THUNDER BAY - For 93-year-old Roy Lamore, a navy veteran of the Second World War, marching around the Fort William Gardens with fellow veteran, 99-year-old Ida Maxwell, to pass the torch to a current service member is about remembering those who have been lost and recognizing those willing to serve.
“It was one of the biggest honours I’ve had to do that in front of the number of people that are here today. I really enjoyed that,” Lamore said. “I was able to stay in step, number one. And number two it was a nice way for the veterans to show the people that we are still here to protect.”
Hundreds of people gathered at the Fort William Gardens for the annual Remembrance Day Service. Veterans and current service men and women received a lengthy applause as they paraded around the Gardens, while the entire building was silent during the laying of wreathes, the last post, and prayers, broken only by rounds of gunfire to honour the lost.
“It makes you really feel good because the people are behind you,” Lamore said. “That’s what the veterans enjoy, knowing they are recognized. This is something that makes a veteran feel like he is a proud veteran.”
For Ida Maxwell, who joined the air force in 1943 because her husband was overseas at the time, the day is about recognizing everything that was done by veterans.
“I think this is always a big pleasure for us because the veterans looked after everything for us during the war,” she said. “I think they deserve a lot of credit.”
And while Remembrance Day often focuses on the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War, Canada has been involved in numerous conflicts throughout the past 100 years, which is something Col. Geoff Abthorpe stressed during his speech to the crowd.
Abthorpe said the nation will be coming to another benchmark soon, where fewer and fewer veterans from not only the Second World War will be left to participate, but the Korean War as well.
“We need to turn our attention to Korea, our NATO involvement, we’ve had dozens of operations and exercises around the world that involve NATO that most Canadians don’t acknowledge or are aware of,” he said. “And Afghanistan is not hard, we were there for 11 years. One of our longest conflicts we have ever fought in. Thousands of Canadians from across Canada have served there.”
So it’s important that Canadians recognize the sacrifices of all service members who have given their lives, a sacrifice Abthorpe knows very well.
Josh Klukie and Anthony Boneca, two of the Armed Forces members from Thunder Bay killed in Afghanistan, served with Abthorpe and he said it is important for him to remember who they were and what they did in service to their nation.
“It is very important that we keep reminding, particularly for the youth, that this is a risky business,” he said.
And as conflicts of the past continue to drift further and further away to time, Abthorpe, who is still serving today and veterans who served so long ago, don’t think Remembrance Day will ever lose its significance, especially in a city like Thunder Bay.
“I think Remembrance Day is ingrained in our psyche and our DNA,” Abthorpe said. “We are the home of the poppy, we have some of the earliest branches of the Legion. It may wane in some places in Canada, but here I think Thunder Bay will always step up and represent.”
“It means everything,” Maxwell said. “My family is close to the veterans and how they served. To me it’s a real pleasure to be here.”
