Each Remembrance Day Vivian McNeil of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 159 in Williams Lake thinks about her own dad.
Charlie Buchanan, her father, was in the services during the Second World War and was away from his family for three years.
“He was in the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. He was in Sicily, Italy, Holland and Germany,” she said.
While stationed on Vancouver Island, Buchanan was sent to Toronto because they were going to ship him overseas but when a Japanese submarine fired on Estevan Point Lighthouse on Vancouver Island on June 20, 1942, Buchanan and some others were sent back to Vancouver Island.
“I was four years old when he came home. I remember us meeting him at the train station in New Westminster.”
She recalled the time of war was “scary” and also does remember being intrigued by ration tickets.
This year McNeil was honoured for being a member of the legion for 50 years.
She is organizing this year’s Remembrance Day ceremony, taking place Saturday, Nov. 11, and encouraged everyone to attend.
“Come and show your respect for the people that saved this country and the world,” she said. “It is all about remembering the veterans. That is what the legion is all about.”
The ceremony will begin in the Gibraltar Room in the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex at 9:30 a.m.
From there everyone will march to the cenotaph outside city hall, arriving by 10:50 a.m.
At the cenotaph there will be two minutes of silence, recitation of a poem for the fallen and laying of the wreaths.
Following that, the Colour Party and anyone else who wants to participate, will march to the legion where another wreath will be placed at the cairn outside of the building.
“That was the first cenotaph,” McNeil said of the cairn at the legion. “It was moved to the legion when the new one was made.”
At noon, Save-on-Foods will be serving a beef dip at the legion and everyone is welcome, she said, adding there will be entertainment as well.
