Undeterred by the overnight snow and biting wind, several hundred gathered at Veteran Memorial Garden for the St. Thomas Service of Remembrance on Tuesday.
As he has participated every year for decades, Korean War vet Bob Maginn was seated, front and centre.
As he prepared for the short journey back to Lord Elgin Branch 41 of the Royal Canadian Legion, we asked Maginn what goes through his mind at the service.
The 92-year-old Maginn signed on with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry at the age of 18 and shipped out to South Korea in 1953.
Tom Brennand was on hand to lay a wreath on behalf of the St. Thomas Seniors’ Centre.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he recounted the story of a university school mate in Ohio who was killed in the Vietnam War, something Brennand witnessed on a television news clip.
Brennand used to come to Canada every summer with his mother, who was born in Canada.
He observed,”I found it much nicer than the United States.”
Valerie Clark with Lord Elgin Branch 41, Royal Canadian Legion was pleasantly surprised at the size of the crowd.
A gathering that has been growing in size for several years now, as witnessed by the 80 wreaths placed this year.
And, as has been the case in the past, attendees were invited back to the Legion for a welcome hot lunch afterward.
The reading of the poignant poem In Flanders Fields, written by Canadian John McCrae has been a long-standing tradition at the St. Thomas Service of Remembrance.
And, for many years, that recitation has been undertaken by Mark Cosens.
We asked him what emotions he feels when presenting that to the large gathering on hand for Tuesday’s Remembrance Day Service.
At times, he has had to recite the poem in less than ideal weather conditions, however Cosens stresses , “You just have to think what it was like in those trenches.”
Written by Ian McCallum
