THUNDER BAY - The stories shared by veterans help them and everyone remember the sacrifices young men and women made so long ago.
But not all veterans are able to participate in Remembrance Day ceremonies, so a local legion is bringing the service to them.
This week, Branch 5 Royal Canadian Legion are hosting Remembrance Day services at homes for the aged and assisted living homes throughout Thunder Bay.
Allan Campbell, service officer for Branch 5 Royal Canadian Legion, said the services are organized for veterans and others who are not able to attend to services held throughout the city on Remembrance Day.
“They really appreciate this,” he said. “There are a lot of veterans living in these homes and they are really happy and glad to see us put this on. We’re just honoured to be able to do this for them.”
One of many services held this week included one at Sister Leila Greco Apartments on Tuesday and included the laying of a wreath, prayers, the last post, a reading of In Flanders Fields, and a colour party.
Padre Nancy Ringham with Branch 5 Royal Canadian Legion, said it is important to bring the ceremony to people living in these facilities, because not only can it be physically difficult for people to attend ceremonies on Remembrance Day, it can also be very emotional.
“Some people find it incredibly emotional so it’s difficult to go and be public,” Ringham said. “Whereas this is their home and we are able to come see them in their home and sort of be family and join in their day and hear the stories that are so powerful for them.”
Participating in the ceremonies is special for Ringham as well, whose own father was a veteran. Ringham said being able to share in the stories and memories of so many like her father allows her to feel closer to him.
“When I hear the music and see the ceremony, when I offer the prayers, when I hear the stories, I am getting to be very close to my father and to other veterans who I never heard their stories,” she said. “It’s a real honour and a privilege to be with people and be joined together in a whole community with the ones who are no longer here and the ones who are still here.”
Ida Maxwell, a resident at Sister Leila Greco Apartments, provided a reading of In Flanders Field as part of the ceremony. Now 96-years-old, Maxwell served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War as a leading air woman. She served in Paulson, Manitoba after graduating from the air force course in Ottawa.
“That’s where my life started,” she said. “It was a year and a half I was posted there. From there we were posted to the east coast for another six months until the war was over in 1945.”
Maxwell said she wanted to be posted out west because she always wanted to see the western provinces. It was the experience of a lifetime for the young woman and something she will never forget.
“Many happy people I met during that time that I was in the military,” she said. “They were wonderful people from all walks of life. I will never forget the memories I acquired during that time.”
It’s because of those memories that the service offered by the Royal Canadian Legion is so important to veterans like Maxwell, who may not be able to participate in a service like this on Remembrance Day.
“It’s very important to us because we live here,” she said. “For the Legion to come in here with the pipe band and everything, it just brings back beautiful memories of the past.”
Peter Medwick, a 93-year-old veteran of the Royal Canadian Navy, laid the wreath during the ceremony and it always brings back memories of his time in the navy and his shipmates, who he said were like one big happy family to him.
“As long as we remember the fallen, that’s the big thing for me,” Medwick said. “I would go to Remembrance Day at the Fort William Gardens every year for quite a few years. I really enjoy it and I get really emotional. It brings back so much memories.”
Medwick was only 19-years-old when he travelled from Ignace, Ont. to sign up for the navy in Port Arthur. He was only at sea for a month on the British cruiser, HMS Sheffield, when he experienced combat for the first time while escorting an Arctic convoy to Murmansk, Russia.
“We closed up to the convoy to protect the convoy with the destroyers,” Medwick recalled. “It was a big experience for me because I never had any sea time before this started. With my action station, I was on the upper decks, I was an attack gunner for aircraft and I saw all the action going on. The sky was dark, a gloomy sky, low lying black clouds, rough seas.”
“That brings back a lot of memories for me,” Medwick continued. “That’s what I always think of, the first month I was in the navy. One of the biggest experiences a young fellow could have.”
