Forgotten Heroes

So soon we forget; it’s almost part of the Canadian character, it seems.

How many times I’ve encountered cases of true heroism, often to the point of supreme sacrifice, during my extensive historical research. But even war heroes come and go in memory; civilian heroes who rise to the call at home and in peacetime rarely create more than a momentary ripple.

Monuments? Hardly. Immortalized in school textbooks? Not a chance.

Maybe a street or a building named after them before they fade into oblivion, but seldom more than that.

In next week’s BC Chronicles I tell you about four men who had at least two things in common: they gave their lives for their workmates and they’ve been forgotten.

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PHOTO: What kind of a man risks his life to help his fellow miners, trapped 1000s of feet underground? —BC Archives