As veterans and legion officials marched to the cenotaph Monday at Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital, an appreciative crowd was there to applaud.
Gord Taylor remembers that experience, but the 96-year-old Second World War veteran opted for the warmth of the hospital lobby this year. Instead, his son, Barry, marched on his behalf.
Still, as Taylor watched the Remembrance Day ceremony from the window, it brought back memories — “all kinds of memories,” he said.
Taylor joined the reserves as a teenager in Toronto. Before moving here in 1952, he served with the 1st Canadian Radar Battery, having landed in England in 1941. He spent two years in Dover, in an area known as “Hell Fire Corner” for the heavy shelling from German forces.
His memories aren’t entirely of the harrowing experiences, however; he also met his wife, in Hastings, who was serving in the British Army and they had four daughters and a son.
“They were all very proud of their dad and mom,” Taylor’s daughter-in-law, Debbie Taylor, said of Barry, Sue, Janice, Lynn and the late Anne.
After Monday’s ceremony, Taylor was asked what he hoped those in attendance — particularly the younger generations — took away from it.
“Peace,” he replied, “and the seriousness of what they’ve not experienced over the years. Now they know.”
Hundreds of people showed up for the annual ceremony, standing in the snow in silence as prayers were said and the bugle played. Nearby construction workers paused for the duration of the event, which included the laying of dozens of wreaths on behalf of various organizations.
Officials paraded to the legion for fellowship following the ceremony.
