We should also honour survivors of war

Remembrance Day has just passed and it is always a time for us, as Canadians, to remember those who fought in previous wars to ensure we can live the way we do now.
My only concern about the way Remembrance ceremonies are conducted is the fact that the focus seems to be mainly on just those who died during the various wars Canada has been involved in.
There's individual recognition for all of the soldiers who died in those wars but rarely is there individual recognition for those who fought in these battles and survived. And these people deserve recognition as well.
While death is the ultimate sacrifice, giving up your youth and innocence to come back with memories filled of horrible visions and bodies ravaged by opposing weapons is almost as big a sacrifice.
To do my part, I'm going to single out one such man. A man who got on a ship and sailed into conflict more than 90 years ago - Mervyn Roy Small, my grandfather.
Although I never met him, I know a fair bit about my grandfather through the stories of my father. My grandfather fought in Europe in the latter part of the First World War.
He was seriously injured during the war and would live with those injuries for the rest of his life. Whether those injuries led to the stroke that killed him in 1954, at the age of 55, is not clear.
What is clear, is that he was one of the thousands of brave Canadians who chose to fight King and country by serving as part of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force.
He was also one of likely many who joined the army underage.
The Canadian government has the enlistment documents of those who served in the First World War posted online at http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/military-peace/index-e.html.
The original documents have been scanned into the government's database so you can actually see the documents the men who enlisted signed.
I found my grandfather's enlistment document, which proves he was underage when he signed up.
In the First World War, Canadians had to be 18 years of age to serve.
According to his document, my grandfather enlisted on March 20, 1916. However, on his document, he does not lie about his date of birth. He wrote it down on the document as Jan. 25, 1899, which was his actual birthdate. This means he was 17 years old when he enlisted.
It appears the Canadian military turned a blind eye to this fact.
There is a second document included online, which is a medical certificate and a description of him filled out either by the doctors or other military officials.
On this document there is a space that says "apparent age." Under apparent age, the military official wrote: 18 years old.
This document is also interesting because it notes a physical description of my grandfather - five feet, 5 1/4 inches, 34 inch chest, brown hair, brown eyes and a "fresh" complexion. (Yes, it really does say fresh).
The report also notes that he had some small scars on his shins from football.
I really appreciate that the government has put these files online because it has given me a chance to find out more about a man who I never knew - one man of thousands who served Canada in a major war and lived to bring a family into the world.

Jason Small can be reached at 691-1255.