Canadian veterans have different take on Remembrance Day services

The Remembrance Day service at Oak Park High School in Winnipeg, Man., surely mirrored the hundreds, if not thousands, of solemn gatherings across the country.

Men and women in medal-studded uniforms mixed with the clean, grey kit worn by young cadets and the oversized coats preferred by civilians on a cold November morning in Manitoba.

Hundreds of people, young and old, packed into the school’s undersized gymnasium and perched on fold-out chairs and rickety stadium seating, or pressed standing against walls, watching as members of the Royal Canadian Legion Charleswood Branch #100 led the gathering through the National Anthem, the reveille, a moment of silence and a reading of the poem “In Flanders Fields.”

This year like never before, there was a modern tone to the proceedings, with remembrance and honour being served on soldiers and police officers killed recently on Canadian soil and the countless soldiers who come home from combat suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.

All the while, the heart of Remembrance Day remained in World Wars I and II, and the sacrifices made to secure peace for Canadians today.

The service was a warm comfort to 92-year-old John Innes, a World War II veteran who had fought in Italy. Innes lives in Victoria, B.C., and was visiting family in Manitoba, leaving him unable to attend his usual service back home.

"My family said, ‘When you’re in Winnipeg you’ll make it to the service,’" he told Yahoo Canada News while gathering with other military veterans at the Charleswood Legion Hall after the ceremony. “I think the service was well put together, right down to the boy scouts. Every service is a little different but they all have the same components, it’s really nice.”

This is how Remembrance Day typically happens in towns and cities across the country.

While government leaders, military chiefs and foreign dignitaries gather at the elaborate official ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, hundreds if not thousands of smaller, more private memorials are held in legions, parks, schools and community centres.

Familiar-faced veterans mix with the odd veterans from afar and sit shoulder-to-shoulder with the families of those who fought, and others who simply appreciate that they did.

The sense of community, of pride and respect, that permeates through each of these services is shared. It links Canadians together in remember and memorializing the sacrifices of the past, and present. It allows a veteran such as Innes to find a home whether he’s in Victoria or Toronto or Winnipeg.

Private/Trooper John Innes joined the military in September of 1942 with the Royal Canadian Dragoons armoured car regiment.

After extensive training, including time at the base in Portage-La-Prairie, Man., his unit was shipped to Italy to serve on the front lines.

He operated Staghounds – large armoured tanks that were put to heavy use in the Europe offensive. He was injured in Italy, when the Germans bombed his Staghound as it led a reconnaissance deeper into enemy territory.

Only he and one other soldier inside the tank survived the blast. He returned to duty after recovering from his injuries and was near the German border when the Nazis surrendered and the battle ended.

“It was a relief. We finally knew we were going to go home,” Innes said about learning the war was over. “Then they gathered us up and asked if we wanted to stay in the service. I said no, my time was over. I had had enough.”

This is just one story from Innes’ time at war. It was five years between the time Innes began his training and his final day in uniform. But Innes continues to remember his time at war.

He gathers once a year with Dragoons veterans in Victoria, though he notes he’s the last to have served in Italy. And then there’s Remembrance Day, on which he ensures he attends a service every year. Even when he’s on holiday in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg is as appropriate a place as any to remember Canada’s military history. It is home to the Winnipeg Grenadiers, an infantry regiment that fought in Europe during the Great War and Hong Kong during World War II.

It is also home to the Royal Winnipeg Rifles and Valour Road – renamed in 1925 in honour of three young men who grew up on the street and won Victoria Crosses during the First World War.

Another veteran to commemorate Remembrance Day in Winnipeg was retired Cpl. Michael Crotty, who received a medical discharge in June after serving for 27 years as a member of the Canadian Air Force’s Transport Squadron.

During his time in uniform, Crotty served in the North Pole, the Golan Heights and Bosnia, the latter two as a member of the United Nations peacekeeping mission. Four years ago he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which in-part led to him receiving a medical release earlier this year.

“It was good because you do what you were trained to do,” Crotty told Yahoo Canada News about his service. “The bad is the stuff they never tell you about. In the Golan you saw stuff no one should ever have to see. In Bosnia, depending on circumstances, you not only saw but did stuff that nobody should ever have to do.”

After being diagnosed with PTSD, Crotty found it difficult to be around other men and women in uniform. He skipped three Remembrance Days, declined to attend services those years, before mustering the resolve to return this time.

“It was too hard to be there. I had issues about being around people in uniform,” Crotty said. “Remembrance Day just hurt too much. This year I felt confident I could do it. It hurt, but I made it.”

The Charleswood Legion Remembrance Day service including a song written by Canadian folk musician J.P. Cormier, titled “Hometown Battleground.” The song is about dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, and the theme caught Crotty unprepared.

“It was tough. For myself, it made the service tough,” he said “But it helps people become aware that there are other injuries than losing limbs or physical injuries. The hardest one to diagnose is the mental problems. It took 16 years before I put all the clues together. It wasn’t a rapid procession. It took a long time.”

There has been a growing understanding about the dangers of PTSD in the military in recent years and now, while it’s an affliction elder military veterans may not have considered, it is a primary issue faced by those in service today.

Indeed, mixed with the historical perspective Remembrance Day traditionally takes, this year more than ever before, it seems, the struggle of modern soldiers was highlighted.

Alongside those who suffer from PTSD, services paid homage to Cpl. Nathan Cirillo and Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, two soldiers killed in separate terrorist-linked attacks last month, and the three RCMP officers shot dead during an attack in Moncton, N.B., last summer.

“It is bringing the awareness closer to home, that’s the feeling I get,” Crotty said. “We don’t have to go abroad to face the dangers anymore. We have them here. We have to be vigilant here.”