A special remembrance service to honour Afghanistan veterans and hosted by the War Pensioners of Canada (WPC) was held at the Cooperative Funeral Home on Lasalle Boulevard in Sudbury Tuesday.
The event was to officially surrender the colours (flags) of the Sudbury branch to the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, since local WPC membership has declined significantly. The event also paid tribute to the Canadian Forces members who died, or were wounded or who served in the Afghanistan mission.
A wreath-laying ceremony was performed at the memorial standing outside the funeral home. Claudette Roberge, mother of deceased Warrant Officer Gaetan Roberge, took part in the wreath-laying. She was joined by Irish Regiment soldier Cpl. Bill Kerr, an Afghanistan veteran.
As Sudbury piper Derek Young played a lament, the names of the Afghanistan war dead were read aloud by Sudbury MP Viviane Lapointe and Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Carol Hughes. It was a solemn event.
The ceremony also featured a rifle salute by members of the Charles C. Golden ‘Silver Star’ ceremonial rifle team. Three volleys were fired.
The formal Act of Remembrance was recited by War Pensioners Sudbury branch president Colin Pick in tribute to the dead.
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
"Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
"At the going down of the sun and in the morning
"We will remember them."
"We will remember them," the crowd responded.
