Remembrance Day 2009

Once again, I went to the Remembrance Day Memorial program at the Kanata Cenotaph. I only found out this morning that Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles were going to be at the Ottawa Cenotaph, but it was too late to change my plans. There were a lot of people out again this year. It was a very nice day too, which is unusual for Remembrance Day in Ottawa.

A new thing this year was the school children who laid a poppy at the base of the 22 memorial trees.

This was the CF18 flypast, in the 'missing man' formation.

After the ceremony, this is Gordon O'Connor (our MP and former Defence Minister) and a veteran walking to the stand to take the salute from the veterans and the various armed forces, police, RCMP, cadets, etc.

This is the start of the march past. The pipe band was first.

The drummers followed the pipers.

After the drummers, came the colours. After the colours, there was a contingent of veterans - including women's veterans, then current armed forces members, police services (Ottawa Police, OPP, RCMP), cadets, etc. I didn't get any photos of them because I put down the camera and was clapping as they went by.

This is one of the memorial trees, and the poppy that was laid by one of the school children.

Here are some youtube videos:

"Canadian WWII veteran tribute"

"A Pittance of Time" Terry Kelly
On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a Shoppers Drug Mart store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store's PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.

Terry was impressed with the store's leadership role in adopting the Legion's "two minutes of silence" initiative. He felt that the store's contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.

When eleven o'clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the "two minutes of silence" to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.

Terry's anger towards the father for trying to engage the store's clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was later channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, "A Pittance of Time". Terry later recorded "A Pittance of Time" and included it on his full-length music CD, "The Power of the Dream".