliament who possess the red to wear on Fridays or could purchase the red to wear on Fridays but won't wear the red on Fridays because they are the ignorant, they are the uncaring, they are the insensitive, they who should be wearing the red on Fridays but to whom wearing the red on Fridays is too great and terrible a personal sacrifice of choice and money and time for our heroes in uniform whose choice is to serve, whose sacrifice is life.

I wear the red on Fridays for W/O Frank Mellish, W/O Richard Nolan, Sgt. Shane Stachnik, Cpl. David Braun, Cpl. Andrew Eykelenbo, Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh. I wear the red on Fridays for Cpl. Raymond Arndt, Pte. Kevin Dallaire, Sgt. Vaughan Ingram, Cpl. Bryce Keller, Cpl. Christopher Reid, Cpl. Fransisco Gomez, Cpl. Jason Warren, Cpl. Anthony Boneca.

I wear the red on Fridays for Capt. Nichola Goddard, Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Cpl. Randy Payne, Lieut. William Turner. Pte. Robert Costall. Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson. I wear the red on Fridays for Cpl. Paul Davis, Pte. Braun Woodfield, Cpl. Jamie Murphy, Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger, Sgt. Robert Short, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pte. Richard Green, Sgt. Marc Leger, Pte. Nathan Smith.

I wear the red on Fridays, I who have never known war.

I wear the red on Fridays, I who have never served our nation in uniform.

I wear the red on Fridays for those who did.

For those who do.

For those who will.

For those fine, solid, brave men and women, heroes all, in a far away hell, to whom the simple wearing of the red on Fridays by you and by me, by all of us, is the colour of love, and the colour of honour, for all they do, and for all they are.