On a sunny summer morning in 1984, I walked among the trenches and tunnels at Vimy Ridge. Although they were now landscaped, I had a sense of what it must have been like in 1917, a time when men with guns faced each other from trenches across barriers of barbed-wire. How miserable, wet and muddy those rat-infested dugouts must have been as rain filled them with water.

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial stands tall and majestic on the highest point of the ridge overlooking military cemeteries with their rows and rows of white tombstones identifying the dead. Engraved on the base of the monument are the names of over 1 1,000 Canadians killed in France between 1914 and 1918.

A feeling of sadness swept over me as I read the names of husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, cousins and nephews who were killed in the great war - the war that was to end all wars. It came to an end on November 11th, 1918 with the signing of an armistic e. Armistice Day was celebrated as the beginning of the peace that was to last forever.

Armistice Day commemorates the end of fighting in World War I. In 1931, Canada changed the name to remembrance Day to better honour the memory of the men and women who died in the war. We chose the red poppy of Flanders Fields as the symbol of Remembra nce Day.

When the war was over, people were filled with the hope of lasting peace. Too many had lost their lives, too many carried wounds, both physical and mental, for the rest of their lives; too many mourned fallen relatives and friends. The treaties that ende d the war also set up the League of nations and a World Court to settle disputes peacefully. But the member nations made no real effort to support these agencies, and the world did not enjoy total peace. The years from 1918 to 1939 are sometimes called a period of armed truce.

In September, 1939, 21 years after the end of the Great War, war was declared again. We called it a World War and the Great War became known as World War I. World War II was fought by the very next generation, many of them the sons and daughters of those who had given their lives at Vimy Ridge and in other battles of World War 1. Again, we had to see loved ones in the prime of life go to fight on foreign soil, knowing that many of them would never return. We were left with no illusions about war. With th e development of new weapons and new methods of warfare, the carnage was no longer limited to the battlefield. Cities were bombed; there was no longer any distinction made between combatants and civilians. This "War for Survival" ended in August 1945. There was peace again. We earnestly hoped that something had been learned and that this time peace would last. On Remembrance day, we honoured the memory of those who had laid down their lives in two World Wars. Canadians who had died so that we might l ive in freedom.

Five short years later, we were fighting in the Korean war. It lasted from 1950 to 1953. Again, young men and women were called to arms in faraway battlefields. Again, many of them made the supreme sacrifice.

Every Remembrance Day, a ceremony honouring the memory of our 114,000 dead in three wars is held at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Wreaths are placed at the foot of the monument, there is a 21-gun salute, a bugler plays The Last Post, flags fly at half-mast, and veterans march on parade. Across Canada, special services are also held in cities, towns and villages, as we remember those who never came home.

Remembrance Day, 1993, was the 75th anniversary of the end of World War I. With each passing year, there is a fear that the significance of this day is being lost. There are fewer veterans every year. There are fewer people who will always remember.

Lest we forget, some of us pause for the traditional two minutes, but too many of us are having trouble remembering. For Remembrance Day was only a day off work. School children were happy to have a holiday. Some merchants are trying to get the law chang ed so that they can stay open for business on November 11. Some people want Remembrance Day to be celebrated on a Monday, so they can have a long weekend.

But, at 11 o'clock, while others paid homage to those who never returned, I remembered the trenches at Vimy Ridge.