Thousands fill Vancouver’s Victory Square for Remembrance Day service

A forecast of heavy rains didn’t scare away the crowds who gathered to pay respects for Canada’s war dead at the Remembrance Day service at Vancouver’s Victory Square, the 102nd annual service at the cenotaph.

City officials estimate about 15,000 people every year attend the memorial service at the corner of Hastings and Cambie streets, which was, decades ago, the heart of Vancouver’s main shopping district.

More more were able to watch it on TV or through online livestreams. The ceremony was one of about three dozen across Metro Vancouver and hundreds across B.C., according to the Canadian Legion.

At Victory Square, a natural amphitheatre, there wasn’t an empty spot on the grass hill stretching from Hastings Street to Pender Street and sidewalks surrounding the corner were full.

Among those attending was a 93-year-old veteran in a wheelchair, wearing three medals on a navy blue jacket, a navy blue beret with an embroidered Legion crest, and shiny black Oxfords.

He was treated like royalty, posing for photos with strangers and being offered smiles, nods, a steadying arm when he rose for the standing bits, and even an umbrella that someone pressed on his son, “for the elder.”

He had served in the Korean War for three years and said, “I’m here today because somebody was there before me to protect us,” he said. “But I don’t want my name in the paper.”

His son, Chris Miner, said his dad had been active in the Canadian Legion in Aldergrove, volunteering with the sea and air cadets.

Jordan Nagel, who had served in the army reserve at the Bay Street Armory in Victoria, said he attended the ceremony because, “You should always support your soldiers and veterans.”

“To show respect to those who were lost in war and in battle,” Christian Ishimwe said for why he attends every year. “Unfortunately, I feel like a lot of young people aren’t informed (about military matters). I watch too much news to not know what’s going on. They’re protecting our people, they’re protecting me.”

One group of four young men, who said they attended because they used to go to the Remembrance Day services at school and wanted to continue, hadn’t heard about the tragedy at the Wainwright Canadian Forces Base less than a month ago.

A wildfire fuelled by strong winds during a live firing drill on Oct. 17 at the Alberta base killed four soldiers in training, including two from B.C., Pte. Aidan Goulding, 23, of North Vancouver, and Pte. Hayden Lykkemark, 19, of Langley. Another 39 soldiers were injured, 19 of them critically, and some face years of recovery for extensive burns.

The tragedy, Canada’s worst peacetime military loss on domestic soil, was acknowledged during the Victory Square ceremony.

The Vancouver service began under grey and heavy skies under a light, brief sprinkling of rain that only reappeared once more, during the Last Post about an hour later.

The program also included the rituals of the mounting and changing of the vigil guard, two minutes of silence, a 21-gun salute, the Last Post by two trumpeters, Robert Peskett and Dan McLelland (retired) of the Vancouver Rescue Fire Services, and the Lament, piped by Maj. Daniel Bell of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada.