One of my lasting memories of someone talking about the decorations and medals that he was wearing occurred in 1994. I had the good luck of having a COS date out of Lahr that permitted me to arrange my passage home on the Queen Elizabeth 2 sailing out of Southampton on 8 June. I was able therefore to drive to Normandy and spend 6 June 94 (50th Anniversary of D-Day) visiting some of the memorials and events there; take the ferry across to England; turn my car over to Cunard for loading onto the ship and then relax for several days on the North Atlantic. The voyage was billed as a “D-Day Memorial” cruise. Many of the passengers were WW II veterans, mostly American, some Brits, and at least one Canadian.
One of the events that occurred on the ship was the Captain’s Welcome Party. Dressed in finest bib and tucker, you go through the receiving line, have your photo taken and then proceed to the most important part of the soiree… getting a drink. Some of the other passengers were wearing medals, ribbons or devices that showed that they had served. I was in mess kit as were a few of the other passengers including a Van Doo LCol and a husband & wife who were both pilots in the USAF. It was particularly easy for the Van Doo and me to be noticed in the scarlet monkey jackets.
A few people had approached me with the inevitable questions about who we were and what were we doing. I was chatting with a lady when we were approached by a gentleman in a maroon jacket that included Cdn para wings and several medals. He introduced himself and joined in the conversation which naturally turned to where had you been. He had served with the 1 Cdn Para Bn as a private during the war and had made the jump into Normandy and over the Rhine.
The lady with whom we were chatting asked about the medals and wings he and I were wearing. I probably would have answered in my typically flippant manner about 12 years undetected crime (C.D.), 6 months getting a suntan and not getting a venereal disease (UNEFME) and 4 years wine and beer tasting (SSM with NATO bar), but he replied first by drawing her attention to the one medal we had in common, the Canadian Forces Decoration. I was surprised when he told her it was the one that he was most proud to wear. The lady asked why. His reply impressed me and later that evening I wrote an account of what he said, maybe not verbatim, because we had imbibed several beverages, but close enough for government work.
He said. “ It’s easy to be a soldier when everyone is or wants to be a soldier; when being in uniform is the normal thing to do. The true measure of a man is his commitment to serving his country when there is little chance of excitement, or glory or getting medals. This medal (he indicated his CD) shows people that we pledged a significant portion of our lives to serving our country when few others would, doing things that we didn't necessarily want to do and that were not very glamorous. These (he indicated his 4 or 5 wartime medals) I got for spending 3 years in uniform doing what most guys my age were doing. Was it hard work and dangerous? Yes. But mostly I had a lot of fun doing it.”
Since then I’ve had a different perspective on those little pieces of ribbon that we wear.
