said by shaner :

Rememberance Day is special for me in a slightly different viewpoint. My Grandfather was a German soldier who was taken prisoner at Stalingrad. He wasn't released from the Russian POW camp until 1950. He came home to a shattered and destroyed Hamburg. After spending a year or 2 trying to rebuild his family's lives, he got fed up and went down to the docks to catch a boat to Argentina. But, the only boat with space left was one heading for Canada. So he took that one. Canada welcomed him, and 2 years later, my Grandmother, Uncle and Father joined him in Toronto. It wasn't easy for them, but he was always grateful that a former enemy country allowed him to start over again. And for him, Rememberance Day was special because it allowed him to show his respect and gratitude for a country which could have easily sent him packing. Imagine this: my Grandfather, a retired German soldier who fought against and killed Canadians in France (he was there at Dieppe), he was a member of the Canadian Legion.
That's the kind of freedom and acceptance my Grandfather came to appreciate as a new Canadian.