Memorial Day Reclamation

I had an uncle named Alex Sunday Soldo, who was killed in WWII.

He would have been 89 this November.

My father told me that everyone called him Sunday.

I never met Uncle Sunday personally, he died before I was born.

His whole life was wiped away, all for nothing.

He probably would have been living down here in Florida like the rest of my uncles, and my father did, and he would have been reflecting on his long life, like many 89 year-olds do, in the sunset of their memory filled lives, and he probably would have been a father and grandfather enjoying his children and grandchildren.

Tragically, his dreams and legacy died on August 12, 1944, so we'll never know what might have been, but to say that he died for freedom or democracy is an insult and a lie.

No one has a right to "celebrate" Uncle Sunday's death.

That death belongs to Alex Sunday Soldo, no one else!

It was HIS life that was taken away 67 years ago.

No one has the right to use his death for their own personal sick satisfaction or gain.

If anyone wants to "celebrate" death and war , they'll have to find another person.

I am officially claiming the memory of my uncle : Alex Sunday Soldo , today: May 30th , 2011 , and no one shall use his name or memory to "celebrate" with.

How many more future fathers and grandfathers will be vanished from exsistence from this point on , depends on the rest of us "living" humans.
Peace


Here is the life and death of Alex Sunday Soldo:

Alex Sunday Soldo Pte. Alex Sunday Soldo lost his life in the heart of the Falaise Gap in France on August 12, 1944. It was a bitter battle and as one of the 1st Battalion, Royal Hamilton Light Infantry, Pte. Soldo distinguished himself for his gallantry. He now sleeps in that battlefield.

Born here on November 1, 1922, he was the son of Mr. Michael Soldo, 139 Marlboro St., well-known fruit merchant. Mr. Soldo came to Brantford in 1901 and his pleasing personality soon won him a place in this community. An indication of that esteem and affection was seen when double tragedy came to him.

On the day he received the news of the death of Pte. Soldo, his wife passed away in the Brantford General Hospital. Tributes and messages of sympathy came to him not only from this city but from all parts of the Dominion, the United States and even abroad. It was a spontaneous outpouring of respect. Pte. Soldo as a boy attended St. Basil's School and later the Collegiate Institute and Vocational School.

He was a member of St. Basil's Church. Upon graduation from school, shortly after his 18th birthday, he enlisted, early in 1940, in the First Battalion, Dufferin and Haldimand Rifles. He was moved overseas in September, 1943, and while training in England became interested in developing his skill as a boxer, a sport he took up seriously following his enlistment.

He became so competent in the manly art that he won a camp championship and was congratulated on the feat by his commanding officer.