{"id":4450,"date":"2022-08-26T18:31:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T22:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/?page_id=4450"},"modified":"2022-08-26T18:31:07","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T22:31:07","slug":"history-is-where-we-came-from","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/?page_id=4450","title":{"rendered":"“. . . history is where we came from . . .”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bacon Scrapins<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 \u201c<\/strong>. . . history is where we came from . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

by Barry S. Wolfe<\/p>\n

Bacon Scrapins<\/em><\/strong> are the little bits of meat left in the greasy fry pan. They\u2019re tasty, but the \u2018nutrition\u2019 needs searching for. This tale is a<\/em> bacon scrapin<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep thinking history happened to someone else, but history is where we came from; what happened before us is how we got to where we are.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Kameron Hurley)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a post-war baby. One of millions born when WW2 ended and returned soldiers formed families. My dad was in the R.C.A.F. Trained at Centralia. He never spoke about war, other than he was a radioman, and his only war injury was from twisting an ankle while playing softball on base in England. He never said whether he was a communications radioman while flying in cramped quarters in bombers over foreign territory or just changed radio tubes on base. He was a quite short, slight man, so I\u2019m suspicious it might have been the former. In any case, he subsequently became a fervently committed church-going man.<\/p>\n

Psychologists may explain why I have become a non-attender and a \u2018chicken\u2019 when it comes to war. In any case, I have developed a very strong interest in how our country is prepared (or not) now to face foreign forces.<\/p>\n

I have also developed a strong interest in the lives of those, of all backgrounds, who did commit themselves to \u201cservice to the country\u201d. Those who did not come back, and those who did \u2013 and who often brought back intense memories. Like my dad did, maybe?<\/p>\n

It started several years ago when I was walking for fitness through the peaceful calm of a Strathroy cemetery. I started to read some of the inscriptions on the grave markers. Many markers had engraved icons and symbols for various organizations and had particular shapes. Most were placed by families. I noticed that many markers were the same size and shape and recognized veterans. They were placed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. As a result, I started a website dedicated to remembering the lives of those veterans who came before me and who in many, many cases sacrificed their young lives for a vision of what they believed was good, right, fair, just, and the way life should be lived \u2013 in freedom from<\/em><\/strong> oppression and freedom to<\/em><\/strong> share responsibly with others in need. [https:\/\/rememberourvets.ca]<\/p>\n

I have resumed my walks through local cemeteries seeking a perspective of where we in Wilmot came from, and how we got to where we are now \u2013 just as in Kameron Hurley\u2019s quote. My wife and I brought 2 babies home from Kitchener hospitals to our home in New Hamburg in the 80s so, for us, it\u2019s like returning home, in retirement, to this \u2018nine-stop-signs-sized\u2019 community.<\/p>\n

A recent excursion was back to the New Dundee Union Cemetery. I taught history at the New Dundee Public school, back in the late 70s. One of the great \u201cschool trips\u201d was a \u2018snack-walk\u2019 from school to the cemetery north of town. There were the usual \u201chunts\u201d for the oldest gravestone, the most recent grave marker, the man and woman who was the oldest when they died. Which child was the youngest when they died? Is there a pattern to where in the cemetery the youngest deaths are found? Why are some apparent burial spots unmarked? Guess what were the possible causes of death? Kids don\u2019t often consider death for mother and child during childbirth, or dying of diseases for which we now have vaccines. They were rural kids so they knew about the dangers of farm work. There is something invigorating about exuberant children running helter-skelter, on a mission of discovery, through a graveyard.<\/p>\n

Many of them had relatives buried in the cemetery and it was like a short visit with an ancestor. Many chose to do a pencil rubbing of a relative. Some chose a familiar last name who had died in war. These visits into the past led to conversation starters when they got home.<\/p>\n

The Royal Canadian Legion #532 New Hamburg is doing its part to keep the conversations going with a \u201cMemorial Banner Program\u201d. They\u2019re asking for families and other citizens to sponsor a banner with the name and photo of a veteran for only $150. These banners will be placed throughout the Township around Remembrance Day each year. It might be too late for this year\u2019s deadline to sponsor, but I encourage you to consider sponsoring a veteran for future years. Contact the Legion, please. [Bob Neubauer, rneubauer0726@rogers.com<\/a>] @ 647-444-5066<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve chosen to sponsor Hubert Laurence Ditner of Philipsburg. You can find other names by looking for the memorial road signs throughout the Township, contacting the museum staff at Castle Kilbride (519-634-8444), or checking out my website which has local cemeteries and veterans\u2019 grave markers https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/?page_id=4090<\/a><\/p>\n

History is where we came from. It also influences where we\u2019re going.<\/p>\n

You may send appropriate email comments to the writer at thisiswilmot@gmail.com<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bacon Scrapins \u2013 \u201c. . . history is where we came from . . .\u201d by Barry S. Wolfe Bacon Scrapins are the little bits of meat left in the greasy fry pan. They\u2019re tasty, but the \u2018nutrition\u2019 needs searching for. This tale is a bacon scrapin. \u201cWe keep thinking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4072,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4450","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4451,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4450\/revisions\/4451"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thisiswilmot.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}