RESPECTFULLY REMEMBERING THE PAST … WHILE PRAYING THE INSANITY OF WAR DOESN’T HAVE TO HAPPEN AGAIN FOR ANY MORE YEARS

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

Subscribe: E-transfer $30 to news@muskokatoday.com

GRAVENHURST  — The unforgotten were remembered today with a respectful service that made sure the town’s sons and daughters of wars gone by received their annual fitting due.

An appropriate recognition — “Lest We Forget” — befitting the brave we shant see again.

A dim remembrance not only of past deadly conflicts, but as much a stark reminder for today’s generation.

While Wednesday’s crowd of more than a couple hundred had mostly never experienced war first hand — nary an aged veteran was in sight nor marching — the sentiment was there.

Through family and friends — six degrees of separation “friend of a friend — that spirit was there as names etched on memorials were read aloud.

Relatives placed wreaths in memory of fathers and mothers and in memory and honour.

Outgoing Mayor Heidi Lorenz laid a wreath on behalf of the town; however there was no representation from the province or federal government.

Remembering the past while somehow hopefully praying for world peace and that they don’t have to repeat the futility and and insanity of war while having to do it again all over next Nov. 11.

With barely an overcast weather pall the short sombre occasion met all the requirements of “At the going down of the sun …” they remembered them.

A fitting tribute for small town Canadian heroes.

Next year make it only remembering past wars — and not future ones.

Families gathered to pay their respects today in Gravenhurst at the Legion cenotaph in a fitting tribute their war dead and those who served and survived, including Cole family members. PHOTOS Mark Clairmont MuskokaTODAY.com
Eniko Campbell, brought her dad’s war cap from Hungary and made sure she had her photo taken with it to send to her kids.
Photo-ops are mandatory for many, who placed wreaths in memory of family and friends, including Phil Clarke, whose daughters made sure he will never be forgotten.
Inside the branch, after, a full house young and old turned the sombre outside mood in to a celebration of lives lived and loved.
Bob and Krys Gordon cut a cake to share the moment with hundreds of others at a post luncheon.
A manequins dressed in the uniform of the First World War Muskoka 122 Overseas Battalion flanks the honour roll. A second one was dressed in more modern fatigues of desert-fighting soldiers.
Dozens of wreaths, including one with King Charles III’s name on it surrounded the cenotaph.

📧 Contact, Subscribe, Advertise

Email: news@muskokatoday.com

Mail: MuskokaTODAY.com, Box 34, Gravenhurst, ON P1P 1T5

Advertise: Email news@muskokatoday.com for rates