Dear Editor:
I have a confession to make. I really don't like Wait For Me, Daddy.
I'm not saying it's a bad photograph. It certainly captures a dramatic moment. I just don't understand why the City of New Westminster is pushing it so hard. It's completely inappropriate.
Think about other iconic (wow, have we heard that word a lot lately) Second World War photographs. The raising of the flag on Iwo Jima, the sailor kissing his girl in Times Square - what did they have in common? They celebrated the end of war.
Why is it only Canada that chooses to honour a photo that celebrates the war's beginning?
Worse, Wait For Me Daddy takes going off to war and makes it cutesy and mawkish. There's a reason why this photo was used for recruitment purposes; but today, it just leaves a bad taste.
I'd never heard of or seen Wait For Me Daddy 10 years ago. Only recently does it seem that people have been trying to turn it into a Canadian icon. I suspect that it was dusted off a few years ago when someone at the Province found it in their archives and thought it could be used to polish up their journalistic apple a bit.
Every story I've seen about this photo seems to be the Province trying to create a legend they can sell. It has the air of war-profiteering, and it's ugly to see.
I think the city blew it on this one. I'm going to wince every time I see the statue downtown.
Steve Vanden-Eykel, New Westminster
