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Tabitha Speer, Leisl Morris

The day after

By Judi McLeod
Sunday, November 13, 2005

It was one of those letters to be cherished forever and it was there on my computer screen when I opened my emails on November 11. "I just wanted to send you a quick note to let you know that I enjoyed your article very much. Thank you for your comment, "If found guilty Omar Khadr will be the child and teenager who widowed Tabitha Speer." Tabitha really is a lovely person who has suffered so much. Keep up the good work."

The letter was from Leisl Morris, wife of Sgt. 1st class Layne Morris, who lost an eye in the same grenade attack that claimed the life of young U.S. medic Sgt. Christopher Speer, Tabitha's husband,

In my story about 19-year-old Omar Khadr, I had lamented how the Toronto Star had portrayed the alleged soldier killer as a "child" and a "Toronto teen".

That Leisl's letter arrived on Remembrance Day made November 11, 2005 even more meaningful for me.

There were no World War I veterans taking part in this year's Remembrance Day services. There are a handful of them left but they are at an age where travel is difficult.

according to the mainline media, attendance at November 11 ceremonies was down by half from other years.

Today is the day after Remembrance Day and the bugle call that signals the annual Moment of Silence must wait for 2006.

Poppies will wither forgotten in handbags and coat pockets. The mental vision of the proud veteran who laid the wreath at the local cenotaph and the doleful sound of the bagpipes have already faded from memory.

Remembrance Day should be everyday in our hearts for the veterans of war, who made those days even possible for the rest of us. The day should be kept in out hearts for the men and women in Iraq and afghanistan keeping us safe.

We get to do ordinary things like taking our children to school, rake leaves, or watch the snow fall because of them. In fact, everything we do in a civilian life with freedom comes from the veterans of wars, and the men and women of the armed Services who keep us safe.

Today it's the terrorists who threaten world peace. Yesteryear it was madman adolph Hitler. Hitler's war spawned songs of inspiration. Defiant, we'll-never-give-up-songs that could bring tears to the eyes of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother almost 60 years after she first heard them during the London Blitz.

The monsters of war have changed from a madman who wanted to rid the world of Jews to the monster of radical Islam with its fearsome suicide bombers.

Yet the words of a song, sung from the heart in World War II could be used today. "There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover…someday when the world is free."

a song with words that fostered human hope in the worst of circumstances in early 1941 offers the same hope in standing up to the enemy of the day.

It is the courageous men and women of the armed Services that offer us that defiant hope of peace and better times.

They make the best reason of all to keep Remembrance Day in our hearts not just on November 11, but everyday.

God bless the families of Sgt. Christopher Speer and Sgt. 1st class Layne Morris always.

Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com


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