-MORO RIVER CANADIAN WAR CEMETERY
I had no classes today.
Instead, my entire (albeit small school) spent the day in Ortona. First, a little history. I'm not entirely how to tell this piece of history, despite being well versed in it - so I have taken a summary from Wikipedia
The Battle of Ortona (December 20, 1943 to December 28, 1943)[1] was a small, yet extremely fierce, battle fought between German Fallschirmjäger (paratroops) of the German 1st Parachute Division under Generalleutnant Richard Heidrich, and assaulting Canadian forces from the 1st Canadian Infantry Division under Major General Chris Vokes. It was the culmination of the fighting on the Adriatic front in Italy during "Bloody December".
The battle, dubbed "Little Stalingrad"[5] for the deadliness of its close-quarters combat, took place in the small Adriatic Sea town of Ortona, with its peacetime population of 10,000.
That summary is really quite awful. The Battle of Ortona was a week of fighting in the small town of Ortona during the WW2, between primarily German and Canadian troops. The town was destroyed, and many men lost their lives. Ortona credits Canada with liberating their town from the Germans. This December is the 65th anniversary of that battle.
The Veterans Association of Canada invited my school to take part in a day of ceremony in Ortona today. Naturally, my school agreed. When I first heard that an entire day would be spent away from school - so close to the exams - I was immediately frustrated. I will be the first to admit (though others normally beat me to it) that I have trouble concentrating on study after school hours (like now for example, writing a blog instead of my psychology essay,) but during school time, I concentrate and work hard. I really need good grades this year. I began cooking up my argument for exception from the ceremony. I of course respect the men and women who lost their lives in Ortona, but I have already taken part in a ceremony on Remembrance Day in November, and learnt about the Battle. My exams are soon. However, following emails with information on the ceremony to myself, and my mother, it was certain I must attend... she asked if she could come too, she thought it was fascinating. She also said that I needed my 'cultural education' too.
In the end, I am glad I went. Yes, I hate my 'A' dress uniform, complete with waist coat, tie, blazer and mini-skirt. I also wore my nice black shoes, which are (incredibly cute) heels. Ouch. But, it was very interesting.
The first ceremony involved laying carnations on the memorial statue "The Price of Piece" (link: http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/land-terre/images/news-nouvelles/09-0604_1_big.jpg), a tradition started by two women, sisters, 10 years ago, when the statue was erected. The women had been present at the Battle as young girls. Today, only one of the sisters is still alive, and she lay the first carnation on the memorial. There was speeches made by the Mayor of Ortona, the Representative of the Veterans Association (he had a proper title, I don't remember), a Holy Priest, and some youth representatives. This ceremony was followed by refreshments in the (closed) museum, and free time - I ate food and drank coffee.
The afternoon ceremony was a candle lit vigil ceremony at the Moro River Canadian War Graves. Every person was given a candle to lay on a Canadian grave. I was not overly pleased with the way this was done. Though it is a Canadian cemetery, there are actually many other nationalities in the cemetery, including New Zealand and Irish - my nationalities. I initially tried to lay my candle on a New Zealand grave that was in the area designated, but I was not allowed. So then, I tried to lay mine on a "Soldier of the War" marker - a man who's identity was unable to be determined. They could not get the recognition they deserved, because they could not be named. But, alas, I was directed to another grave, I think for consistency's sake. Another point, a candle lit vigil is all well and good - but it was wrong to bring candles to lay on only as many graves as there were people - there should have been enough for every grave in the cemetery.
Something that really bugged me, more than anything else, was the press. Or rather, how the press documented the occasion. The photographers and camera men did what the media are famous for - they only captured the beautiful. While I stood at the Canadian grave to lay my candle, I was placed besides the tall, blonde and gorgeous Katie. And every camera man and photographer took her picture. I was at the end of the isle, she next to me, and when they came to my side to take pictures, they aimed their cameras to cut me out and take her. Now, I'm not saying "oh boohoo I'm so ugly they cut me out" - clearly, though, the blonde and beautiful are far favoured compared to the likes of the short and ginger averages. Either that, or I have "NOT CANADIAN" stamped across my forehead.
However, I came to a realisation about respect and honour at the end of it all. My friend Gabe came up to me and asked where the Irish soldiers were buried - he and I being Irish ourselves. Unfortunately, it was difficult to locate any of them, there is only 4 or 5 buried in the Canadian cemetery, scattered, but we eventually found 2. We asked the coordinator if we could have 2 of the leftover candles, and we decided to lay them on these 2 Irish graves. My realisation was this. We are two 17 year olds. We separated from our group, given free time essentially, and we chose ourselves to pay our respects to these men, went out of our way to try to show them the same acknowledgement the Canadians were receiving, and did that. But more so than this, was our method.
The large ceremony was quiet - we stood silently, solemnly even. It was mechanical and solemn in our respect giving, with many minutes of silence, with the singing of "Amazing Grace" and "O Canada." But when Gabe and I went to lay our candles on our Irish men's graves - we were not melancholy and silent. We were laughing and happy - we were pleased to show our acknowledgments, and enjoying searching out our men in the needle/haystack situation that was this cemetery. We did not hold silence, we talked of the occasion and the men we found. We placed our candle and bowed and crossed ourselves, took a moment to pray for their souls, and moved to the second one to repeat the process.
We, I believe, were showing them the same respect, but I almost think more - we were living, and appreciating what they did for us. Many people would say the way we went about this today is disrespectful, but I don't think so. I think what we did today was just as respectful and honouring.
No comments:
Post a Comment