With the typical Remembrance Day crowds banned this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic some found an alternative way to mark the day.
A proposal from a Vernon, B.C., man inspired some to take to their sidewalks for two minutes of silence at 11 a.m.
Among them was Major Mitch Steck of the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve.
Standing at the end of his driveway was not the way Steck expected to commemorate his last Remembrance Day before retirement.
Instead he was looking forward to participating with his cadet core in the typical pomp and circumstance of a large-scale community ceremony.
However, due to COVID-19, this year’s Remembrance Day ceremony in Vernon was scaled down and became an invite-only event with citizens encouraged to watch online.
So Steck took up a suggestion from his friend, local photographer Wayne Emde, to honour veterans by standing on the sidewalk for two minutes of silence at 11 a.m.
“I’ve been doing this Remembrance Day observance for 45 years and I wasn’t going to let COVID deter me from doing that especially as this is my final year in uniform.”
Emde shared his proposal for an alternative physically distanced way to observe Remembrance Day online and it motivated others on Steck’s street and around the Okanagan to join in.
“I hope it catches on. It’s a good way to pay your respects,” said Chris Kosick, who also went outside for two minutes of silence at 11 a.m.
“You feel like you are being part of something.”
Steck was heartened to see others joining in with their own acts of remembrance.
“It definitely does warm the heart. We all have that respect we want to show and thanks to Wayne we now have an outlet for that,” Steck said.
The ceremony in Steck’s driveway ended with the Major and a colleague exchanging salutes, and an acknowledgement that the significance of the day is still being honoured despite the pandemic.
Comments