HTML5 Transcript/Captions
Courage (music)
Honour (music)
Dedication (music)
Remembrance (music)
Canada Remembers (music)
My name is Richard Draffin and I am a calligrapher who works for Veterans Affairs Canada, and I maintain and make additions to the Books of Remembrance for Canada.
My background is in Fine Arts; however, I joined the army when I was 18 and I served for 28 years.
I was in the Corps of Signals and Communications doing tactical and strategic communications for the Canadian Forces.
I was in the back of trucks and down in holes doing communications. Yeah.
There’s two main parts to the job. The first main part is, I make corrections,
so when a family or the military or a friend notices that there’s a mistake in one of the Books of Remembrance, then on one of my visits to Veterans Affairs, I correct it.
Then, every year, unfortunately, there are Canadians who lose their life as a result of military service, so I make those as new entries.
Unfortunately, when the war in Afghanistan was on, there were some times when I was coming in every week to add names, and that was a bit… a bit emotional for many people.
I do have a personal connection to the Books of Remembrance.
My grandfather’s name is in the First World War book, and because I am a veteran, I have names… I have friends’ names that are in the seventh Book of Remembrance as well.
The first time I took a razor blade to one of these books, some people in the room were really anxious.
I’m very pleased to do it, because I’m proud of what calligraphers do. These are one of the marvels of Canada.
The more people that see them and appreciate them, the better it is, not just for Veterans Affairs, but for Canadians.
The technical side of my job hasn’t really changed in a thousand years, so everything I do in the books, I have to assume will be there for hundreds, if not a thousand years or so.
It’s not a fast process. The 1812… War of 1812 Book of Remembrance took a total of almost two and a half years to complete;
and it took me almost 11 months to enter the 1600 names on 176 pages of vellum.
I am constantly in awe of the calligraphers who came before me and the responsibility that lies with me in maintaining these books.
Unfortunately, most Canadians don’t see the books when they’re out of the cases,
and sometimes I’ve been in a room with four of the books and I’m able to run my hands and my fingers over the names,
and you can feel the slight rise that the ink gives to it and the rise of the gold, and that… that is why I am in awe of the folks before me and the Canadians whose names are in the books.
Close up of a Book of Remembrance (music)
A message from the Government of Canada.