Lance Corporal Alexander Antoniuk, February 19, 1924 — December 31, 1944

Enlisted: March 2, 1942 in Edmonton, Alberta. He served in the military with 4th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, R.C.I.C. His body lies in the Villanova Canadian War Cemetery in Italy. The people of the nearby village, still to this day, maintain and honour the many Canadian soldiers buried in their soil.

Today, I honour and thank all who sacrificed and fought for the ideals of freedom and a better world. My great uncle Alex, as pictured above gave the ultimate sacrifice, and yet I can’t help but wonder, if he saw the state of the world today if he would have thought it worth it. Today, wars still rage all around our magnificent and abundant planet, and soldiers on both sides still give their lives. I pause and ponder an idea… if peace proved to be as profitable as war has proven to be, would war would become obsolete and peace prevail?

“War: a massacre of people who don’t know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don’t massacre each other.” -Paul Valery 1871 – 1945