Vimy Foundation Disappointment

The Vimy Foundation (created in 2006) ran a full page advertisement in the National Post on March 28. They were promoting "The Vimy Ridge Pin Campaign" to raise money for their stated goal of increasing awareness of our history, and to help mark April 9 as Vimy Ridge Day (proclaimed by Parliament in 2003). www.vimyfoundation.ca

After I read the ad, I became quite enthused. Finally, our history is being noticed and celebrated, I thought. So, I went to their website to order some pins. Unfortunately, I ended up not ordering any. This is why: following is the first-paragraph text from two PDF documents on their website, the Vimy Foundation Brochure and the Vimy Foundation Poster:

Inspired by the heroic victory of the Canadian Forces at
Vimy Ridge, The Vimy Foundation brings together students
from Canada, the United Kingdom and France, so that they
can appreciate the intertwined history of the three nations
and come to understand the bravery, horror and futility
of war.

Suddenly I lost all my enthusiasm for their cause, and I wrote them a letter (info@vimyfoundation.ca) quoting the above paragraph and adding:

War is futile? Do you include the war that defeated the Kaiser? How about
Hitler? I would have expected such a comment from a grade school competition or the NDP, but not a group using our most important historical and political symbols as you are. Unfortunately, it sounds like you are using this important anniversary to indoctrinate our youth that ALL warfare is futile, including our own, and that there is NEVER a good reason to go to war. SOME wars may seem futile, but there have been and will continue to be reasons why it is sometimes the ONLY option. If you disagree with that, may your cause be ignored.

Your choice of the word futility destroyed my initial respect for your cause. Do you mean to say that these brave young men at Vimy participated in a futile exercise? Do you think the soldiers dying in Afghanistan have died in vain as well?

I happen to believe that Canada has the most honourable armed forces in the world, and that we have always conducted war only when necessary. To make a blanket statement that "war is futile" is firstly the careless, pacifistic attitude that emboldens tyranny and oppressive regimes, and secondly an insult to the brave men and women that do the dirty job of defending freedom, mine AND yours.

I will not support a message of pacifism and regret.

Sincerely,

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I have not heard from them, 2 business days later.