In the South Okanagan, residents in Penticton marked Remembrance Day with not one but two ceremonies throughout the city. Community members and veterans gathered to honour armed forces members of the past and present.
One of the ceremonies was at Penticton Trade and Convention Centre and the other was at Veterans Memorial Park.
“I always believe this is where the Remembrance Day ceremony should be, at a Cenotaph. I know a lot of people like to be indoors but, they didn’t stop the war because it got cold,” said Penticton Legion member Bob Sudbury.
The ceremony was attended by veterans, first responders and community members who all took a moment to remember those who put their lives on the line.
“Just honour those who served and died. So we can have the freedoms we do today. Many, many people don’t appreciate the freedoms they have today, unfortunately,” said veteran Doug Pichette.
The number of children present at the Remembrance Day service was touching to Sudbury. He’s a world war historian and hopes to pass on his knowledge to younger generations.
“I actually have gone to Princess Margaret School, Holy Cross School and taught classes about it. I have all my dad’s maps from D-Day to the end of the war. He laminated them all and marked where he was. I got photo albums from the war of newspapers and I explain things,” Sudbury said.
Penticton residents were grateful to commemorate Remembrance Day alongside their neighbours after having scaled back ceremonies the past few years.
“The Legion getting back to normal and all the people can come to places like this. I remember two years ago when we had this here, we weren’t allowed to advertise cause we weren’t allowed to have more than 100 people here, the place was packed cause we weren’t at the Convention Centre,” said Sudbury.
“It shows the strength of the Canadian people who come out.”