Ceremony holds special significance

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This article was published 09/11/2014 (4184 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeggers took the time Saturday to pay tribute to veterans in the aftermath of the attacks last month that cost two soldiers their lives on Canadian soil.

Those deaths and the fact the service took place on a Saturday explained Lesley Jansen’s presence at an annual ceremony at Brookside Cemetery to honour veterans and war dead.

“Very much so,” she said outside the Bardal Funeral Centre. “(Cpl. Nathan) Cirillo was a reservist, like I was. I wanted to hear the veterans speak, get a tour of the cemetery and see where important people like Sgt. Tommy Prince and the guy with Winnie the Pooh are buried.”

She was referring to Canada’s most decorated aboriginal war veteran, awarded a total of 11 medals in the Second World War and the Korean War, and to Canadian soldier Harry Colebourn, who adopted an orphan bear cub while travelling to Europe during the First World War, named it Winnie after his hometown Winnipeg, and donated it to the London Zoo, where it inspired the Winnie the Pooh books by A.A. Milne.

About 100 people gathered Saturday at the Bardal Funeral Centre across from Brookside Cemetery to listen to accounts of the war from six veterans, including one who served in the Second World War.

John Stokya was 18 when he enlisted as a infantry rifleman in the Royal Canadian Rifles. By 19, he was on the front lines in Normandy, France. As the Allies moved into Germany, he cleaned out Nazi gun nests behind enemy lines in the final stages of the war. He spent the last 40 days of the conflict as a prisoner of the Germans before the Allies liberated the camps.

You could hear a pin drop as he and the other veterans recounted their war experiences. Following the discussion, buses ferried participants to a cemetery tour and an outdoor service that wraps up the event every year.

“It’s three times the number,” said Jane Saxby, the city’s administrator for cemeteries, of the attendance this year. “One thing is the tour is on a Saturday this year. That has some bearing. I also think the recent deaths of the two soldiers has a major bearing.”

Cirillo was gunned down while standing ceremonial duty at the National War Memorial on Parliament Hill. The gunman then stormed Centre Block and was shot dead by Kevin Vickers, the sergeant-at-arms of the House of Commons. Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent was run down in Quebec two days earlier and his assailant was killed by police gunfire. Both attackers had a history of mental instability and had reportedly embraced radical Islam.

The killings generated an outpouring of sympathy from ordinary Canadians.

Record numbers are expected at Remembrance Day events this year and it was clear Winnipeggers were anxious to pay their respects ahead of Nov. 11.

Jansen said both her parents served in the Second World War, but this was the first time she had attended the annual Brookside service.

Her father was with the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders and held prisoner after his capture at Dieppe. The 1942 Battle of Dieppe, a failed Allied bid to seize the German-occupied French Channel port, holds special significance for Canada because 6,000 soldiers, mostly Canadian, were taken prisoner.

She said her mother served the home front at a Royal Canadian Air Force gunnery school in Manitoba.

Janzen said she served with the army reserves in the 17 Wing Service Battalion, rising to the rank of sergeant before her retirement.

City staff provided three buses to accommodate the 100 participants. Typically, 30 show up. The city uses the event to focus attention on Manitoba’s rich military history and on Remembrance Day.

Brookside Cemetery has one of the four largest military cemeteries in Canada and is the only one with a Stone of Remembrance. The monument was placed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

“It is a big honour. There isn’t one in the national military cemetery,” said Saxby, the city’s cemetery administrator.

With the focus on the service and the veterans at the event, there was no specific tribute to either of the two soldiers killed. But there was no need.

“I’ve thought about it. I think everybody has thought about it,” Saxby said.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca