In the small farming community of Domain Manitoba where I was raised, the annual Remembrance Day service – held on the Sunday before November 11 – was one of the holiest days of the year.  They began with a procession of veterans, including my dad, dressed in grey flannel trousers and navy-blue Legion blazers, who marched down the centre aisle and filled the front few pews.  The music for the day was somber, wreaths were laid, a minute of silence was observed, and the sanctuary became eerily quiet as a Legion member read the names of those from our community who had fought and died during the two world wars.  As I looked around at the packed sanctuary and saw some of my adult neighbours become visibly shaken as the name of a brother, uncle, cousin or friend who never returned was spoken, I understood that war was a painful, costly, but sometimes necessary business.

Those memories and lessons have remained with me, and I’ve continued to believe Remembrance Day services are very special occasions.  So I invite you to join us this coming Sunday at 10:30 am as we remember and give thanks for those who sacrificed and served so that we might live in the kind of country we do.  And the day will be made extra-special by the fact that a WW2 veteran – 98-year-old Gene Mason (Donna Henderson’s father and Angela Phelps grandfather) – will be present to lay a wreath.  It will be a special day, and I look forward to seeing you this coming Sunday morning.