Remembrance ceremonies at Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

The weather co-operated for outdoor ceremonies across Southern Ontario Tuesday as millions of Canadians gathered this Remembrance Day to honour the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice as well as to thank those who continue to wear a uniform.

A ceremony was held at the National War Memorial in Ottawa — and there were several across our region. In Hamilton there was a specific focus on the death of Corporal Nathan Cirillo which is still on the minds of so many.

Thousands of people paid tribute at Hamilton city hall and at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum.

Trevor Meldrum: “They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old, age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.”

Trevor Meldrum was just 17-years old when he enlisted in the air force. He was a wireless air gunner in WWII. He remembers two buddies who did not grow old: “I lost Gerry over the bay. He was a liberator, an air gunner. His plane went down and they never found him or his crew. Tom was shot down over England, lost the whole crew.”

The service included a special tribute to the Lancaster bomber crews.

They flew thousands of dangerous missions in World War Two. Many of them did not make it home, and those who did have harrowing tales of survival.

Bob Middleton, Lancaster bomber crewman: “One of the scariest things was being coned. The Germans had what they call a master search light, if they got on you, about 20 or 30 other search lights would all come up on you and then they would call in the night fighters to shoot you down.”

Middleton says his plane was coned twice but they out manoeuvred the guns by flying the corkscrew.”

A WWII Dakota flew over head marking an end to the moment of silence.

Remembrance Day ceremonies this year mark two significant historical milestones: 100 years since the start of the First World War and 75 years since the start of the Second World War.

Canada lost almost 100,000 soldiers in those two conflicts. Freedom is never free. a lesson not lost on students at today’s service.

Gillian Davies, student: ‘It just made you think of how proud you are to be Canadian and it also made me think about how much they sacrificed.”

Kylie Lambert, student: “I’m proud to be Canadian and I loved the service here and I want to thank all the vets.”

And after the service, they got a chance to thank them in person.

The Warplane Heritage ceremony is the second largest in the country and today it was standing room only.

Looking at the kids faces, you could really see they were listening, paying attention, not just thinking of it as a few hours off school. .

The recent deaths of Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Corporal Nathan Cirillo were on the minds of people today, and brought home the dangers of war for kids who until then hadn’t really been touched by it.