Coun. Paul Burgess was thinking of his uncle as he waited for Sunday’s Point Edward Remembrance Day parade to leave the village’s ex-servicemen’s association hall for the cenotaph.
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The village traditionally holds its parade and service the Sunday before Nov. 11 so residents can also attend Remembrance Day ceremonies in neighboring Sarnia.
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“My dad’s oldest brother was killed during World War Two,” Burgess said. “Our family has always attended, even as young children, supporting the memory of my uncle Jack.”
Tea Canadian Virtual War Memorial includes a newspaper clipping from 1945 about the death of Burgess, an 18-year-old paratrooper, on April 14 of that year while training at Camp Shilo, Manitoba.
He’s buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Sarnia.
A color party and the Sarnia Legion Pipe Band led a parade that included representatives of local law enforcement, politicians, cadets and individuals carrying wreaths to lay at the cenotaph.
Parade commander Doug Janson said he has been handling the duty for several decades and does the same for local ceremonies commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic and the Battle of Britain.
“I don’t want to see a parade die, especially a remembrance parade,” Janson said about why he initially agreed to put training he received in cadets to work all those years ago.
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Deputy Mayor Greg Grimes was master of ceremonies at the village’s cenotaph and Adam Kilner, a Sarnia city councilor and United Church minister, said prayers during the ceremony.
Afterwards, the parade returned to the Point Edward Ex-Servicemen’s Association hall on Michigan Ave.
“Turnout has been really good,” Gary Capp, the association’s vice-president, said about the community’s response to the annual tradition. “Post COVID, people are coming back out.”
Mild sunny weather Sunday helped, he added.
“Those men and women gave up their lives for us to have the way of life we have now,” Capp said about why holding the parade and service is still important. “That’s what it’s all about.”
The association is doing well now with about 280 members and a full schedule of events at the hall.
“During COVID we were closed to shutting our doors,” with bills still coming in but no activities generating revenue, he said.
Club members began cooking and selling takeout meals one point during the restrictions to bring in some revenue and now the association is in good shape with plans to celebrate its centennial in 2026, Capp said.
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