Cadets stand guard as temperature drops
The shifts were only 30 minutes each, but even that seemed a long time while you’re standing guard when it’s bitterly cold outside.
About 50 members of Royal Canadian Air Cadets 23 Optimist Squadron in St. Catharines stood guard at the cenotaph on St. Paul Street, from Friday night to Saturday morning, and remained at the monument, as hundreds of people gathered for the Remembrance Day.
Despite temperatures that dropped to –10 C overnight, the teenaged cadets said they’d do it again.
“I’ve come to the realization that time means nothing when you’re standing there,” said Warrant Officer Brittany Smith.
“Every single shift you do at night time, it’s the same dark sky and no cars because everyone is at home sleeping.”
Despite the challenges the cadets faced overnight, they said it helped them understand.
As uncomfortable as they were, it was nowhere near conditions that soldiers of past conflicts faced.
“You feel like you’re suffering, but you’re not suffering as much as they were,” Smith said. “You have a lot of time to stand there in silence and think about it.”
Still, it gave them a small taste of what it might have been like.
“We sort of felt like what it was like to be in their shoes, outside for long periods of time,” said Sgt. Nicholas Chaffee.
Although the cadets have stood guard at cenotaphs during past Remembrance Days, it was the first time doing so at the St. Paul Street monument.
Organizers of the event set up a staging area in a nearby building, giving the cadets a warm place to get some sleep between shifts.
Their commanding officer, Capt. Teresa Copses-Parker, was impressed with the troops.
“They were pretty amazing actually,” she said.
“What’s incredible to me is that I asked them afterwards, ‘Do you ever want to do this again?’
“Everyone of them said, ‘Yes ma’am,’ even though it was this cold.”