The sound of trumpets echoed through the town of Lansdowne, Ont., Saturday afternoon, as the community remembered the fallen veterans who served during the First and Second World Wars as well as in Afghanistan.
Local residents joined the families and friends of fallen soldiers to pay their respects with a moment of silence.
The Lansdowne Veterans Memorial team also unveiled two plaques to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
The plaques are engraved with the names of 30 fallen soldiers: 12 from the First World War, 17 from the Second World War and one from the war in Afghanistan.
“This is a place where our community can come and give honour. This was just to bring people together and we achieved it,” says Janet Gaylord, chair of the Lansdowne Veterans Memorial.
Many people who attended the memorial ceremony felt that taking the time to remember those who have fallen helps their loved ones heal.
“Absolutely, it helps them especially,” says Rose Michie, the daughter of a veteran who fought in the Second World War.
Healing was a big part of the stone-placing ceremony. People took a piece of stone, held it in their hands as they took a moment to reflect and then placed it by the memorial stone and wreath.
Organizers of the ceremony say the stone is symbolic. During the war, many soldiers used stones to warm their beds at night, and once they returned to their actual homes, they would bring the stones with them as a symbol of safe return. But for the fallen, this never happened.
“There are the stones that (were) never retrieved, and that’s the remembrance,” says Gaylord.
The Lansdowne community will honour the war veterans once again on Remembrance Day in November.
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