THUNDER BAY -- Every year on Remembrance Day, memories come flooding back for Bill Majbroda.
In 1944, Kakabeka's Majbroda served with the medical corps. in Holland after enlisting underage.
"If you told them you were 18 you were 18. They didn't ask for proof," he said.
"I guess they figured anybody could stop a bullet."
Majbroda says a ceremony like the one Wednesday in front of thousands of people at the Fort William Gardens reminds him of the people who didn't come back.
"This memorial service brings you a lot of memories," the 90-year-old said after passing a torch to a younger veteran.
"Because you left some of your best friends out there. Maybe you only knew them for a few months but it seemed like you knew them all your life."
The day is also a reminder of how few Second World War veterans, now at an average age of 91, are left to honour.
"It's getting to be less and less every year. I don't know, another year or two there won't be many of us left," Majbroda said.
Wayne Milloy, the day's master of ceremonies and whose father was a prisoner of war in Hong Kong, said it's important for him to honour and remember those who were left behind and those still with us.
"This is the best day around to honour them," he said.
"They still deserve our praise and remembrance because they gave us our freedom."
Remembrance Day is also about honouring modern veterans, something people sometimes forget Milloy said.
"They need to be remembered and they need to be taken care of," he said.
Retired Thunder Bay police officer Lorne Clifford, who served in Sudan and Palestine on peacekeeping missions, was a guest speaker and took the opportunity to raise awareness for modern veterans. There are 600,000 of them in Canada and another 3,800 police officers who have served right beside them over the past 20 years Clifford said.
He's hoping if those veterans need help they'll ask for it and people will serve them back.
"Bring them closer to your heart and remember them in your prayers," Clifford said.
