Thousands of People Stand in the cold for Remembrance Day Ceremony

Thousands of people stood in the biting cold for Remembrance Day

ceremony in Brantford on Saturday. Dave Levac, MPP Brant, heralded

it as “an visible expression of saying thank you for those who sacrificed

their lives for their country.”

“It’s an honour to be here,” said Phil McColeman, MP of Brantford-

Brant. “Remembrance Day is one of those sacred, solemn moments

in our country when we all, as Canadians, remember the valour,

strength, courage and steadfast of our soldiers over the years.”

Seated in a wheelchair because of physical inconvenience caused by

senior age, Bella Bryson, with the help of her friend, struggled to her

feet to sing the national anthem — O Canada — and to stand still for a

moment in remembrance to those who died for the country.

Mrs. Bryson turned 91 this year. She is a veteran herself. She served

the Canadian Airport during War World Two. Her father and husband

served both first and second World Wars. And she lost both of them

during the World Wars.

“They gave up their lives for this country and they went to war and

they are not coming back,” she choked. Tears trickled down her face.

She couldn’t finish her story.

It was a very emotional and poignant moment for Bella Bryson when

an Avro Lancaster Mk 10 Heavy Bomber, a B-25 Mitchell Bomber

and a C-130 Hercules flew past the sky.

“I hope the veterans understand that they can rest their weary souls,”

said Mr. Levac, MPP Brant. “we can’t comprehend what it is that they

had seen and done [in the war], but we do understand, we do empathize.”

The 63-year-old MPP Dave Levac was happy to see that there were

thousands of people in Brantford were willing to brave in the wind

and cold to attend the ceremony.

He said the ceremony for not only the fallen and the surviving World

War veterans, it also for the modern veterans. “Anyone who is brave

enough to put their names on that application form and says I am

willing to join the services deserve our thanks and our appreciation.”

According to the Winnipeg Free Press, there are about 1,700 World

War veterans are passing away each month in Canada of the remaining

170,000.

“This is sad,” commented McColeman in an interview following the

Remembrance ceremony.

“Time moves on for everyone,” he said, “we still have a cohort of

World War Two veterans who are in their mid-nineties now. Most of

them are somewhere between age 92 and 95. And of course their life

are coming to an end. But that is said, they need to be honoured every

moment of everyday for what they sacrificed.”

“We are determined in many ways as a country, and myself, personally

in Ottawa, to make sure that we give [the veterans] the supports

they need as they live out the last chapters of their lives and give them

honour for what they did for the country,” added McColeman.

#RemembranceDay #Brantford #veterans