Every November 11th we take two minutes at the 11th hour to remember those who have fallen in service of their country. There is a moving ceremony at the National War Memorial here in Ottawa, with dignitaries placing wreaths, the Ottawa School Board choir singing and the playing of Taps. After the ceremonies, the veterans march past, some with walkers, some in wheelchairs, but many in step as befits their station as veterans proud of their service.
The heart-wrenching part of the whole service is during the two-minutes silence. Cameras pan from face to face, as the veterans reflect on those who cannot be there. You see the remembrance in their eyes: They’re playing back the memories of the comrades they knew, many whose lives ended in grisly, horrendous ways during events far away.
Those veterans have seen things that we are fortunate to never have experienced. Be it Kandahar, Medak, Cyprus, Kapyong, Villiers Bocage, Vimy or some obscure grid reference in the middle of the Atlantic, over Peenemunde,Valetta, Kanggye, or Baghdad, they were there.
They were there so we wouldn’t have to be. So we would never have to see the things they remember, the sorrows flashing behind their eyes as the camera slowly pans from face to face during those poignant and painful two minutes of remembrance.
There is nothing we can say to veterans except to acknowledge what they did.
Thank You.
RoadDave 
Sorry I didn’t respond sooner, my Email just dropped this in a few minutes ago.
As I’ve mentioned to my fellow US citizens, this is not just Veteran’s Day for the US. It is Remembrance Day for you folk in Britain and the Commonwealth (yes, you Canucks ARE still Commonwealth! :p ), it is Independence Day for the Poles (celebrating 93 years since their country was feed from over a century of occupation and division), it is a special day for the French and Germans and Belgians and Russians. It is a day for the world to stop, to think of all those from every country around the world who have stood to defend their homeland and their people. While war may be the nadir of civilisation, military service is its’ zenith. “No greater love hath a man, that he lay down his life for another.” We must remember, for as long as there is one of us who remember the debt we owe, then all those years away from home, all the pain and loneliness, all the sacrifice of those brave souls will be honoured. And though it is a debt that can never be repaid, there is one small dent in that debt we can all make. And it’s so easy, as you showed us above. Just two words.
Thank you.