Eternal Vigilance

By Maj Jesse Hollington

Eternal vigilance A responsibility—to ourselves and our cadets—to remember The price of freedom is eternal vigilance —Thomas Jefferson Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. —George Santayana f there is a fundamental responsibility for us as members of a military organization and citizens of a free country, it is to ensure that we never allow ourselves to forget the great sacrifices of the past.

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On June 6, 1944, hundreds of Canadian soldiers participated in the Allied invasion at Normandy Beach. This invasion was conducted against heavily fortified German positions and against incredible odds. This was the turning point in a war that had ravaged most of Europe and was the first significant victory against the German war machine. But this victory came with a price— most of these soldiers did not come back. The sacrifices of these solders have become almost legendary, but we must never lose sight of the fact that these soldiers were not superheroes. Rather, they were normal everyday men, who believed in the cause of freedom for which they were fighting and committed themselves to drawing a line against the darkness that had plagued most of Europe. Most of these soldiers were boys— younger than our senior cadets. In the intervening 60 years, it seems that we as a society have collectively forgotten or downplayed these contributions as being of little significance. Today we have the luxury of living in a free society that seems untouched by the tyranny of the past and have fallen into a comfortable

routine of assuming that it can never happen again. In such a mindset, we find ourselves forgetting that we enjoy these comforts because of the sacrifices made by thousands of men and women during not one, but two world wars. Further, the ideological complications of the many conflicts on the international scene have produced a generation of individuals who would have us believe that by remembering these sacrifices we are only glorifying war. The result is that many in society continue to lose their memory in a wash of misguided social consciousness. In 1990, I was selected to participate in an international air cadet exchange to the Netherlands. One single defining memory of that experience is the total strangers who, upon realizing that I was Canadian, came up to me and thanked me for the sacrifices of my nation and my ancestors. It was a sobering experience to realize that these were people who had lived through a fascist occupation and who genuinely saw our Canadian soldiers as the liberators of their country. One elderly Dutch man said to me in halting English, “We owe your people a debt that can never be repaid.” The Netherlands is a place that remembers—that does not allow its sons and daughters to forget the great sacrifices that ensured its people

Professional Development for Leaders of the Cadet Program

could enjoy freedom. It understands the price that was paid—and the reason that price had to be paid— because its people lived through it. We are the inheritors of this legacy and should do ourselves and our forefathers proud by ensuring that we remember their sacrifices with the same pride. Each Nov. 11, we take time to remember those who gave everything to preserve our freedom. As Cadet Program leaders, we have an opportunity to ensure that our cadets not only remember, but also help others understand the sacrifices made and why they were necessary. I believe it is this duty to which John McCrae speaks in this line from his famous poem “In Flanders Fields”— “To you from failing hands we throw, the torch; be yours to hold it high….” To remember these sacrifices is not to glorify war, but to celebrate peace by ensuring that we prize freedom and remain always ready to draw the line against oppression. Maj Hollington is the commanding officer of 707 Air Cadet Squadron in Etobicoke, Ont.

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