Remembrance Day Flinton

As if on cue, the weather turned cloudy and cooler on Sunday, November 8, just in time for the “early” Remembrance Day ceremonies in Denbigh and Flinton, which took place at 11am and 2pm, respectively.

In addition to a colour party and support from a Kingston Cadet Troop, The Arden Legion, a Colour Party and the Rev. Fr. Paul Nnamdi Njoku from St. John The Evangelist Church in Flinton, and local politicians, Hastings Lennox and Addington MP Shelby Kramp-Neuman attended the ceremony.

She took the unusual step of addressing the crowd at the end of the ceremony. Her address was focussed on acknowledging and marking the deaths of Canadian Service personnel in a tragic fire at the Canadian Armed Forces base in Wainwright Alberta, last month. She also delivered a non-partisan political message for the times, by saying that the bonds between nations that fought together with Canada in the two World Wars and beyond, are very real, and the shared connections between armed forces members and the nations as a whole, remain valuable and important in the current context.

It was a reminder, both of the challenges facing western nations that were not at the forefront even a few years ago, and of the growing consensus among Canadian politicians of all stripes, and the public at large, that we need to pay attention to all of our established alliances to make sure we can remain a strong, independent country.

The wreath laying ceremony featured many local organisations and some families seeking to honour family members who served in the military. Among the families laying wreaths were the Wood family.

They laid a wreath in honour of the late Gordon, who served in WWII and was one of the soldiers who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. His family gathered after the ceremony for a picture under his banner, one of many that were put up in various Addington Highlands and North Frontenac communities, by the Land-O-Lakes Lions Club