The cenotaph at Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital was surrounded by community members, local dignitaries, military veterans, and their families Friday morning.
The 101st annual Remembrance Day service was an emotional event for many.
Bill Stark, a 23-year veteran with the 48th Highlanders of Canada, with a tear in his eye, told OrilliaMatters Remembrance Day is the most important day of the year for him.
Stark, 88, a lieutenant-colonel, served from 1956 to 1978. Many of his soldiers served in Bosnia and Croatia, but they didn’t have deployments for senior officers at that time, he explained.
For Stark, Remembrance Day is about being thankful for freedom.
“Just think about where the world would be if it weren’t for the thousands of lives that were laid down and given up,” Stark said. “In 2017, I visited the World War 1 cemeteries in Europe, and it was the most emotional trip I’ve taken.”
Stark, an Orillia resident for the past 40 years, was 11 years old and living in Toronto when the Second World War ended.
“I remember the hardships that we had,” he said. “My mother could only buy so much butter per person — the same with sandwich meat, flour, and other things.”
He also remembers when families would be ordered to turn all lights off in their homes during blackouts.
“If any lights were on, an air raid warden would come and tell us to cover up or shut the light out,” he said. “We were in a free country, and it wasn’t very likely at that time to be invaded, but we were on our toes.”
Silver Cross Father Jim Collier was on hand to remember those who did not come home — especially his son, Brian, who was killed by a bomb in Afghanistan in 2010. The Toronto-born combat engineer was 24 years old.
Collier says his son joined the military in an effort to combat terrorism following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
“It was about terrorism for him,” he said. “He didn’t like bullies, no matter what.”
On Remembrance Day, Collier thinks about his son’s trademark valediction.
“I know what he would say, which he always said. After a phone call, he would say, ‘Love you all. Peace,’” he recalled.
While fighting back tears, Collier says his son served “for the right reasons.”
Mayor Steve Clarke says Remembrance Day is a day of reflection for him.
“It’s a day to celebrate those who paid the ultimate sacrifice and all the other sacrifices made by those who were a little more fortunate and made it through,” he said. “I appreciate what we have as a result of that.”
He says seeing hundreds of people at the cenotaph Friday morning says a lot about the community.
“Every single Remembrance Day, the turnout is fantastic,” he said. “Orillia has a deep and storied history with the involvement of conflicts overseas, and Orillans are still participating in their own way.”
