Remembering the great-uncle I never knew, Donald Young-Leslie, who enlisted Dec 30, 1914, served in the 24th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Forces’ “Victoria Rifles” (Infantry, Québec Regiment) and was killed May 18, 1917 “in the trenches north of Fresnoy”.

Donald died one month after his, and his twin brother Norman’s, 23th birthday, and a bit more than a month after the Battle of Vimy Ridge (April 9, 1917). Vimy is important in Canadian war memorializing because it was the first occasion on which all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Forces attacked as a single formation, and had tremendous success in terms of terrain, enemy soldiers and weapons captured. It was also an event in which 10,602 Canadians were injured and 3,598 died.

Donald’s name is recorded on the Vimy Memorial, and on a memorial in Picton, Ontario, but there is no known grave. France has many places with the name “Fresnoy”, within a 2 day’s march from Vimy, so it’s hard to know which one he died at. We don’t know how he was killed. Was it injuries sustained at Vimy? Was he a sniper who was killed by a bomb? We don’t know.

I’m grateful to my daughter, who went to Vimy in 2018, and found Donald’s name on the memorial.

I’m also remembering Donald’s younger brother, my grandfather Archibald Young-Leslie, who enlisted but did not serve overseas, because of spinal scoliosis. After the war, Arch had a promising career with Ontario Hydro, which he cut short, dismayed by their adoption of nuclear power generation. He found it unconscionable to use nuclear energy, after the horror of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. I wonder what he would say today, as fossil fuel created climate change makes nuclear power more appealing again.

Grateful that I have so few family to list on Remembrance Day.

Aghast that despite all these years of poppy-wearing and #LestWeForget, we still have war, atrocities, ethnic cleansing — WWII, Vietnam, Bosnia, Rwanda, Ukraine, Palestine, Türkiye, Syria, Sudan, West Papua…. 💔

Going to the Ceasefire for Palestine rally at the Legislature tomorrow. But more for solidarity with my neighbours and public grieving than hope that yet another peace rally will be effective at swaying the decisions of colonists, Zionists, settlers, fascists and corrupt politicians like Netanyahu, or rid the world of vile organizations like Hamas and Islamic State (created as they are by that stupid decision of Israel 1948, ongoing craven self-interests, occupation, geopolitical violence).

Then I’m going to buy and read R.H. Thompson’s new book. Listen to his thoughtful, magical, optimism-generating answers to The Next Chapter’s version of The Proust Questionnaire.