City of Windsor holds Remembrance Day ceremony at City Hall Square

The city of Windsor held its Remembrance Day service Friday morning, honouring those who served Canada.

The outdoor commemoration service took place at the cenotaph at City Hall Square at 11 a.m.

City officials, members of the Windsor Veterans Memorial Services Committee, politicians and many others participated in the event.

Vintage fighter planes flew over the cenotaph as hundreds of people gathered to remember people who served in the military, particularly those who died during wartime.

Many wreaths were laid, and participants took part in a moment of silence.

Honorary Lt.-Col Dr. Paul Bradford, who served 26 years in the Canadian Armed Forces, was a guest speaker for the day.

"With the dedication and responsibility of service, often comes much sacrifice. And those impacts we know can last a lifetime and need tremendous support," he told the crowd gathered.

Bradford spoke of the state of democracy, saying it "is hard and has to be protected."

"We only have to look at the recent events in Europe to see how freedom and a way of life can be destroyed as the ravages of war kill and maim tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians," he said.

"Many previously died and sacrificed with their service so we can have the freedom we enjoy today protected. There is much we hold dear and it's important we do not take this freedom for granted."

The city offered a full program of events to honour Remembrance Day this year.

City hall has been covered with poppy decals with pictures from the Canadian War Museum. Those will be in place until Nov. 14.

The Old Riverside section of Wyandotte Street East is also displaying street banners showing the names, dates and commemorations about some veterans with connections to Windsor.

Those were unveiled in September and will be displayed until November next year.