Hope you can use this poem in the “Downhome” sometime. It was composed by our granddaughter Erin Ashley Hyde in Nov. 1996 when she was 13 ½ years old. Erin is the daughter of Barry and Brenda Hyde of Courtice, Ontario. Brenda was born on Bell Island where we lived and worked till 1966. Then Oliver and I moved to Brampton with our three children, Scott, Noel & Brenda. We love your magazine with all the wonderful photos and stories about Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders. We now live in a seniors complex as Oliver is 88 and I’m 85. Thank you.

Forever Thankful
By Erin Hyde

If you remember
The day that they died
The day that they fought
The day that they tried

Go to the garden
And pick them a flower.
Show your respect,
And wear it each hour.

We bow our heads.
For a moment of silence.
And think of the war
And all of the violence.

They gave us the freedom
In Canada today
To choose our own destiny
And live our own way.

For this we are thankful
And will never forget
For the price that they paid
We’re forever in debt.
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