I spent a total of fourteen hours on November 11th observing yesterday's Remembrance Day. It is a Remembrance Day I will not soon forget.
Two weeks ago our intrepid journalism instructor, Steve Vogelsang, tasked all 1st year Creative Communications students with reporting on a Remembrance Day service of our choice. We would be required to write two separate stories; one 300 word story about the service we attended, and a 600 word story based on a conversation with a veteran or a person affected by military conflict.
I entered this assignment with a high degree of anticipation. Unlike our last major assignment covering Winnipeg City Council, the makings of these stories were inevitably going to have points of interest. I gave myself a clean shave, dressed respectful of the occasion (black blazer/white shirt), and took off just before 10 a.m. to attend the service in my home of Selkirk at the local arena. The ceremony paid tribute to 30 veterans who sat on the opposite side of a carpeted aisle laid out on the ice surface. On the opposite side of the aisle were an assortment of RCMP, Cadets, Guides, and flag bearers. As 11 a.m. clicked over on the hockey scoreboard, the crowd of over 1300 that had gathered all bowed their heads for two minutes of silence. After the ceremony had ended I spoke with an old friend who was there with his wife and three sons (two of which are in Sea Cadets). After checking all the notes I had made for myself, I drove to the cenotaph to pay my respects, and went on to visit the Selkirk Legion.
As I passed through the doors of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 42, I was greeted by smiles. The attendance at the ceremony was high and it lifted the spirits of the veterans and personnel inside. Not the least of which was a woman I had spoke to earlier from the Selkirk Choir who had performed at the service, and Michael Tassano who handles publicity for the Legion. I told him my purpose of wanting to speak with a veteran about their experience and he pointed out several men who might speak with me.
The first man Tassano directed me to was a veteran who sailed on a Corvette that hunted German U-boats during World War Two. He was talking and sitting at a table with another veteran and having a drink. I introduced myself as a student on assignment and asked if he was comfortable talking about his experiences during the war. I can only describe the look he gave me as one of sorrow of remembrance, for if he were to tell me his story, there would be no possible way for me to accurately write them. He shook his head back and forth signaling his inability to help, and closed his eyes. When he reopened them a moment later I apologized for my interruption and thanked him for his time.
How does a stranger ask another to reveal likely the most vulnerable portion of their lives in a conflict that took over 45,000 of his countrymen, 1,190 of them from the Royal Canadian Navy which he was a part of? There is no real answer for this, but I felt like a jerk for even asking.
One man had stood out from the ceremony I had attended earlier. This man in uniform had walked the aisle during the Remembrance Day ceremony with precision and purpose. Pride flowed from his body with each step forward. Tassano had also pointed him out in the Legion as someone who may be willing to give an interview. I approached him with the same question I had posed to the WW2 veteran and he accepted.
I spent the next three hours talking with this man, Serge Raymond. We had a beer together and ate a lunch of beef stew provided by the Legion. Raymond was more warm and friendly than most people are, considering that on this day military men and women all across Canada (indeed the Western World itself) were honouring those who had died in combat in the service of their country. Raymond's French accent was refreshing and at times made for the occasional joke or two. At one point during my interview, as he spoke of friends who were killed when he was in Afghanistan, tears ran from his eyes. He apologized for having to stop the interview for a moment while he composed himself. I put forth my own apology, taking responsibility for the pain the subject had caused him. It's not hard to understand Raymond's memories will always have a raw edge to them. "It's good to talk," was his reply once we continued.
Below is the assignment I wrote called, Once a Soldier, Always a Soldier.
At the base of each thumb on top of Serge Raymond’s hands is a tattoo. Each the size of a toonie, on the right hand is a red maple leaf, the definitive symbol of Canada. On his left hand is a poppy, the symbol of remembrance to those who have fallen in times of conflict. The tattoos are testaments to things Raymond holds dear; his country, and the remembrance of those who are gone. Serving Canada one way or another has been, and still is, Raymond’s life.
To say 52-year-old Serge Raymond is a soldier in Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry does not reveal the depth of experience he has obtained throughout his career. Though the distinction is of high regard, Raymond has been to many places, and seen many things.
Raymond joined the Canadian Army in 1976 at the age of 18 and became a soldier in le Royal 22e Regiment, the Van Doos, stationed at Canadian Forces Base Valcartier. A year later in 1977, he joined the Canadian Airborne Regiment and in 1981 was sent to Cyprus on a Canadian peacekeeping mission. Because of the 1974 Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus, the United Nations created a resolution with a mandate to stop any conflict that may occur between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities.
“Four of us patrolled a 50 km buffer zone in two separate jeeps, Lynx’s, or APC’s,” says Raymond, “once in the morning and again in the evening. We patrolled as a recon platoon.”
In 1979, Raymond trained in the United States and Germany on soldier exchange programs, earning his wings as a paratrooper with their armed forces. Raymond combined his skills and experience to become an instructor, and sergeant, for the Canadian Airborne School at CFB Edmonton in 1983. This was also the same year, and the same place where he would marry his wife of now 26 years, Barb.
After the 1985 Turkish embassy attack in Ottawa, when three men exploded the embassy gate and shot a security guard and took hostages, Raymond was part of security details that protected American, French, Japan, Indian, Israel, and Turkish embassies. On occasion, he was security for the Prime Minister as well.
From 1986 to 2007, Raymond served as an officer with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His experiences with the RCMP took him to many locations in Canada. In 2008, Raymond re-entered the Canadian Forces as a private with the 2nd Battalion PPCLI (2VP) at CFB Shilo.
“Once a soldier, always a soldier,” Raymond says, on his strong urge to return to the military.
On March 1, 2008 Raymond went to Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force to help provide stability for the country and fight the Taliban. During Raymond’s six month tour in Afghanistan, 19 Canadian soldiers were killed. Nine of these soldiers were from the same battalion as Raymond.
“There was a Taliban attack on a patrol that I was usually a part of,” says Raymond, the memory and emotion still raw, “three of my platoon members were killed in the attack. In four days they were scheduled to leave the forward operating base and come back to Kandahar.” To mark the tragedy of this day, Raymond had the date 3-9-8 tattooed on his arm.
In war we all mourn tragedy, but the military camaraderie cannot be denied. Raymond is scheduled to return to Afghanistan in 2011 should Canada’s commitment continue. To this day, he dreams of paratrooping with fellow soldiers.
“I may retire,” Raymond says, “but my options will always be open.”
