Remembrance Day observances honour the fallen
Last Updated: Thursday, November 12, 2009 | 12:57 PM ET
CBC News
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean, far left, and Prince Charles salute veterans while standing with Della Morley, centre, who is this year's National Silver Cross Mother, chosen to lay a wreath on behalf of all Canadian mothers who lost children in military service. All three were part of the Remembrance Day ceremonies at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. (Chris Wattie/Reuters)Remembrance ceremonies attracted crowds in Canada and around the world on Wednesday to honour those who died while serving their countries.
Nov. 11 marks the anniversary of the end of hostilities in the First World War, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918.
On a bright, chilly day in Ottawa, Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, attended a ceremony at the National War Memorial with Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean and their families. Charles, who is a colonel-in-chief of three Canadian regiments, and Jean, who is the titular commander-in-chief of the Canadian Forces, both wore full military uniforms.
Following the playing of Last Post, the thousands of onlookers fell silent at 11 a.m. to remember the fallen.
Two minutes of silence was broken by the firing of a single cannon, followed by a bagpipe lament and the playing of Reveille.
As one stanza of the poem For the Fallen was read, four CF-18 jets roared over downtown Ottawa.
Canadian Forces chaplain Brig.-Gen. David Kettle offered a prayer for "those who know that they lived through terrible times of great conflict and strife."
"We pray especially for the sacrifices made by today's soldiers, sailors and air personnel who have given their lives in the service of freedom in Afghanistan and in other military operations. We pray for their families, their children, their partners, their parents who live each day with an empty seat at their table."
This year's Silver Cross Mother is Della Marie Morley, whose son, Cpl. Keith Morley, was killed in Afghanistan in 2006 in a suicide bombing.
Morley, who is from East St. Paul, Man., said she was proud to represent the mothers and families of Canadian soldiers who have given their lives.
"I would like you to think of my son and the young men and women that have given their lives in Afghanistan, but as well as the other wars. I grew up with Remembrance Day a very big part of our lives because my grandparents were part of World War I," Morley told CBC News.
"There are some of Keith's friends in Afghanistan right now, so we also need to think of the people that are over there now doing their job."
Following the wreath-laying ceremony, Rabbi Reuven Bulka, the honorary chaplain of the Canadian Legion, delivered the benediction.
"We who ride on the coattails of our heroes can best show our gratitude by standing up for the values they continue to defend by nurturing in Canada an enveloping culture of respect, of harmony, of inclusion, a great country worthy of their great sacrifice," Bulka said.
"This is our sacred trust, our unshakable perpetual obligation, our way to actively remember."
Scores of veterans, current members of the military, police officers and cadets then paraded past the reviewing stand where Charles, Camilla, Jean, Morley and other dignitaries stood.
The close of the ceremony brought a flood of onlookers forward to place their poppies on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier,
More than 100,000 Canadians soldiers have died in conflicts since 1899, including:
- More than 240 in the Boer War.
- More than 66,000 in the First World War.
- More than 44,000 in the Second World War.
- 516 in the Korean War.
- 121 in peacekeeping missions.
- 133 in Afghanistan.
More than 600,000 Canadian soldiers volunteered to go overseas for the Great War. In addition to those who died, 172,000 were wounded.
Only one Canadian veteran from the First World War is still alive — John Babcock, 109, who was born on an Ontario farm and lives in the United States.
Afghan service
In Afghanistan, the Canadian Forces marked the occasion with a traditional Remembrance Day ceremony led by outgoing commander Brig.-Gen. Jonathan Vance.
A soldier touches a wall with the names of fallen comrades on Remembrance Day in Kandahar, Afghanistan. (Jonathan Montpetit/Canadian Press)Defence Minister Peter MacKay, Industry Minister Tony Clement and Senator Pamela Wallin attended, as did the loved ones of seven Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan. They joined Kandahar's governor and some military commanders to lay wreaths in remembrance.
MacKay presented a Canadian Sacrifice Medal — the first awarded in Afghanistan — to Sgt. Vince Adams.
Adams was wounded in 2006 in the Zhari district of the province of Kandahar when his body was pierced by metal that exploded out of a suicide bomb. After a long recovery, Adams returned to Afghanistan this year to finish his tour. Now he is instructing soldiers on ways of detecting and avoiding roadside bombs.
"Soldiers call those the 'forgot-to-duck medal,' not to make light of it," Adams said after the ceremony. "For me, the most important thing is those [memorial] books.... have my friends who didn't get to have the medal. Maybe it sounds cliché, but it's for them that I wear this."
One of those family members who attended the Afghanistan ceremony was Nicole Starker, who lost her husband, Cpl. Michael Starker, in 2008 when he was killed in ambush while on foot patrol.
"It's been a very emotional and very healing experience coming here, being with other families of fallen soldiers and being able to see [Kandahar Air Field], to smell it, to be where he was," she said. "As a wife, that is a side of your husband that you don't get to know."
European ceremonies
In England, the country paused for two minutes to remember the fallen.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip participated in Armistice Day ceremonies at Westminster Abbey.
This year's service marked the first time that no British First World War vet was in attendance. Over the past year, the last three surviving British veterans of the war passed away.
In France, a German leader took part in that country's memorial services for the first time. German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the main remembrance ceremony in Paris. The two leaders laid a wreath at the tomb of France's unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe and symbolically relit the flame above the tomb.
"French-German friendship is sealed with blood," Sarkozy said.
With files from The Canadian Press
