As local veterans and legion members gathered on Speid Street, preparing to lead the Remembrance Day Parade around the corner to the cenotaph beside town hall, the BCS marching band could be heard in the background running warm-up scales.
Flags were unfurled. The Sherbrooke Hussars and cadets adjusted their berets and did last minute uniform touch-ups.
The cubs, scouts and guides waited patiently, bundled up in multiple layers to stay warm, to round out the parade.
As the men and women assembled, someone from the crowd called out, “Just keep your eye on the piper’s left foot,” in order to keep time.
Hundreds withstood the wind chill to surround the cenotaph, hold two minutes of silence and remember.
Last year’s ceremony was held in the wake of the attack on Parliament Hill on Oct. 22, where Corporal Nathan Carillo was shot while on honourary guard at the National War Memorial. An increased police presence was noted.
Year after year, the number of surviving veterans decreases.
The rows of chairs in front of the cenotaph were empty with the exception of Second World War veteran Grant Taylor, his wife Mayotta Winslow, and a young woman assisting the couple.
The term “Lest We Forget” grows in significance as the visual reminders disappear.
The poem In Flanders Fields was read.
Fallen soldiers from our area were named.
Wreathes were laid at the base of the cenotaph in memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend the freedoms we enjoy today.
— More pictures of the parade and ceremony have been posted in the Photo Gallery section below.
