About 300 people gathered at a cenotaph in New Ross, N.S., on Wednesday for a Remembrance Day ceremony that honoured generations of military service and included an additional minute of silence for four soldiers killed during training in Alberta.

Royal Canadian Legion Branch 79 hosted the gathering around what is considered Nova Scotia’s oldest cenotaph, according to reporting by Global News’ Rebecca Lau and Ella Macdonald. Community members laid wreaths and observed a moment of silence at 11 a.m.

Master of ceremonies Keith Carter then asked attendees to remain silent for another minute in memory of the four soldiers killed during a training exercise at CFB Wainwright on Oct. 17.

Carter said the tribute recognized the sacrifices Canadian Forces members make every day, including while training on Canadian soil to carry out duties overseas.

The New Ross monument’s history reaches back more than a century. Its base stones were placed at the village crossroads in 1917, and the original monument honoured soldiers who served in the First World War. Later additions recognized Second World War veterans.

Ron Langevin, the branch’s services officer, told Global News the cenotaph once stood in a roundabout at the centre of the community, where vehicles struck it several times.

When residents proposed moving it, Second World War veterans disagreed with the plan, Langevin said. He recounted how a group of veterans used a bulldozer and a chain in the middle of the night to drag the monument to the Legion, which has cared for it since.

Langevin described military service as deeply rooted in New Ross, pointing to the community’s founding by Captain Ross and its connections to conflicts including the Boer War.

Reflecting on Remembrance Day, he said his thoughts extend beyond the fallen to those still serving and the families left behind.

“So I try to take it all in,” he said.

Sources