Every Veteran Should be Looked at and Respected

It’s important to me that every Canadian understand what the Veterans, as a whole, not only the Hong Kong ones, but the other ones... My brother Keith there, he was buried three times. He was buried twice, and the third time he was buried he was out of his cotton picking mind. They brought him back into England and kept him there. He didn’t know his own wife. He got married to a Scotch girl over there. They kept him for three weeks, or a month, and when he was... they sent him back into action. So, I say, every Veteran should be looked at and respected. ...Because we have the greatest country on earth. We have all the assets. We have everything. We are the most free people on earth, and we did not get that by not... Our forefathers built this for us, and we should preserve it. And one thing, when there is a war someplace, we have to be into it. And I am not speaking of going into these little wars that are going on. But when you get a war like Hitler started, who intended to conquer the world, if you don’t stop them here, it’s your daughter, your mother, and sister who’s going to be the ones that’s gonna suffer. So I prefer if I have to go overseas. They say, “We don’t have to go overseas.” Yes, because once they took Europe, continental Europe, the next place would be England. And after England, so what, Russia. From Russia, down over the pole into Canada. They looked to dominate the whole world. I think that all Veterans should be really respected, and I think today we don’t have enough patriotism into our schools. Go to the States, everyone says, “Oh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,” and they know it and the hand goes up. Every school must have a flag, and a Canadian flag, not a provincial flag, a Canadian flag.

Mr. MacWhirter discusses the need to respect Veterans and our patriotic duty to serve in times of war. He feels that Canadian schools should be more focussed on patriotism.

William MacWhirter

William MacWhirter was born in Niagara Falls, New York, USA, on January 10, 1924. He was one of five brothers. During the depression, his family returned to Hopetown, Quebec, where he completed grade 8 in school. By 1939, his father, a First World War Veteran, had joined the Veterans Guard and two older brothers had enlisted; William became head of the family farm at the age of fifteen. He eventually enlisted in New Carlyle at the age of seventeen. His basic training took place in Val Cartier and St. John, and as a member of the Royal Rifles, D Company, he was deployed to Hong Kong. After a futile attempt to defend the colony, William joined many other captives in the dismal North Point and Sham Shui Po POW camps. He was eventually sent to the labour camp at Omini, Japan. He returned home safely, but he has paid a heavy price, physically and emotionally. He remains, however, an ardent patriot.