On Sept. 23, the Todmorden Legion held its third annual Heroes of Suicide march and vigil. In past years, the event was held to honour soldiers who died of suicide, but this year, it was expanded to honour first responders as well.
After six years of intensive research, veteran Canadian journalist and author, Ellin Bessner, hosts the first discussion about her new book Double Threat at the Todmorden branch of the Royal Canadian Legion on April 21.
Centennial College honoured Jewish-Canadian veterans on Nov. 10 in an intimate ceremony at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall on Pape Avenue.
Cathy Andrews volunteers at the Royal Canadian Legion in part as tribute to her grandfather. She said Wilfred Edwin Andrews was a quiet man who served as an acting lance corporal during the period the Great War.
He served with the 169th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. His granddaughter, ladies auxiliary president, honours his memory.
When was 18 and in the Canadian Armed Forces, Ron Raby remembered going sleepless for days while stationed in the town of Soest, West Germany. It was 1953, during the Cold War.
“We had to sleep in tents, in weather below 45 degrees,” Raby said.
Morris Polansky worries that Canadians don’t understand the relevance of Remembrance Day.
“I spend a lot of time with the Legion, and we spend a lot of time delivering great bags of poppies to schools,” Polansky said.
Polansky, 95, is a Jewish-Canadian war veteran, who works with the Royal Canadian Legion to distribute poppies to different Toronto schools and subway stations. He is the vice-president of General Wingate Legion, Branch 256, the only Jewish-based branch in the organization.
Janet Davis has discovered new importance in the annual Remembrance Day, in personal wartime correspondence she inherited.
“I found all the letters that my father and brother wrote to my mother during the war,” Davis said. “They talked about not being sure what was going to happen next.”
The man after whom James LeRoy is named, was wounded in the last month of the Great War.
“He was in a lot of pain,” LeRoy said of his grandfather.
James A. LeRoy, an 18-year-old from a farm near Belleville, Ont., served and was wounded in the second battle of Cambrai, in France, in October 1918.
“He had never experienced … combat and the life in a trench wasn’t easy,” his grandson added.
James LeRoy Jr. serves as chaplain with the Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 11, in East York, where members staged a parade and remembrance service on Nov. 6.
Paul Scully remembers his first day on active duty in the military. “Your knees shake; your hands shake; your adrenaline pumps; your heart’s pounding,” he said.
It was 1939 and Canada had declared war. Minoru Yatabe remembers Latin class at that moment. His teacher, Ms. Crawford, gathered the boys in her class. She explained she would be forced to return to Glasgow, Scotland, to take care of her elderly parents.
“I know many of you boys are going to come overseas in uniform,” she had said, “so if you ever get to Glasgow, come and see me.”