It rained off and on today. Cathy and I went down to Vancouver’s Victory Square for Remembrance Day. Cathy’s American, so this was her first time there.
It’s changed a bit this year, but still the basics are the same. The two biggest changes were the feeling of it, and the crowd. The crowd was more diverse this year – for which I am thankful; and the feeling, it felt like war-time, and it seemed that many other people noticed that too.
Here are a few photos we took over the course of the day.
This is a statue down by Waterfront Station. It’s a memorial to CPR workers who fought and were killed in the World Wars, who gave their life for ‘king and country’.
Next is the ceremony, a bit bigger this year than other years and harder to get through the crowd. What you see in this picture is about 1/6 of the people there. They spilled into Gastown, up through the park and down Hastings.
This is one of Cathy’s photos. These are troops in rank. She had a thing about the folded hands.
Next is a close-up of the cenotaph. Everyone who came by stuck their poppies into the wreaths. Look closely at the centre of the picture and you can see photos of World War II soldiers and a soldier killed in battle in Afghanistan – there was one more not pictured – down with the wreaths, a World War II soldier who passed away earlier this year.
Cadets posing in front of the cenotaph. The Vancouver cenotaph has three sides, part of the front is pictured above – it says “Their Name Liveth Forever More“. The side facing the park reads “All ye who pass by,” and the side pictured below completes that sentence with: “Is it nothing to you?“
Bringing up the rear of the parade following the ceremony were protestors – but they were also veterans so everyone stood and applauded them.
The saddest people at any Remembrance Day are the foreign veterans – specifically the South Vietnamese. I feel so bad for them. Here they look happy though, posing in front of the mayor’s reviewing stand.
I took some video of the ceremony itself – that’s posted below. The “Sands of Kuwait” has been added to the ceremony.
The key part is about a minute and ten seconds in. When a lone piper is playing ‘Amazing Grace’ and you can hear all the other pipes take a breath and then join in with drums. That with the artillery sounding off in the distance and the sound of fighter planes reflecting through the towers always chokes me up.
Filed under: Canada , Military, November 11, Remembrance Day, Remembrance Sunday, Vancouver, Veterans Day, War
