As Remembrance Day approaches I reflect on some of the places where I have commemorated the date in the past decade. In 2007 friends and family members attended a service held by the Royal Canadian Legion in my home town of Sangudo, Alberta. My late father participated as one of the WWII veterans. He and several other family members served in the RCAF in WWII.
With my father and other family members November 11, 2007.
November 2009 I was in Australia and attended a Remembrance Day service at the ANZAC Square War Memorial in Brisbane city centre. It was interesting to note the similarities and differences compared to Canadian services. For one thing, it was a summer day with a temperature somewhere over 30° Celsius when finding shade was a goal.
Boer War memorial in Brisbane's Anzac Square.
Shrine of Remembrance is focal point of Brisbane's ANZAC Square War Memorial and Parkland.
Last chance to get poppies, which have a different shape than Canadian ones.
The Brisbane service included live music from a military band and a soloist.
Eternal flame inside Shrine of Remembrance with floral wreaths.
Many of the Brisbane wreaths were made of fresh flowers including native blooms.
In 2010 friends and I attended a ceremony on the Alberta Provincial Legislature grounds in Edmonton. The next year I was in Charlottetown where I watched the ceremony from Ottawa with my father’s cousin – she and her husband had served in the RCAF after WWII.
November 11th was a cold day for the 21-gun salute at the Alberta Legislative grounds in 2010.
I spent Remembrance Day 2011 with my father's cousin Vickie in Prince Edward Island.
Last year Remembrance Day was a warm fall day in Coaldale, Alberta where I attended the ceremony with relatives. This year there is already snow on the ground here in Southern Alberta and it is likely to still be here in a week's time.
In 2016 November 11th was warm in Coaldale, Alberta to walk from the indoor ceremony to the cenotaph.
Lethbridge cenotaph on a snowy day.
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