Veterans and seniors, children including cadets and scouts, families, and local dignitaries gathered in Fort Langley on Saturday to mark Remembrance Day.
The service was a sombre one not only as it commemorated the fallen in Canada’s past wars, but in references to conflicts going on around the globe, from Gaza to Ukraine to Ethiopia.
“This morning, we gather at a time the world is broken and in pain,” said Rev. Eileen Nurse.
This Nov. 11 was a chance to stand together in peace, and to remember those who had sacrificed their lives for us, she said.
During the service, MC Andy Schildhorn listed the names of a number of veterans who have passed away in the last year, and there were fewer veterans in the seating than in some previous years.
Among the veterans was Ralph Elam Jr., whose father, Ralph Elam Sr., served in the First World War.
“He made it through Vimy and partway through Passchendaele, then got shrapnel in the left shoulder,” said Elam. He also survived being gassed.
He returned to his home in North Battleford, Sask., got married and started a family, and then in 1941, he moved to Langley. Elam grew up on the farm his father ran, located where the Carvolth transit hub is now.
His father seldom spoke of the war much, although he did talk about passing through the graves of all nationalities of soldiers on his way to Vimy.
He was upset when the Second World War broke out, Elam recalled.
“Oh, was he ever disappointed,” said Elam. His father really had believed that he had fought in the ‘war to end all wars,’ as it was often called.
Elam himself served in the RCAF in the 1950s as an airframe mechanic, and then worked for Canadian Airlines for many years.
Brian Elidoros came to Fort Langley from the Interior to attend the service and clean the graves of his parents and grandparents.
The two previous generations of his family served in the World Wars – his grandfather John Bleakley fought at the Battle of Hill 70 in the First World War, and both his father and mother were in uniform in the Second World War.
Elidoros’s father Theodore Elidoros flew PBY Catalina flying boats – also known as Cansos when they were flown for the RCAF – up and down the Pacific coast, patrolling for Japanese submarines. His mother Frances worked on military shows in England, and they met when they each returned home from their service.
“They were legion members forever,” remembered Elidoros.
Theodore Elidoros lived his last few years at Simpson Manor in Fort Langley.
“He’d come down to the ceremony here until he passed away in 2013,” his son said.
The service included prayers and hymns, a song by members of the Kwantlen First Nation, and a colour guard of local scouts members.
In her closing prayer, Nurse asked for “the tools to do what we can in the name of justice, freedom, and peace.”
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