Memorial

The other day we were in the cute little town of Enderby for a bit of river rafting.

While driving about, I noticed something very common in towns all across Canada. Standing silently off to one side, in a little green park, was a memorial to the community's war dead.

In a big city, such a memorial pretty much vanishes. In a tiny town, they do not hide. They are always present.

These sad stone cenotaphs were erected across the country between the two World Wars. Originally, they held names of the local Great War dead. Later, those from the Second World War were added, as were those of later conflict.

For Canada, the greatest impact came during that first, Great conflict. More Canadians died in those four years of misery than died in all of Canada's other wars combined. This, at a time when Canada's total population was considerably less than 8 million.

Over 600,000 Canadians served, and 60,000 never came back. That seems as if 3/4 of one per cent of the country died in that war, and in a way it did. A far more accurate way to look at it is to remember that almost all of those 60,000 dead were males of military age. That works out to being about 6.3% of that unfortunate group. About twice that many returned home physically damaged, not to mention the psychological trauma.

European nations went to war over the weakest or reasons. For Canada, there was really no cause for involvement at all. The war was thousands of miles away. The boys left, full of enthusiasm. Most returned greatly changed, and many didn't return at all. Equally sad is the fact that almost all of those who died were those who willingly went to serve their country.

As stunning as a loss rate of 6.3% was to a tiny population, in the little hamlet of Enderby it was far worse. Their town had 12 names to inscribe on their memorial. That works out to over 12.7% of their young men, with a further 20-30% of them returning wounded.

Today, I did my early morning bike ride along quiet country roads. I reached what used to be the town core of the area known as Coldstream. Back in the time of the First World War, it was even smaller than tiny Enderby. I stopped at their cenotaph. It held the names of 14 lost in that war; a price of almost 16.5%. Clearly the war was a costly thing in these little Okanagan towns.

My curiosity was now fully engaged. The nearest place of any size nearby is Vernon BC. Back during the war years, it had a population greater than twice the combined population of Enderby and Coldstream. I looked at the names on Vernon's memorial.

That cenotaph holds the names of 123 young men who never came home. That works out to 27.8% of the war generation. Likely 50-60% returned with physical wounds.

Vernon truly experienced the loss of a generation.