It was cold and overcast, as was normal for November 11 in Victoria. The young boy climbed onto the base of the Queen Victoria statue to claim for himself a good viewing location. He knew that he had seen the Remembrance Day parade before but he always enjoyed watching soldiers marching. The boy's family had always tried to watch the ceremonies at the cenotaph located in front of the Parliament Building. Across the street he could see the Empress Hotel in its coat of ivy. Beside it was the Provincial Museum with the Carillon Bell Tower in front. As he looked into the Inner Harbor he could see the beautiful Princess Marguerite, this old ferry was as much a symbol of B.C. as Mounties are of Canada. All around him was the growing crowd of people. Over the noise could already be heard the wailing of the bagpipes. The crowd was filled with anticipation, the nearing parade being led by the Highlanders in their kilts and tall bushy hats. The reason for this parade was obviously dear to the hearts of most of the older people. The boy could see tears in the eyes of many of them before he could even see the marchers. Then they were in front of him. As they marched by, the young boy studied what they were wearing. All of them were dressed the same except for three things. All were in green dress uniforms with green peak caps. The only differences were some had gold ranks on their sleeves, privates, corporals, master corporals and even a couple of sergeants. They were being led by a man with gold braid on his lower sleeve. It was two gold bands circling the sleeve. Later the boy learned that it showed the man was a captain. He carried a sword while everyone else was carrying a big rifle. The only other difference was that the young boy saw four marchers wearing a blue beret. He couldn't think of anything except how sharp that the men wearing it looked. He also noticed that the only ones who seemed to really want to be in this parade were the men wearing this blue headgear.
After the parade, the attention was then focused on the cenotaph as there were speeches about peace, the price of peace and the continuing fight for peace. Many important people then laid beautiful poppy wreaths at the base of the memorial. At 11 o'clock the main speaker called for silence. Somewhere in all of this the young man remembers that he was looking for the men in the blue hat. He knew that he had to find out what it stood for. He had asked those around him but all said they didn't know and that he should talk to one of the soldiers. At the end of one minute of silence the crowd erupted in a cheer. At that same moment the young boy saw one of the soldiers he was looking for. He made his way over to the man and was able to get his attention. Corporal Smith was serving with Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in Victoria.
"Excuse me mister. I was noticing that your hat is different from the others. Why's that?" He asked.
Cpl. Smith smiled, looked around as if in thought. He removed the hat and squatted down beside the young boy. "This hat and the badge on it are what soldiers serving as United Nations peace keepers wear. Canada has been doing peace keeping for years in many places and all of us that go get this hat and a medal. "He lifted up a medal on his jacket with a blue and white ribbon as if to emphasize his statement.
"Where did you go to get your hat and medal?", asked the boy.
"I was in Cyprus, which is in the middle east. We were patrolling and basically just keeping two sides apart. Sometimes one side or the other would fire over our heads toward the other side to provoke some return fire. But as scary as it was, our job as peace keepers is to stand in the middle." The soldier took his hat back from the boy who was admiring the badge, placed it back on his head and stood up. He offered his hand to shake the young man's.
The young man shook the hand and as the blue beret turned to walk away, said "thank you for talking to me. Someday, I will also wear one of those hats. I want to be a peace keeper too." As the soldier walked away, the young man felt a sense of pride in himself and in his country. He knew that some day he would be a soldier for his country and serve as a peace keeper in a far off land that needed Canada's help.
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