Agira Canadian War Cemetery

As memorials to the countless war dead, such sites – usually referred to as "war cemeteries" or "military cemeteries" – remain very important to this day. "Now, Lord, you let your servant depart in peace, as you have said...", it says in the so-called "Hymn of Simeon" (Luke 2:29). However, the many people buried here did not depart in peace, but rather became victims of war and an inhumane tyranny.The most important and at the same time perpetual function of military cemeteries, honorary cemeteries, or war cemeteries is therefore to keep the memory of this suffering alive and to remind each generation anew (!) of the need to maintain lasting peace.

Every time I pass by the cemetery I feel a strong emotion: over 400 very young Canadians, many of them barely of age, died over 8000 km from home to free us from fascism.

Here rest over 400 Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in 1943 in battles against Italian troops (who put up little resistance) and German troops (whose opposition was more vigorous). The memorial stones are all the same regardless of the military rank of the fallen.