Friends honoured

This year might be the last for a long-standing memorial service for soldiers in the Lake Superior Regiment, says a past president of a local ex-service organization.

The Lake Superior Regiment (Motor) held its annual memorial ceremony in tribute to all fallen veterans in Second World War at Hillcrest Park on Sunday. The ceremony also celebrates the anniversary of when the regiment first opened for general recruitment on Sunday, June 6, 1940.

However, future memorial services may not happen, said Roy Lamore, past president of the Port Arthur, Branch 5 of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Lamore acted as master of ceremony and said this could be the last year for this specific memorial service because of the difficulties in organizing it.

"It’s hard to get enough people together to organize it," Lamore said. "It’s a big program but people don’t realize it."

Lamore said as long as the soldiers are remembered through the media and other documentation, that it would alright to end the memorial service. He said it’s important to ensure the younger generation knows of the sacrifices by those who served in the war.

"At any grade they should be remembering this kind of service," he said. "This is the kind of thing they have to think about. I know it’s not in their history books but what they got to do is remember the people that have lost their lives."

Pte. Hap Oldale of the Lake Superior Regiment (Motor) said they try to hold the ceremony each year on the Sunday nearest to June 6 and added they lucked out this year. Oldale called the memorial service a "simple ceremony" in memory of those soldiers who didn’t come home.

"Don’t forget them—they were some of my closest friends," Oldale said as a tear came to his eye.

Born in 1920 in what was then known as the City of Fort William, he joined up with LSR (Motor) for five years and spent sometime on the frontlines supplying soldiers with ammunition and gasoline. Although he didn’t spend his entire time on the frontline, he said he didn’t get hit once.

"I’m one of the lucky ones," he said. "I was there on the frontline I did patrol. My basic job was a transport platoon to haul supplies."