Musings on Remembrance Day

Spent a good part of the day watching coverage of this solemn day and it got me thinking about the various members of my own family's experiences.  

Many soldiers returned with PTSD, but they didn't go into treatment.  They went to the Legion.  That's where they shared their experiences and healed each other.  The PTSD recovery industry has been very handsomely built by capitalizing on the trauma so many vets experience.  

Frankly, how can a 30-something psychiatrist possibly relate to the arbitrary horrors soldiers who faced death saw all around them?  They can't, but their comrades at The Legion can and that's how they supported and understood each other.

I call BS on that industry, just as I do on expensive treatment centres for alcoholics.  The only thing that works for alcoholics is AA.  That's where they share and care -- not in a sterile facility staffed by "experts".

I also thought about my time as a volunteer on the 'Friends of the Canadian War Museum' board of directors.  There again, members supported each other and I was privileged to have been invited to join.  I learned humility and respect for the fine gentlemen -- yes, I was the only woman -- with whom I worked, including the late historian and author Tim Cook.  He was such a great guy and took the time to take me around the various displays and paintings when I joined, explaining everything housed there.  Taken far too young, may he Rest in Peace.

I am currently watching a documentary series about the U.S. Marines.  As you know, my birth father, William Doyle, was a Marine and fought in the bloodiest battle of WW II, Okinawa.  Eight thousand US Marines died in only 36 days.  What an unbelievable tragedy.  Billy Doyle returned a changed man, so my sisters have told me.

Billy Doyle, a proud US Marine.

I never met him and only learned I was his daughter two years ago, thanks to DNA.  What a shock!  But I have so much respect for him.  In terms of genetics, I think I could have been a Marine and probably would have enjoyed it.

So, another Remembrance Day closes.  May all who served sleep soundly, not knowing the damage politicians have done to this wonderful country.  Paging Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney!