If you really haven't known me that long, it's likely you haven't seen me at this time of year yet. If you have, then you know the deal - as always, the avatar will change back after the 12th.
November 11th: Remembrance Day for Commonwealth Nations, Veteran's Day for Americans, Armistice Day for other countries as well as for those who choose to stick by the old terms.
It's a day we're supposed to look back and remember that freedom isn't free, and that entire generations have fought with their lives so that we no longer have to. We only need to give a couple minutes at 11am on Wednesday to do so.
I tend to give a little more - this is my way of remembering:
- The Raid on Dieppe (August 19, 1942) - November 8, 2004
- The Devil's Brigade (1942-1945) - November 9, 2004
- Japanese Internment (1941-1948) - November 10, 2004
- Battle of Hong Kong (1941) - November 11, 2004
- The Second Battle of Ypres (1915) - November 8, 2005
- Battle of the Somme (1916) - November 9, 2005
- The Early War Years: China (1931-1937) - November 10, 2005
- Chinese-Canadian Spies (1943-1944) - November 11, 2005
- The Battle of Gallipoli (February 1915 - January 1916) - November 6, 2006
- The Battle of Messines (1917) - November 7, 2006
- Battle of the Aleutian Islands (June 1942 - August 1943) - November 8, 2006
- Battle of Shanghai (August - November 1937) - November 9, 2006
- The 442nd Regimental Combat Team (1943-1945) - November 10, 2006
- Liberation of the Netherlands (March-May 1945) - November 11, 2006
- George Lawrence Price (1892-1918) - November 6, 2007
- Maria Bochkareva (1889-1920) and The 1st Russian Women's Battalion of Death (May-November 1917) - November 7, 2007
- Piper James Cleland Richardson, VC (1895-1916) - November 8, 2007
- The Flying Tigers (1941-1942) - November 9, 2007
- The Dutch Hongerwinter (September 1944 - May 1945) - November 10, 2007
- The Gondrée Family - November 11, 2007
This year, I'm going to put my Remembrance Day posts in my Metropolis World. As always, I don't demand that anyone take their time to read these stories, but I do encourage it. Though I won't deny a great sense of personal satisfaction in doing these write-ups, my goal is strictly to pass along a story that perhaps no one has heard about just yet. These are stories that you almost feel ashamed that you don't know; these are stories that you never want the world to forget . . .
This year, I'm going to tell stories that I should have learned about years ago, given my personal status as a second-generation Chinese-Canadian. We'll start with a man in the right place at the wrong time, who became a spy for the British during World War Two: Agent Bill Chong.
