What a special day it was for many of us in the cemetery this Saturday as we stayed on after our walk to participate in the Remembrance Day Ceremony hosted by the Royal Canadian Air Force. Like just about every other November 11th, the sky was grey and the temperature cool, but I doubt that any of us would have wanted to have missed such a significant and touching event. To have learned the history of William Barker VC, a member of the RCAF, and the most decorated officer in the British Commonwealth, (I can't count how many times I have walked by his monument outside the mausoleum not knowing his story) was a highlight for me, as was the very poignant moment when the Hercules aircraft flew overhead at the end of the ceremony. The dazzling array of medals proudly worn by a man standing near us in the crowd, a British Major who had served in both the Balkans and Afghanistan, reminded us of more recent conflicts. My own thoughts were also of a Remembrance Day ceremony in Gourdon, France, which my husband and I attended a number of years ago. The significance of the moment had felt amplified by just being in Europe, and in particular a town that was one of the centres of the Resistance in WWII.
How privileged we all were to be in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery to experience this very moving ceremony together, and to share amongst our TPW friends some of our own stories of family members who were involved in either WWI or WWII. A very special day indeed.
