THUNDER BAY - The cold weather and November snowfall wasn’t going to stop veteran Donald Oram, 88, from attending his 71st Remembrance Day service.
“I wanted to come because this is my 71st year,” he said. “I’m honoured to be here. To honour these guys. They gave their life. I get choked up every year.”
The Remembrance Day service at the Fort William Gardens is the largest ceremony in the city, usually drawing in more than 3,000 people, as well as dozens of veterans and service members.
But on Tuesday, due to COVID-19 restrictions, the large-scale ceremony was changed to a small gathering at the cenotaph in front of Thunder Bay city Hall, where legion members and Thunder Bay Mayor Bill Mauro laid wreathes.
“Today is very unusual for us,” said Ken Milenko, Royal Canadian Legion member and chair of the Remembrance Day Ceremonies.
“We are used to being inside the Fort William Gardens, but today we’ve chosen to observe a very short Remembrance service here at the cenotaph. We are expecting no more than six or seven of us to show up. And then welcome the public to lay their own wreathes throughout the day.”
Even though the ceremony was significantly smaller, Milenko said that does not take away from the meaning behind this solemn day.
“The importance of observing remembrance cannot be understated,” he said. “It’s the very least we can do to pay our respects to our fallen comrades, all of our current serving members of the service. We just can’t let that go.”
Milenko said this is the first time the ceremony has ever been scaled down and normally they are looking at making things bigger as more and more people come out to pay their respects to those who gave so much.
“Hopefully next year we will be able to get back indoors at the Gardens but I would expect we would have a very small turnout because the pandemic will be far from over,” he said.
“You can’t say no to people who want to come and pay their respects. We just encourage those who do come out to pay their respects to practice social distancing and wear their masks.”
It is especially difficult this year because the majority of veterans are not able to attend the ceremony.
“I am a veteran myself, so are the other members who are coming out,” Milenko said. “I can’t speak on their behalf. I’m very disappointed because we are not able to express our remembrance fully like we normally do so.”
As a lifetime Royal Canadian Legion member with Branch 5, last year Oram marched with the colour party at the Fort William Gardens and the chilly temperatures brought him back to the first services that used to be held outside.
“It’s not a very nice day,” he said. “We used to march in this weather.”
But enduring the cold wind and snow covered ground pales in comparison to the sacrifices made by those lost and those still serving.
“I’m always honoured to come out with these guys,” Oram said. “The guys who returned and the guys who didn’t return.”
