I would give so much if I could only lighten that sorrow for you a little
Yesterday, the father of a friend of mine woke up to a Remembrance Day program on CBC Radio. They were reading letters written by soldiers in the First and Second World Wars.
One letter had been written in January 1945 by an unnamed officer to the fiancee of one Norlin Crawford, who had been killed in Italy some four months earlier.
The officer himself had been gravely wounded in the same incident and described the frustration he had felt, lying on the ground, unable to help the wounded men around him. He wrote, "I had been struck in the abdomen and had fallen on my face. I could see my right hand on the ground with finger and thumb missing."
And at those words, I sat bolt upright, for I knew who had written the letter... my father, who served in Italy as chaplain of the 8th Princess Louise's Hussars.
The name of the writer was not mentioned, but I knew the story and grew up holding that hand with the missing thumb and finger. Just to be sure, though, I traced the letter to the website of the Canadian Letters and Images Project, and there it was, signed by W. W. Burnett, my dad.
I never met W. W. Burnett myself, but for those of you who knew Angus, this was his grandfather.
One letter had been written in January 1945 by an unnamed officer to the fiancee of one Norlin Crawford, who had been killed in Italy some four months earlier.
The officer himself had been gravely wounded in the same incident and described the frustration he had felt, lying on the ground, unable to help the wounded men around him. He wrote, "I had been struck in the abdomen and had fallen on my face. I could see my right hand on the ground with finger and thumb missing."
And at those words, I sat bolt upright, for I knew who had written the letter... my father, who served in Italy as chaplain of the 8th Princess Louise's Hussars.
The name of the writer was not mentioned, but I knew the story and grew up holding that hand with the missing thumb and finger. Just to be sure, though, I traced the letter to the website of the Canadian Letters and Images Project, and there it was, signed by W. W. Burnett, my dad.
I never met W. W. Burnett myself, but for those of you who knew Angus, this was his grandfather.