Both of my parents served in the RCAF during the Second World War, so attending Legion services on Remembrance Day has always been a part of my life.

My father joined the Ellerslie Legion Branch #22 right after the war, but women weren’t allowed to join at that time, so my mother didn’t immediately become a member. In the 1980s, the Legion helped her get the disability pension she should have received after the war for hearing loss she suffered during her service, so she must have finally joined in 1991 as she was presented with her 30-year membership pin at today’s Remembrance Day luncheon.

My mother was recently in the hospital for a couple of weeks with pneumonia, a serious condition at 99, so it was heartening that she was able to rally today. She has always been a very social person, happy and upbeat, so people were thrilled to see and speak with her, and it greatly helped her recuperation. For many there today, she’s a link to their own long-gone parents and grandparents, a walking, talking time capsule. I heard one woman, who has to be in her late sixties now, reminiscing about buying candy at my parent’s general store when she was a child, glowing with the memory of those visits.

It was a lovely afternoon with old friends and extended family, everyone glad to gather again to remember.