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This year, in the 13 days leading up to Remembrance Day, I was inspired by our past interactions with so many wonderful Canadian musicians, who have penned incredible memorials to those who have served our country, to compile and share on Facebook their words and music.

At the same time, I wanted to keep a record here of the music that has so profoundly touched Ted’s and my lives.

#13. The first of many I shared. Terri Clark, Michelle Wright, Dean Brody, Ridley Bent and Emerson Drive joined another two dozen Canadian country artists on the charity single/video “Standing Strong and True (For Tomorrow),” dedicated to Canada’s fallen soldiers and their families. That Canadian armed forces uniform worn in their video is also proudly worn by our #2 son.

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#12. In October 2007, we’d heard Albertan John Wort Hannam’s wonderful guitar work and unique voice at the Ontario Conference of Folk Festivals event. He didn’t leave a CD in our promotion box, but must have taken one of our contact cards, because in October of 2008 he emailed me a request to come play in Milton during his fall/winter 2008 tour of Ontario, and attached an mp3 file of his song “Infantryman“. As I listened to the song, sitting at my computer upstairs in the den, tears began to flow. I was sobbing by the end. John could not have known that our #2 son had just been deployed to the NATO airbase in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The raw emotion in the song was almost too much to bear.

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#11. “Edmonton” was written by Guelph Ontario natives Tannis Slimmon and Lewis Melville for the “Afghanistan-On Guard For Thee?” compilation project about the true human cost of war. It is written from the point of view of a Canadian soldier’s wife. The video sound quality is not great, so here are the lyrics:

I didn’t even know we were having a war
Till he came home in a uniform
We had a big fight because I didn’t like guns
But I loved that boy from Edmonton

His mother, father, kids and I
Never really got a chance to say goodbye

He said he had to go but he couldn’t say where
I said if I could, you know I’d follow you there
He said he’d come back but he didn’t know when
I took one last kiss in Edmonton

I wasn’t any good at long goodbyes
I watched him go and dried my eyes
All I could think of was I didn’t like guns
And I loved that boy from Edmonton

In the middle of the night got a telephone call
That was the beginning of the end of it all
Now I got to tell it to his daughter and son
About that boy from Edmonton

I told them he was gone but I couldn’t say why
They didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye
All I could think was how much I hated guns
But I loved that boy from Edmonton

I didn’t even know we were having a war
And all that came home was a uniform.
(Melville/Slimmon, Apr/06)

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#10. Edmontonian Rob Heath’s “To Come Back From His War” is one of many songs on this list that touches on the unseen injuries inflicted by war.

Rob is 71 now, and his voice has taken on the timbre of an old soldier in his recent performances of the song, but here’s the way we first heard him play it in 2010.

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#9. Originally from Scotland, Maria Dunn may be my favourite storyteller. Her songs take important historical events and interweave personal stories that bring them to life. “Tell Her I Was Brave” are words that hide a depth of experience that veterans often find it impossible to share.

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#8. Hamilton Ontario’s Tony Quarrington’s “For King and Country” puts Canadian Doctor John McCrae’s famous poem “In Flanders Fields” to music. Ted and I were incredibly moved by our experience visiting the site of Dr. McCrae’s field hospital at Essex Farm in Flanders.Episode 351 – Flanders & Ypres

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#7. Ontario/BC songwriter Tony Turner’s incredible “Letters to Words” always makes me think about my parents and grandparents, who lived through wars the like of which I hope we will never see. We prize their stories, but know there must be so much more of which they chose never to speak.

There is no video of Tony singing this, but you can listen to it here:

https://tonyturner.bandcamp.com/track/letters-to-words (no need to download, just choose the “play” arrow.

#6. “Flowers of Saskatchewan” by Canadian folk/roots artist David Francey is a mournful tribute to the boys who left the Canadian prairies in the flower of their youth to fight in WWI, and never returned. That war became a defining part of Canada’s national identity, less than 50 years after Confederation, uniting our wide-spread population in a way no official declaration ever could.

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#5. BC country artist Dean Brody’s “Brothers”. If there was ever a song that brings home how young most of those called to fight are, this is it. We see the veterans parading past and see old men; it’s easy to forget they were so very young when they risked everything for the rest of us. Many just kids really. Just big brothers.

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#4. One of Ted’s and my most poignant and profound experiences to date was our visit to Vimy Ridge. Episode 350 – Canadians at Vimy Ridge. Alberta-based Lizzy Hoyt’s song “Vimy Ridge” channels those feelings beautifully.

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#3. J.P.Cormier from London Ontario is one of Canada’s most respected bluegrass/folk/Celtic musicians. The final lines of his song “Hometown Battlefield” reinforce why we must never forget the sacrifices of those who fight for our freedoms, because their war never truly ends.

Yes, we pray the war is over, but the headlines do reveal
That another soldier died today on the hometown battlefield

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#2. One hundred and fifty nine Canadian Forces members died in Afghanistan, the largest number for any single Canadian military mission since the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. For a country many decades from engaging in active war, quietly proud of their role in NATO peacekeeping missions (but all too often completely unaware of what our armed forces even do for us) the shock of those losses was felt across the country.

As each fallen soldier was repatriated, their bodies were flown to CFB Trenton, in caskets draped with the Maple Leaf – which only became our national flag in 1965. As a nation, we were unused to seeing our symbol used as a casket flag.

From Trenton, a military funeral convoy took each soldier’s remains to the coroner in Toronto, always using Highway 401. As soon as word was received that a convoy would be using the highway, people began lining up along all the bridges on the route, standing to attention as the convoy passed. Since 2007, that 170km/106 mi long stretch of highway has been designated the “Highway of Heroes”.

In 2016, Canadian rock band The Trews, from Antigonish Nova Scotia, released a song named after that highway; a song which has become synonymous with Canadian Remembrance Day ceremonies. It has been sung by school choirs across the country, with The Trews occasionally making surprise appearances at school assemblies to join in.

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#1. St. John’s Newfoundland & Labrador-born Terry Kelly’s “A Pittance of Time” is our absolute favourite Remembrance Day song and video.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take that pittance of time at 11:00 a.m. on November 11th for reflection, remembrance, and gratitude. One moment of silence, reflection , and gratitude is so little to ask in return for all we have been given.

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