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From Passchendaele to Vimy Ridge, the fields of Korea to the sands of Kandahar, Canadians have played a role.
Although their sacrifice should be remembered throughout the year, the stories of Canadian servicemen and servicewomen carry particular resonance on Remembrance Day.
The face of the veteran is changing, not just from the First and Second World War, but now Korea, Bosnia and Afghanistan.
Jim Wasnik was just 19 when he signed up to serve as a rifleman in Korea.
Told it was a peacekeeping mission, Wasnik had no idea what he would face.
“All the fighting was done at night, you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face,” Wasnik explained.
“It was very scary. Many a night your heartbeat was making too much noise.”
For 16 months he served overseas, mostly in trenches in the day to remain hidden from the enemy, looking for where to attack each night.
A boy then, he returned a man, forever changed by what he experienced.
“You had to be, you were seeing death all over and suffering,” he said.
All these years later, proudly wearing his medals, Wasnik remembers the men who served alongside him – and the others that never made it home.
