Retired warrant officer Glenn Miller places a poppy on the headstone of a fallen soldier in one of Mountain View Cemetery’s fields of honour in Lethbridge, on Oct. 11. Photo by Lenna Isleifson.
Canadian flags wave in multitudes from rooftop banners and crowded sidewalks as children line the street to shake hands with wheelchair-bound veterans.
The pride and joy that fills the air is as tangible as the headstones down the road, marking the final resting place of 1,394 commonwealth soldiers who died in the last months of the Second World War.
This is not Remembrance Day or Canada Day and there are almost no Canadians in this joyous, cheering crowd.
It’s May 5 in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, on the 80th anniversary of the country’s liberation, an event Canadian soldiers were instrumental in bringing about.
Glenn Miller, retired warrant officer and honourary Chief Ikkaiyoitahsokittupii (Fast Horse Rider) was present at the celebrations earlier this year.
He has seen countless Canadian flags hanging from Dutch houses in honour of this day.
Miller says gratitude for military service runs deep in countries where an occupation is within living memory.
“Someone living in Lethbridge has never seen a foreign tank drive down the street. That’s a big difference.”
After two and a half decades serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, Miller has a passion for working and volunteering with veterans.
“I do everything I do for veterans because the three simple words – everyone’s heard it before – lest we forget.”
He has been a member of the Royal Canadian Legion, General Stewart Branch for at least 19 years.
Indeed, to describe all Miller’s contributions over the years would require an article of its own.
“Because of my skills and knowledge, I’m in a better position to give back.” He says, describing volunteering as a luxury that wasn’t available during his years of service.
Allan Brooks served ten years in the Canadian Forces, during which he spent a year in Egypt and six months in Indochina.
He is buried in one of Mountain View Cemetery’s Fields of Honour in Lethbridge.
His widow, Kathy, is now 90.
She says her kids were small during the years he was in the military and that she helped and supported him through that time.
“[It was] lonesome.”
Miller says his family has also had to bear the strain of his military service, as he has missed birthdays, graduations, weddings and anniversaries.
His daughter was in Grade 2 when she began suffering from post-traumatic stress after her friend made a joke about her dad dying on Remembrance Day.
This is just one of the countless sacrifices servicemen and women make to join the military.
Every year millions of Canadians pin a poppy to their shirt and attend Remembrance Day ceremonies to honour those sacrifices.
According to a 2023 Ipsos poll conducted on behalf of Historica Canada, the number of Canadians who say they will attend an official Remembrance Day service on Nov. 11 has risen from 29 per cent to 37 per cent since the pandemic.
Kathy says it’s wonderful to see people wearing poppies on Remembrance Day.
“I just remember the army. I’m so thankful.”
Still, Miller says every year he sees hundreds of people without a poppy and while handing them out on Nov. 11, no more than 10 per cent of people ever take one.
“[And] after three, four or five days hardly anybody is wearing a poppy. That tells me they don’t care.”
When compared with the jubilant welcome of Canadian servicemen and women in the Netherlands, our reception of our own veterans pales.
“I am treated better as a soldier from Canada outside my home country then I am in my own community. Because they’ve lost their freedom, they know what that means.”
Miller urges the next generation to educate themselves on the significant sacrifices made by military personnel to pass on the tradition of honour.
“The torch is yours to pass. If you don’t even know it’s lit, what are you passing?”
Lethbridge has historically held a public ceremony at the cenotaph on November 11, which includes a moment of silence and a local pilot performing a flyby.
Volunteers make poppies available at various locations in Lethbridge during the annual poppy campaign.
Look out for poppy boxes in stores and throughout the city.
