Go back a few years, and you could find folks around here who were concerned that Remembrance Day was being forgotten.
Ceremonies in Langley City and Aldergrove, hosted by the Royal Canadian Legion branches, were still reasonably well attended.
But there were fears that those crowds weren’t growing, that the faces in the crowds were getting older, along with the bulk of the veterans.
As the Second World War and Korean War slipped further into memory, as the last of the First World War veterans passed away around the turn of the century, would Canadians continue to remember?
This Sunday’s Remembrance Day events in Langley have shown a trend that has long been building. More and more people, families and those never touched directly by war, are taking active part in the annual ceremonies.
Our community has revitalized ceremonies at first Fort Langley and now the Murrayville cenotaph, bringing to four the number of events within the Langleys.
Perhaps it started when Canadian soldiers were deployed to Afghanistan, for what proved a lengthy war.
The centennials of the start of the First World War and of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, and this year of the war’s end, also brought the events to people’s minds.
Whatever the reason, it is good to see an annual celebration of remembrance. Thousands of people came out in person this year to remember sacrifices of the past, and to renew our hope that wars will not scar future generations.
– M.C.
