Remembrance Day

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Chance and me are wearing our poppies. We get them from the nice people at the Royal Canadian Legion. We wear them on Remembrance Day.

Everybody wears poppies on November 11. We remember soldiers at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Know what? this is 2011. That's a lot of elevens!  Lots of folks go to the Cenotaph to remember. Remembrance Day is on the $10 bill with the poem, too.

 I know the poem for today. It's In Flanders Fields. We learned it at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. It goes like this.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

         In Flanders fields.

We remember our soldiers in the Canadian forces and all the hard work they do to keep Canada safe.
 Some of the soldiers are in the Royal Canadian Navy. Some of the soldiers are in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Some of the soldiers are in the Royal Canadian Army.

Our soldiers have important jobs. Some of the soldiers  are peacekeepers. Peacekeepers go to work when neighbours don't play nice. The peacekeepers call 'Time Out' and separate everybody so no one gets hurt. Some of the peacekeepers went to Cyprus and Rwanda and Bosnia. Some of our soldiers belong to DART. The DART Team helps people when disasters strike, like in the United States after Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti and the cyclone in Mayanmar.

Some of our soldiers fight in wars, like World War One and Two and Korea and Afghanistan. Sometimes soldiers die. That's very sad. I sure hope that there aren't any more wars. Wars are not nice.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

 This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Remember our soldiers. Be kind to friends and neighbours. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can remember our soldiers together! Okay! Over and out!"

Remembrance Day

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy,  Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.


Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful! 

Chance doesn't have a tail, yet. He doesn't have any teeth. He doesn't eat Smarties or porridge. He's a wee little thing. He just drinks chocolate owls' milk out of his bottle.

Know what? Today is Remembrance Day. I know what that means. At eleven o'clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month we stand very still for two minutes and we remember. Know what we remember? We remember all the men and women who went to war to protect us.










Lots of our soldiers went to war but they never came home. James says they gave their lives for King and Empire. Some of them gave their lives for Queen and country. That means they died. Those soldiers are all buried in Flanders Fields. That's a cemetery.

Lots of people will be at the Cenotaph to watch the wreath be laid in honour of our soldiers. The Cenotaph has the names of  all the people from Windsor who died to protect us. Almost every town has a Cenotaph. That's good, 'cuz we won't forget that war is bad. Grandpa James says that 28 million people were killed in The Great War. That's a lot!

Most Canadian soldiers are peacekeepers. They keep people from fighting with each other. Some of them fight in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is pretty far away. We can't get there on VIA Rail. Grandpa James says we need camels to go there.

I could be a soldier you know. I know what soldiers do. The soldiers' job is to stand on guard for thee. They are in charge of protecting O Canada, our home and native land so we can play outside and not get blown up or killed by Mr. Talliban and his friends. Miss Jackie taught us something at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. It goes like this-


“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I think wrong, and free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.”

 Canada is a pretty nice place, you know. Canadians are lucky. Canadians get to eat Smarties and drink root beer. We get to play hockey and build snow forts and hunt for lions, too. We can say thank you to the brave soldiers and sailors and airmen.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? Grandpa James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find Grandpa James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. 

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Say 'thank you' and salute our soldiers. Be glad you live in Canada. Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can be thankful together.  Okay! Over and out!"