The message of the sacrifice of Canadian troops and allied forces for the freedom of the world from dominating forces in World War I and the threat of Fascist and Nazi rule in World War II is not hard to understand. What is difficult to grasp is the price paid. We cannot appreciate the living conditions of the trenches. (S1 and BS2) Our minds can only grapple with the horrors that live in the minds of soldiers to this day. The 60,000 plus Canadian soldiers of World War I and the 45,300 Canadian soldiers of World War II are staggering statistics. It is equivalent to wiping out Owen Sound’s population five times over. The casualties of World War II alone numbered at 62,537,400, with 75% more civilians killed than soldiers. Civilians alone numbered over 46.9 million people.