The Importance of Remembrance Day

Interviewer: On November 11th, Remembrance Day, what goes through your mind? People, you know, people that I personally know, people that you, that you never met, the Vets when you see them out there. That's pretty special, and obviously their, numbers are, you know the World War I Vets, I think we have five or six left in Canada. What's nice for me now is the recognition that Remembrance Day is getting in Canada that it didn't get for years and that's, It's the awareness of things like, like what we're doing right now, that, that helps that. It's the programs in school. It's the fact that we are, we do have a lot more modern-day Veterans who have been in places like, you know, Kosovo and and Afghanistan and so on. There is a lot more awareness in the Canadian public that people out there doing things on their behalf and that's important, and I'm, you know, very encouraged. I was at the Butterdome this last November 11th, the place was just absolutely packed and there was, you know, people of all ages, kids and you know, everybody. And it's, and its's important that, not to glorify war, that's not the point of it. It's important for children, or anybody, to understand that there are people out there doing things on our behalf and that we need to celebrate that commitment, commemorate the sacrifice, and, and do the right thing going forward because that requirement's not going away. We'll celebrate what we've done, but recognize that we've got to keep doing that if we're going to be part of, what hopefully will be a safer, saner world in the future.

Mr. Hawn speaks to the importance of Remembrance Day in helping the Canadian public in commemorating and honour sacrifices that have been and continue to be made on our behalf.

Laurie Hawn

Mr. Hawn was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1947. After finishing High School, Mr. Hawn opted to join the Air Force in order to further his education, with an ultimate goal of becoming a pilot. At the age of 18, Mr. Hawn flew for the first time, and by the age of 19 he became a flight instructor. First with T-Birds (T33's), then with Starfighters (CF104's). After instructing for 5 years in Cold Lake, Alberta, in April 1972, Mr. Hawn accepted a 3 ½ year posting with NATO in West Germany. After finishing his tour in West Germany, Mr. Hawn returned to flight instructing in Cold Lake, but was regularly posted to West Germany for a few weeks at a time. In 1988, Mr. Hawn was made Commanding Officer of 416 squadron. He held the position for 2 years, relinquishing it only weeks before the start of the first Gulf War, having only just stepped down, Mr. Hawn severely disappointed when he was not chosen to accompany the squadron when posted to Iraq. After a 30 year career, Mr. Hawn retired from the service. He now resides in Edmonton, Alberta, with his wife and family.