Photo: Loyal Edmonton Regiment soldiers operate a wireless set outside regimental headquarters in Ortona, Italy, on Dec. 21, 1943. From left are R.J. Kennedy, Sgt. C.H. Walford and Cpl. W.A. Polhill. Credit: Lt. Terry F. Rowe / Department of National Defence / Library and Archives Canada, PA-163925 / CC BY 2.0.

Walking through a field with the sun on your face, cattle grazing nearby and a bird calling from a fence post, it is easy to take peace for granted.

We can finish our chores, return to our families and make plans for tomorrow without wondering whether our homes will become a battlefield. That security is so familiar that we seldom stop to consider what it cost others.

Remembrance Day asks us to stop.

The Canadians who served in two world wars came from farms, small towns and cities. They left jobs, families and futures behind. Some returned to build new lives. Others came home carrying wounds that would never fully heal. Many never returned.

Two battles, Vimy Ridge in the First World War and Ortona in the Second, help us understand the courage behind the names on our cenotaphs.

At 5:30 a.m. on April 9, 1917, Canadian soldiers advanced towards Vimy Ridge in France through snow, sleet and German machine-gun fire. For the first time, all four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together.

Months of preparation went into the assault. Soldiers rehearsed their movements and followed a carefully timed line of artillery fire intended to keep German defenders under cover until the Canadians reached their positions.

By April 12, the ridge was in Canadian hands. The victory came at a terrible cost: more than 10,600 Canadian casualties, including nearly 3,600 dead.

Among those who fought was Pte. John George Pattison, a Calgary gas company worker who had come to Canada from England with his wife and four children in 1906.

On April 10, a German machine gun stopped the advance of his unit, the 50th Battalion. Pattison moved forward from shell hole to shell hole under fire, threw grenades into the position and rushed the surviving defenders. His actions allowed the Canadians to continue.

He received the Victoria Cross, the highest award for military valour. But he would never return to his family in Calgary. Pattison was killed near Lens, France, on June 3, 1917.

Pte. William Johnstone Milne had come from Cambusnethan, Scotland, and settled in Saskatchewan. Serving with the 16th Battalion at Vimy on April 9, he crawled towards two German machine-gun positions in separate actions, putting their crews out of action and capturing the weapons.

Milne was killed shortly afterwards. His body was never recovered. He was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.

Behind those military records were two men who had made Canada their home and whose lives ended far from it.

A generation later, Canadians were fighting another war overseas.

In December 1943, the Italian town of Ortona became the scene of bitter fighting against German troops. The Loyal Edmonton Regiment and the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada carried much of the battle inside the town, supported by Canadian tanks.

The streets offered little protection. Rubble blocked routes, while machine guns and snipers made crossing open spaces deadly. Canadians blasted openings through adjoining walls, moving from building to building in a method known as mouse-holing. Even under that cover, collapsing buildings threatened their lives.

The fighting continued through Christmas. German forces withdrew, and Ortona was liberated on Dec. 28.

In the struggle to reach the town, Capt. Paul Triquet of Cabano, Que., had already demonstrated extraordinary leadership.

Triquet joined the Royal 22e Régiment at 17. On Dec. 14, 1943, he led his company against German positions at Casa Berardi, southwest of Ortona, with tanks from the Ontario Regiment supporting the advance.

Heavy casualties left him as his company’s only remaining officer. With ammunition running low, Triquet and his men continued forward, captured Casa Berardi and held their position until reinforcements arrived. His leadership earned him the Victoria Cross.

Pattison, Milne and Triquet are three names among the many Canadians whose service deserves remembrance. Medals help preserve individual stories, but our gratitude must also reach those whose courage went unrecorded, those who cared for the wounded and those who kept others supplied and moving.

Their service helped shape and protect the country we have inherited. Remembering them means recognizing that every name on a memorial belonged to a person, with people who loved them and a life beyond the uniform.

This Nov. 11, when we pause in silence, let us think about what it means to walk across a peaceful field, hear a bird sing and know we can go home.

Then let us remember those who never had that chance again.