Veterans receive thanks
Recognition returns after ‘terrible gap’
OTTAWA — As Jim Newell left the cenotaph Monday, his wheelchair pushed by a friend, strangers stopped the 89-year-old. One woman asked him for a photo; others just wanted to chat.
For Newell and other veterans, their medals pinned to their chests, Monday was their day to be recognized alongside their fallen comrades. From being asked to pose for cellphone photos, to shaking hands and simply being thanked, thousands of attendees made a point of expressing their gratitude at the National Remembrance Day Ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa.
“It’s nice to know that people are coming out and paying their respects, it hasn’t always been like that,” said Newell, who went overseas for the British forces during the Second World War, and later joined the Canadian Forces. He was wounded three times and had several friends die.
“I just feel like I was needed, like all the others were needed,” he said. “I did my part and I feel very proud.”
Newell and other veterans recalled years not so long ago when they felt less support, either because people had heard too much about war, or because it felt like such a distant issue.
SecondWorldWarAirForce veteran Joan Drummond, 88, said troops being sent to Afghanistan seem to have put the forces back in the thoughts of Canadians in recent years.
“We’ve come a long way. There was a terrible gap there (in recognition),” said Drummond, who was also approached by strangers, among them a woman who said “God bless you” after seeing her medals.
Bryon Archibald, 80, said in the past two or three years he’s received more recognition than ever for serving in the Korean War.
“It’s sort of an offspring of Afghanistan and Iraq,“Archibald said. Canada is also marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice this year.
Even with all the recognition and support, it was a bittersweet day. Wet snow and blowing winds hit the nation’s capital as annual traditions unfolded: The national anthem, the Last Post, a moment of silence, 21-gun salute and war planes flying overhead. All the while, veterans said, they were thinking of those who didn’t make it home.
“I think of an awful lot of friends we lost,” said Drummond, adding her fiancé died during the war.
“I find the older I get, the more meaningful (Remembrance Day) becomes. I don’t know why, but it just does.“
Silver cross mother Niki Psiharis, from Laval, Que., also laid a wreath at the memorial.
She lost her youngest son, Sgt. Chris Karigiannis, in 2007 when an improvised explosive device struck his vehicle in Afghanistan.