There’s a new era of war veterans in Canada, but most of us are slow to recognize them.

A survey by the Canadian Commissionaires reveals that while we understand, and appreciate our military role in Afghanistan, we’re not connecting it with Remembrance Day.

"Approximately 66% of Canadians associate veterans at the age of 40, or older," says Barry Hansen, CEO of the southern Alberta division of the Commissionaires." That’s not true nowadays. We’ve got a lot of young kids coming back, soldiers coming back that are in their twenties."

Some of those kids, of course, have not come back. Since 2002, a total of 98 Canadian soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan. Among the latest was Private Chad Horn, of Calgary.  He was 22 years old when he died, just over two months ago.

But in more general terms, Hansen, who spent 31 years in the Canadian air force, says he’s encouraged by heightened awareness of Remembrance Day. “I’m quite heartened," he says, "by renewed emphasis, in the past four or five years, on service by our veterans."

In World War One, from 1914-18, 65 thousand Canadian soldiers were killed. In the Second World War, 1939-45, the death toll was just over 45 thousand.