[at-l] Vetern's Day

[saunterer@jimbullard.org (saunterer@jimbullard.org)]

At 01:11 AM 11/12/01 -0500, Jack wrote:
> > Much of that has to do with the fact that Canadians joined the battle
> > much quicker than us Yanks. They answered the call of their King, while
> > we awaited either and excuse or an attack.
>
>Perhaps OB has never heard the term "Lend Lease" when we Americans kept the
>UK supplied with everything from Destroyers and guns and ammo to keep them
>going until the point at which our own assets became threatened, at which
>point we Americans entered the fray with men and even more and better
>equipment....  It might also be worth noting that we had no king then nor do
>we now....  Just my two cents worth..

I think OB was referring to the *human* cost that Canada bore relative to 
the US.  They have roughly 1/10th the population of the US.  They were in 
the war earlier than the US and lost a significantly larger proportion of 
their men (and not just young men) than the US.  Before anyone gets on a 
patriotic soapbox, I'm not saying that the US contribution to the early 
part of the war wasn't important or significant, but sending dollars and 
tanks is not the emotional equal of the loss of sons, brothers, husbands, 
friends and neighbors.  In that respect the Canadians were there before the 
US and paid a higher price in terms of the percentage of their men that 
they lost.  It was a price that still ripples through the Canadian 
consciousness to this day.

sAunTerer