With clear skies and warm weather, Fergus residents came out en masse for the annual Remembrance Day service at the cenotaph.
Greg Manion, Branch 275 president, said this year the Fergus branch was honoured to have author Jean Miso as guest speaker for the Legion banquet later that night, bringing with her, her supply of books.
Manion said the local branch made a decision to invite schools into a competition to sing the song We’ll Never Forget which was written and composed by Miso.
He then welcomed the choir from St. Joseph Catholic School.
As in previous years, Ray Pearse, now past president, spoke to the youngsters in the crowd.
He noted there are usually more young people in attendance, but this year there were fewer since the service was on a Sunday.
And, he added, a number of folks were still in church.
Pearse shared the reason why those gathered were “in front of this block of stone.”
Carved into that stone of remembrance are the names of those fallen.
“They are of men who sacrificed their lives for a reason. That reason is so we can stand here today and remember all the young men and women of Canada who gave their lives for freedom.”
He said over the last century, there were a lot of wars.
Pearse said that following World War II countries and people seemed to forget about those sacrifices.
“Then along came Afghanistan which awakened that memory and the fact that young Canadians are dying for the freedom of the world.”
Pearse said those soldiers “are not only dying for Afghans, but for you.”
He said over the course of the past century, “we have in the vicinity of 117,000 young Canadians who gave their lives and over twice that number who were wounded.”
“We stand here today not only to remember those who died, but those who came back. A lot of them carry the memories of the horror – not only for a little while, but the rest of their lives.”
“We remember each and every one of them and give thanks because without them, we wouldn’t be here, or we would be speaking German.”
“… and remember, they died for you.”
