{"id":277920,"date":"2025-11-12T06:29:13","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T06:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/277920\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T06:29:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T06:29:13","slug":"everybodys-gone-canadians-mark-remembrance-day-as-number-of-veterans-dwindle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/277920\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Everybody\u2019s gone\u2019: Canadians mark Remembrance Day as number of veterans dwindle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eight decades after the end of the deadliest military conflict in history, Canadians paused for Remembrance Day<\/a> ceremonies Tuesday to honour those who put their lives on the line for their country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In chilly Ottawa, next to a National War Memorial lightly dusted with snow, Second World War<\/a> veteran John Preece, 99, said he still remembers trudging through the muck in poor weather during the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was muddy and cold and raining and snowing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t very nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preece, who served as a private, was wounded when a sniper bullet struck his arm as he was operating a Bren light machine-gun in Holland in April 1945.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSecond World War veteran John Preece, 99, sits with his wife during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSean Kilpatrick\/ The Canadian Press\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

He is one of just a few thousand still-living Canadian veterans from that pivotal war. He said he does not personally know any other living veterans of that conflict.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I go to the old regiment in Toronto to visit, there\u2019s nobody. Everybody\u2019s gone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many people do you know who are 100 or more?\u201d<\/p>\n

Veterans Affairs Canada estimates that as of this year, there are 3,691 surviving Canadian veterans of the Second World War \u2014 667 women and 3,024 men.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe events of the Second World War are very rapidly moving from the realm of lived history of people you can talk to \u2026 into history where you can\u2019t talk to the people who remember them,\u201d said Jeff Noakes, Second World War historian at the Canadian War Museum.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAn empty seat in memoriam of Elsa Lessard, a Second World War veteran who died July 22, 2025, is shown at the National War Memorial during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSean Kilpatrick\/ The Canadian Press\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The stories of that war \u2014 from the bloody horrors of combat to the aftermath of postwar economic uncertainty \u2014 are passing from the realm of living to recorded history as the number of veterans who remember those days grows smaller.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you were five years old when the war ended, you\u2019d be 85 now.\u201d said Noakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s this big shift from knowing a neighbour or a family member or somebody you could talk to about this into \u2026 moving out of the experience of lived history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"For<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

Wayne MacCulloch, a retired major and former peacekeeper who did tours in Haiti and Bosnia, said more civilians should take the time to speak with veterans about their experiences.<\/p>\n

He rattled off a series of once-in-a-lifetime experiences from his own military career: being confronted by a machete-wielding crowd in Haiti, detouring into a minefield, getting attacked with chainsaws, finding himself caught in sudden firefights.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou get the flavour of what it was like to serve when you talk to someone,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can see what they experienced in their eyes, and it\u2019s only by getting that real sense of how things actually happen out in Canada\u2019s interests around the globe that you can truly understand what it means.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s why I always come back for Remembrance Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:37
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOntario mother Nancy Payne named 2025 Silver Cross Mother\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Silver Cross Mother Nancy Payne laid a wreath during the ceremony in Ottawa on behalf of mothers whose loved ones died in service.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney, with his wife Diana, paused briefly as he laid his wreath to flatten out the ribbon at its edge.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNational Silver Cross Mother Nancy Payne is pictured at the National War Memorial in Ottawa ahead of Remembrance Day on Sunday, Nov. 9, 2025. Cpl. Randy Joseph Payne, son of Nancy Payne, was killed in the line of duty on April 22, 2006 while serving with the 1st Garrison Military Police Company near Kandahar, Afghanistan.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSpencer Colby\/ The Canadian Press\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Afterward, Carney shook hands with several veterans, including three members of the same family who represent different generations of military service.<\/p>\n

Ralph Storey turned 88 on Remembrance Day. He served in his late teens on a NATO deployment in Germany in the 1950s.<\/p>\n

He attended the service in Ottawa with his son Ed, a fellow military engineer in his 60s, and grandson Charles, in his 30s, who serves in the navy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of all of them,\u201d Ralph said.<\/p>\n

Family members of the war dead staked out spots hours in advance in Ottawa, braving cold weather to get a good view of the ceremony at the National War Memorial.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t0:49
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCarney lays wreath at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tFather, daughter killed in Florida plane crash taking aid to Jamaica\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSex assault charge against \u2018Trailer Park Boys\u2019 Bubbles actor \u2018won\u2019t be tried in the media\u2019: lawyer\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Brian Revet, who said he lost an uncle in the Second World War who served as an aircraft gunner, travelled to Ottawa from Saskatoon for the event.<\/p>\n

He arrived at 8 a.m. so he could witness up close a ceremony he has cared about deeply throughout his adult life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always meant a lot, ever since I was 16 years old. I\u2019ve never served, I couldn\u2019t imagine what it would be like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a rare turn of events, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon was absent from the ceremony as she recovered from a respiratory virus in hospital.<\/p>\n

Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard Wagner stepped in to preside over the ceremony in Ottawa in her place.<\/p>\n

An RCMP UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter flew over Ottawa\u2019s ceremony; the RCAF\u2019s CF-18 Hornet fighter jets were grounded due to the weather.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:28
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018The Forgotten War\u2019: Remembering the Korean conflict\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Don Bindon, a 36-year veteran of the RCMP who attended the service in Vancouver dressed in red serge, said his son is in the army and his father served during the Second World War.<\/p>\n

Chief Petty Officer, 2nd Class, Matthew Chabassol, also attended the ceremony in Vancouver. He said the day gives him an opportunity to think about friends and family members who have served.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them aren\u2019t with us anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives me a really strong reminder of the things we have done and accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the service in Halifax, N.S., Boston\u2019s newly reelected Mayor Michelle Wu accompanied Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore and said she was happy to attend to showcase the enduring relationship between Halifax and Boston.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t4:58
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHalifax Remembrance Day ceremony 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In Calgary, thousands gathered for the ceremony at The Military Museums, where veterans were given a special place at the front of the audience.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

At Toronto\u2019s Old City Hall, Mayor Olivia Chow said Remembrance Day is especially poignant this year, the 100th anniversary of the Toronto Cenotaph, built in the wake of the First World War.<\/p>\n

Artillery fire rang out over the sound of bagpipes at Queen\u2019s Park, part of a 21-gun salute.<\/p>\n

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Industry Minister M\u00e9lanie Joly were among those attending the ceremony, which ended with the blare of trumpets following a flyby of two Hercules aircraft.<\/p>\n

\u2014 With files from Rianna Lim and Sonja Puzic in Toronto, Bill Graveland in Calgary, Ian Young and Wolfgang Depner in Vancouver and Emily Cadloff in Halifax<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Canada
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight decades after the end of the deadliest military conflict in history, Canadians paused for Remembrance Day ceremonies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,123569,38985,52869],"class_list":{"0":"post-277920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-remembrance-day","12":"tag-second-world-war","13":"tag-veterans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}