Cost of Second World War. Remembrance.

Heroes Remember

Cost of Second World War. Remembrance.

Transcript

My only activity is going with the legion November the 11th. The moment of silence, I think about all the officers that I knew that were killed. Specially my good buddy Mickey McBride who wanted to come back and marry his girlfriend and never did and my driver Vic Lane who always worried about his wife and his two little daughters. He had a, a premonition that he'd be killed at the Hitler Line and he was. I always leave with moist eyes. Thank you. Interviewer: Mr Murray, when you think back on the sacrifice that your comrades made and those men that you knew and the men you didn't know. When you think back on their sacrifice was the cost worth the victory? Was the victory worth the cost of those lives? To say so many lives for victory, it's hard to say. Nothing is worth all those lives. Victory is necessary. Is there some other way? Do we have to kill ourselves or leaders take us and kill us? There has to be an awfully good reason for it and I often wonder why we get into this. Why we have hatred, but then I, I realize maybe that is how the human animal works. The human animal has this ability to hate. I could hate you because you got brown eyes or blue eyes. I could hate you because you got curly hair and I got straight hair. That your black and I'm white. That your Catholic and I'm Protestant. That your anything and I'm something different. I can hate you and you can hate me and I think this is it and I can't find an answer for it and thinking that there's no answer for it, then I feel that this will go on forever. That there, there's no stopping it. Interviewer: Mr. Murray is it important to you that your fellow Canadians and future generations of Canadians have a clear appreciation and understanding for what you men went through? I think it is, but I think will it be? Soon all of this will be forgotten. People today in Canada live in this nice peaceful world. They don't realize that these things can happen. They can happen to Canada. They can happen right here. They don't realize that and I don't think that people want to concentrate on that part of their lives. Whether they appreciate it or not. What we did for them. You'll have to ask them. Interviewer: Is it important to you that they do appreciate it? I hope they do because a lot of my buddies are over there and I'd hate to think that they really didn't appreciate it. Interviewer: Tell me Mr. Murray if you had the opportunity of speaking to young Canadians of this generation or future generations about duty, patriotism, love of country, what would you say to them? I would say don't hate. Hate gets us into it. Hitler hated and look what happened. Love of country yes, but not love of country and hate other countries. I would say try and love and I realize that, that is almost an impossible situation because hate is so deeply ingrained into the human animal.

Description

Mr. Murray reflects on modern day Remembrance Day ceremonies and on the cost of the allied victory in the Second World War.

Robert Murray

Robert Murray was born in Toronto, Ontario on February 8, 1918. His father was Inspector of Detectives of the Toronto police force. Mr. Murray had six brothers and sisters. He was the second youngest.

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