Re Letter to an Unknown Soldier, The Messy Table, Online
Thank you for a beautiful letter, Katie. I, too remember the homecoming ceremony of the unknown soldier very well. Those in charge thought there would be little interest, and arranged for limited standing room. But the people of Ottawa fooled them. Thousands of us turned out, old and young and in – between. We stood for a long time, silently and respectfully, watching and waiting for “him” to arrive. You could have heard a pin drop as he was laid to rest. And every year, on November 11th, his tomb is covered—covered!—with a river of scarlet poppies, thousands and thousands of them. People attending the Remembrance Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. take off their poppies and lay them respectfully on the tomb after the service. Photographs and letters and notes and red roses are tucked in as well. It is enormously moving to see and to take part. “This is for my father, for my grandfather, for my son, my daughter, for peace …” people murmur as they lay down their poppy. People do remember; they do.
