People from 100 Mile House and the surrounding areas gathered at the 100 Mile Community Hall to honour this year’s Remembrance Day, which also mark’s the 100th Anniversary of the end of the First World War.
“It was great. [A] really great ceremony this year,” said Scott Rathy, the past president of the 100 Mile House Royal Canadian Legion branch. “This is a milestone being that it’s the 100th anniversary since the end of the First World War so that makes it big but every day should be Remembrance Day for those who have given their lives for our freedoms.”
In attendance was James “Jim” Milliken, a 97-year-old Royal Canadian Navy veteran who served on the HMCS Skeena, protecting convoy routes from Nazi German U-boats during The Second World War in the Atlantic.
The HMCS Skeena was a River-class destroyer and was involved in several rescues in the North Atlantic during its service in World War, including 65 survivors from the British Merchant ship Manipur after it was sunk by U-57, a German U-boat, off Cape Wrath, near the Durness, Scotland.
It was involved in the rescue of crew members from the British merchant ship, Thornlea and the Norwegian merchant ships of Bruce and Salonica.
The ship also destroyed the U-588 with a depth charge on July 31, 1942.
However, the ship did not survive the war after it was caught in a storm off of the coast of Reykjavik in Iceland, losing 15 crew members.
Milliken, who worked on the ship as a submarine detector, enlisted in 1939 and served until 1946, a year after Germany surrendered.
“Lets put it this way, in 1939 when the war was declared that meant I had a place for a bed to sleep, I got three meals a day and I got paid,” said Milliken on why he enlisted with a laugh.
Pte. Richard Clark-McKay of the Canadian Rangers, served with the Navy for 30 years and was deployed in Kuwait, the Persian Gulf and Korea.
“It’s a very important day to remember the veterans and the people who actually served Canada,” he said. “It’s a very memorable day in our history so we don’t forget them.”
Clark-McKay has been with the Canadian Rangers for the little over a year.
Fellow Canadian Ranger, Pte. Wayne Laughren added that it is a very important emotional day and said he was thankful for the people who sacrificed their lives and those who are still serving.
MLA Donna Barnett gave a speech at the ceremony.
“I have not sacrificed anything for my career. It was given to me by the many who came before me, willing to give their lives for me so it is my responsibility to never forget and never take it for granted,” she said. “They died so that we could live a fulfilled life with opportunity, receive the benefits of education, employment and prosperity without fear.”
