When Canada was a nation of just 11.3 million it saw 45,300 of its young men die in the Second World War, just one generation removed from the 66,665 men who died in the Great War.In 1963 Pope John XXIII wrote to "all men of good will" about the world formed by those two World Wars in his encyclical Pacem in Terris. He spoke for the generations which had fought and suffered through the wars when he wrote:
"Men are becoming more and more convinced that disputes which arise between states should not be resolved by recourse to arms, but rather by negotiation. We grant indeed that this conviction is chiefly based on the terrible destructive force of modern weapons and a fear of the calamities and frightful destruction which such weapons would cause. Therefore, in an age such as ours which prides itself on its atomic energy it is contrary to reason to hold that war is now a suitable way to restore rights which have been violated."
On Remembrance Day, that's the conviction these soldiers and their military chaplains would wish us to remember.
