I know there's a couple other threads including one about the poppy's and WWII in photos, but thought I'd make another one.
In WWI, there were approximately
18,591,701 deaths and and
21,228,813 military wounded.
In WWII, there were approximately
72,771,500 deaths. Canada, which lost about 45,300 brave soldiers, pales in comparison to the Soviet Union, which had over 10,000,000 military deaths, of which my great-grandfather was on of them.
Just think about all that for a second. In today's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, when a soldier gets killed, each soldier's picture is shown and their story told in the paper. Not to downplay the significance of each of their deaths at all whatsoever, but the sheer number of casualties on a daily basis made that next to impossible during the Great Wars. Sometimes loved ones didn't find out about casualties weeks later, with their letters still coming in after the fact. Thousands upon thousands were getting killed in battle each and every day. It's simply astounding to think about all the young lives that were cut short during those wars. Now we have new veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq to also share their stories, but hopefully we never forget the sacrifices made during WWI and WWII for us today.
Lest we forget.