Banners honouring veterans hang near cenotaph
Beatriz Baleeiro, London Free Press
25 September 2024
Well ahead of Remembrance Day, memorial banners for military veterans from London have been placed from lamp posts on the streets around Victoria Park, home to the city’s cenotaph. Reporter Beatriz Baleeiro explores what to know about the new salute to veterans.
THE BIG PICTURE
Already a practice in many small towns, the 33 banners – bearing the names and faces of veterans – are new to London this year and their early installation before Remembrance Day a way to remind Londoners about the people behind wartime sacrifice before the national day of observance in November. “There are some interesting stories out there,” said Randy Warden, who chairs the London Remembrance Day committee. “And that’s part of the reason why we’re doing it – so that people can ask about those stories.”
Organized through local Royal Canadian Legion branches, the banners occupy a place of prominence with their proximity to the cenotaph and the park that includes monuments to London’s storied military history. The plan is to make the banners an annual tribute, displayed from the start of September until Remembrance Day, with other veterans honoured next year. Eligibility for the banners extends to veterans connected to London who served in the Canadian or Allied militaries and the RCMP.
NOTABLE VETERANS SALUTED
Frederick Banting: Born in Alliston, Banting practised medicine in London after serving in France during the First World War. While in London he conceived the idea for insulin, a life-saver for millions of diabetics around the world, for which he became the first Canadian awarded a Nobel Prize, sharing the award in medicine in 1923 with John Macleod of the University of Toronto. Banting taught at both the U of T and the University of Western Ontario.
Charley Fox: A fighter pilot in the Second World War, Fox was a flying ace who was also credited with wounding German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in a strafing run over France a month after the D-Day invasion of Normandy. A stylized sculpture depicting fighter planes taking off honours Fox at the Hale Street-Trafalgar Street roundabout in London. Fox died in a car collision near Tillsonburg in 2008.
Tom Hennessy: A flight lieutenant with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, he took part in the defence of Malta and also flew missions to take back Europe from German occupation. Hennessy hailed from Dublin, Ireland, and settled in Canada after the war. He taught physical education in Toronto, Sarnia and London before retiring in 1986. Two years ago, at age 100, he walked 100 miles to raise money for homeless veterans. Hennessy died earlier this year at 101, one of the last living Spitfire fighter pilots in Canada.
ARE ANY WOMEN HONOURED?
Even before combat roles were opened to women in Canada in 1989, tens of thousands of women served in the military – in positions ranging from radar and coding operators, to nurses and truck and ambulance drivers. One woman, Edith Street, is among those saluted in the London memorial banners. Street served in an auxiliary territorial service from 1943 to 1945 and was stationed across England during the war. Her banner is located on Dufferin Avenue. She died in 2023 at the Parkwood Institute in London.
NOTEWORTHY TOUCHES
One banner hangs near the cenotaph in honour of the unknown soldier, a microcosm of Canada’s fallen soldiers. Instead of a personal likeness, however, the image shown on the banner is that of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which was added in 2000 to the National War Memorial in Ottawa.
Another banner, fittingly placed on a lamp post a stone’s throw from the entrance to city hall, recognizes a pre-Confederation London mayor, James Moffat. Mayor for only one year, in 1860, the Scottish-born Moffat emigrated to Canada in 1844, settling in London the following year. He had a distinguished military career and was appointed a brigade major in 1862 and a lieutenant-colonel a decade later. He died in 1894 and is buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
To nominate an eligible veteran for a London memorial banner, a family member must submit a request. Along with a suitable picture of the honoured veteran, a $250 sponsorship fee is required, which covers the costs to produce, install and remove the banner. For more information, go to supportveterans.ca/banners
bbaleeiro@postmedia.com
Remembrance Day: In London, crowds, prayers and a special bugle.
Heather Rivers, London Free Press
11 November 2023
As foreign wars rage, thousands of Londoners gathered Saturday to remember their own war dead and to pray such sacrifices will never have to be made again.
“We’re here today to remember, as a paid tribute to those who lost their lives in pursuit of their oath of allegiance,” said Jim Swan, master of ceremonies at the city’s Remembrance Day cenotaph ceremony.
“We gather here at the cenotaph in a ceremony that has the solemnity of a visit to the graveside of a loved one. We pay honour to those who served and those who died.
“Their sacrifice, and the burdens borne by those who had served and returned, broaden the focus through the lens of conflicts that rage today in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine,” he said.
From the Boer War to Afghanistan, both world wars and the Korean War, Londoners have fought and died in all of Canada’s major conflicts abroad.
Others have served in dangerous peacekeeping missions around the world.
Saturday, under sunny skies, the crowd paid tribute to all veterans at a cenotaph that was built following the First World War, in which more than 400 Londoners died, and to which the other wars Canada has fought have been added over the years.
“The cenotaph is a marker, a headstone if you will, for those who died in conflict, in all peacekeeping expeditions and training exercises since Confederation in World War One, World War Two, Korea and Afghanistan,” Swan said.
Swan’s remarks were followed by two minutes of silence and the playing of the Last Post by David Cunningham, on a bugle handed down to him from his grandfather. The same instrument had sounded the same solemn call more than 100 years ago at Vimy Ridge in northern France, where 3,600 Canadians died and 7,000 were wounded taking a heavily-fortified German position during an epic, days-long battle over Easter 1917.
“It truly is a connection to the fallen,” Swan said.
A memorial wreath was laid by longtime Silver Cross Mother Carolyn Wilson of London, whose son, Trooper Mark Wilson, was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2006.
George Beardshaw, 100, a Second World War veteran, who came to Canada from England as a boy, also laid a wreath.
One of only 9,000 surviving Canadian veterans of the Second World War and Korean War, Beardshaw joined the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada at age 18. He served in France and was held a prisoner of war for the last 28 days of the conflict.
He was awarded the Legion of Honour medal, the highest honour awarded by the French government, conferring on him the rank of Knight of the French Legion of Honour.
REMEMBRANCE DAY: Londoners throng to honour our fallen in person.
Jonathan Juha, London Free Press
11 November 2022
On the surface, this year’s Remembrance Day ceremony was similar to the dozens held in the past at London’s cenotaph.
There was a moment of silence in honouring soldiers who gave their lives fighting to protect Canadians’ freedoms; there was the traditional placing of wreaths; and a local school performed In Flanders Fields.
But for those who attended, this year’s event was anything but ordinary.
It was their first chance to gather again as a community and honour veterans after COVID-19 restrictions forced organizers to hold smaller, more subdued ceremonies.
And on Friday, hundreds of Londoners answered the call to Victoria Park to pay their respects.
“It was weird watching it online,” said Londoner Devin Hussey, referring to the Royal Canadian Legion’s decision to stream ceremonies in 2020 and 2021 amid pandemic social gathering restrictions.
“We still gathered and streamed the service and did our best to honour this day, but it was not the same. I’m here by myself because no one else from my family could come, but I said, ‘It’s the first year back, I have to be there. I couldn’t just not come.’ ”
That sentiment was echoed by many Londoners on hand, who erupted into heartfelt applause on multiple occasions during Friday’s ceremony.
The first time was when the veterans’ parade, one of the elements lost in the past two years, made its way to the cenotaph at Wellington Street and Dufferin Avenue.
But perhaps the most emotional moment of the day came when honorary veteran Tom Hennessy, 100, who was a Royal Air Force flight lieutenant during the Second World War, placed a wreath on behalf of the Royal Canadian Legion and all veterans.
Hennessy began what he called his Walk of Gratitude after turning 100 on May 31 to raise money for homeless vets. Covering a short distance each time, he completed the final leg of the walk at Victoria Park on Canada Day as dozens of people cheered him on.
Special recognition was offered to those veterans who died during the last two years and couldn’t be honoured in person amid the pandemic. A wreath in their honour was laid by federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who was in London for the day and unable to get to a remembrance ceremony in his B.C. riding in time after a trip to Germany.
“It was an incredible honour,” he said after the ceremony. “It really means a lot because it represents all those folks that couldn’t come together and be honoured together.
“For a lot of people who lost family during the pandemic, the grief is even more difficult because people couldn’t be present with their loved one. The loss on top of the isolation was really difficult,” Singh added.
Before the ceremony, a wreath was also placed in honour of the Queen, who died in September after a 70-year reign and trained as an army truck driver and mechanic during the Second World War, when she was still Princess Elizabeth.
Randy Warden, who chairs the London Remembrance Day organizing committee, said he was humbled by Friday’s strong turnout.
“It was absolutely extraordinary to see the public out in full support of our veterans,” he said. “It’s been a tough couple of years, and it was nice to hold a full ceremony with a parade once again.”
Though an official attendance number hadn’t been released early Friday afternoon, Warden said he was pleased by the turnout.
“Just by walking amongst the crowd, it exceeded my expectation,” he said.
London sticking with a COVID-cautious small Remembrance Day ceremony.
Serena Marotta, London Free Press
26 October 2021
No parade, no march to the cenotaph, no choir or aircraft fly-over.
Invitation only, again.
London's Remembrance Day ceremony on Nov. 11 will look a lot like last years - spartan, socially distanced and smaller than usual, even though most Londoners now have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Organizers are sticking to the cautious approach, as they did when last year's stripped-down ceremony - held amid the pandemic's third wave - unfolded.
"My hopes would have been that things would have returned to normal by now, with a Remembrance Day parade and ceremony, as we have had in previous years," Randy Warden, the London-area zone commander for the Royal Canadian Legion and chair of the local Remembrance Day organizing committee, said Monday.
But with the age and vulnerability of veterans involved, Warden said now is not the time to let down the guard on safety precautions.
"This is not the event to test the boundaries," said Warden, whose committee expects to release its full plans Thursday when the Legion pins the first poppy of the Remembrance Day campaign on the mayor.
Typically on Nov, 11, London's cenotaph ceremony at Victoria Park would involve hundreds of participants and draw thousands of Londoners.
Last year, in sharp contrast, only 25 people were invited.
The biggest change this year, Warden said, is an increase in the number of people invited, with more than 100 military, RCMP, veterans and dignitaries.
"When the veterans and military form up, they will be socially distanced, they'll be open order and they will be double-arm distance apart," said Warden. "We will be masked. We are doing all the precautionary things that you would expect during these times."
Victoria Park [cenotaph area] will be closed to the public during the ceremony, but individuals and veterans' groups may lay a wreath on Nov. 10 from noon to 8 p.m, and on the early morning of Remembrance Day.
Warden is optimistic some of the 105 veterans who live at Parkwood Institute in London will be among those attending.
"It's very important to them to be together... and they've shared very strongly that they want to be together," said Heather Tales, director of the veteran's care program at Parkwood. The average age of Parkwood veterans is 94.
While as many as 40 to 60 veterans typically bus in from Parkwood to watch the cenotaph ceremony, last year COVID-19 restrictions kept them at the hospital.
Parkwood holds its own Remembrance Day service at 2 p.m, but Tales said it's important to its veterans that they be able to take part in the city ceremony as well.
Warden said he hopes the move to include Parkwood veterans goes off as planned.
"Speaking as a veteran, I was heartbroken that the numbers were so limited we could not include them last year," he said.
Special Presentation to Mayor Ed Holder
“One the 100th anniversary of the Poppy as Canada’s symbol of remembrance, DeAndre Holder (7), a grade 3 student at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Elementary School, presented London Mayor Ed Holder with the Legion’s Poppy100 pin. In return, the Mayor presented DeAndre with a City of London pin. The two spent some time together and talked about the importance of the Poppy and of Remembrance.”
Lambeth Lions Poppy Program
As you may be aware 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the Remembrance Poppy in Canada. Inspired by John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" the Poppy was adopted as the flower of remembrance and as a way to raise money for Veterans' needs.
The Lions Club of Lambeth hopes to raise $50,000 for the Royal Canadian Legion Poppy Trust Fund. The GCC executive would like members to consider supporting this noble initiative. Details about the program are available at the link below.
https://www.lambethlions.com/poppy-program.html
MEDIA RELEASE 26 MARCH 2021
Royal Canadian Legion, Ontario Command, Zone A6
Media Announcement, 2PM, 26 March 2021
(Held at Veterans Gardens, Victoria Park, London ON)
Good afternoon everyone,
Thank you for attending today’s important announcement. I am joined by Mayor Ed Holder and Zone A6 Poppy Chairperson, Mr. Ross Seip. My name is Randy Warden.
With 250,000 members, The Royal Canadian Legion is Canada’s largest Veteran support and community service organization. Zone A6 includes all four branches of the Legion within the City of London and Dorchester’s Donnybrook Branch. Locally, the Legion is home for 1,700 members, approximately one third are serving members of the RCMP or Canadian Forces, or Military Veterans.
The Royal Canadian Legion cares for all those who have served our nation. As members, we show our thanks by supporting and advocating for Veterans, by remembering their sacrifices, and by continuing the tradition of service in helping our communities.
The Poppy was introduced to Canada and the Commonwealth by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae of Guelph, Ontario, a Canadian Medical Officer during the First World War. John McCrae penned the Poem “In Flanders Fields” on a scrap of paper in May, 1915 on the day following the death of a fellow soldier. Little did he know then that those 13 lines would become enshrined in the hearts and minds of all who would wear them.
From the last Friday in October to Remembrance Day, millions of Canadians wear a Poppy as a visual pledge to never forget those who sacrificed for our freedom.
The Poppy Campaign is very much a local initiative, conducted by Legion Branches in cities, towns and communities across the country. Donations collected during the Poppy Campaign are held in Trust at the branch level to directly support Veterans and their families within their community and to help ensure Canadians ‘never forget’.
In 2019, local branches raised $220,000.00 in Poppy donations, with this in mind, and with fundraising challenges realized due to the Covid pandemic, our hope was to match donations of the previous year.
Albeit the Legion has fallen short of our objective, I am pleased to report the Donnybrook, Vimy, Lambeth, Byron Springbank and Victory branches have cumulatively raised $195,000.00 in Poppy donations. This represents 88% of our fundraising target.
The Legion is appreciative for the generosity of Londoners and for the volunteer support of numerous local Community and Veteran organizations throughout our campaign. Thank you.
These donations directly address emergency needs for Veterans and their dependents, medical equipment and research for local hospitals including the Parkwood Institute, drop-in centres, meals-on-wheels and transportation services for Veterans, refurbishing of housing accommodation and care facilities for Veterans in destitute circumstances, and programs in support of wounded warriors and homeless Veterans.
The need remains and for continued financial support. Donations to the Poppy Fund are welcome anytime throughout the year. To make a donation in support of the Poppy Fund, please contact your local branch of the Legion.
Contact information for each of our local Legions can be found at www.SupportVeterans.ca
Thank you for your continued support.
Lest we forget.
