Books photos about executed POWS June 1944

Hello Crewman,

Welcome aboard, as I see you just registered in MLU , and thanks a lot for posting this information. This forum is amazing in how everyone helps each other. Everyone in here, as you'll see if you read through many of my posts about my Uncle and others/other things, have been very very patient with my own ignorance and have been quick to give me answers (and give me trouble too )

The book you mention is not in the bookshelf at home here, but maybe I'll come across it somewhere ... guess I should see about getting a library card in this city too

Thanks again,

Karmen (aka MA YAPPY or MA )

[Crewman]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Hello Crewman,
Welcome aboard, as I see you just registered in MLU

Thank you very much for warm words of welcoming. I hope both me and the MLU Forum will be useful for ourselves.

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
This forum is amazing in how everyone helps each other.

Yes, I can see, that is why I landed over here.

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
Everyone in here, as you'll see if you read through many of my posts about my Uncle and others/other things, have been very very patient with my own ignorance...

I hope that forum members will be similarly patient towards my English.

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
The book you mention is not in the bookshelf at home here, but maybe I'll come across it somewhere ... guess I should see about getting a library card in this city too

The book is available online. I do not remember now where I bought it but it had to be either amazon.com or one of the Canadian online bookshops, maybe my favourite one the Capricorn Books. I recommed you this book. Tony Foster, the same as his father, is not typical and widely met person. By the way he is very nice and friendly man, I had an opportunity to correspond with him.

Best

C.

Originally posted by Crewman
Thank you very much for warm words of welcoming. I hope both me and the MLU Forum will be useful for ourselves.


Yes, I can see, that is why I landed over here.


I hope that forum members will be similarly patient towards my English.


The book is available online. I do not remember now where I bought it but it had to be either amazon.com or one of the Canadian online bookshops, maybe my favourite one the Capricorn Books. I recommed you this book. Tony Foster, the same as his father, is not typical and widely met person. By the way he is very nice and friendly man, I had an opportunity to correspond with him.

Best

C.

Hey Crewman ... I'm sorry but I just spotted your reply here, NOW, you'll have to forgive me as for being a bit distracted lately.

The forum members here will be MORE than patient towards your English ... English is not the point here ... appreciations and knowledge are. My English is the pits and I was trained in the language ... well... in my own unique background ways and don't come up to standard. But like you, my heart and mind are in the right place!

Welcome aboard ... again!

karmen

A new book written by Cliff Chadderton and available from the WarAmps for $10.00;

http://www.waramps.ca/military/memoir/home.html

And by the way three German Courts of Inquirey were conducted by the German Army and could find NO instance were Canadian Soldiers abbused German Soldiers.

Thanks ART for the link ... Karmen

Here is a link I just found while searching for something else ... its an interesting read-through. I guess I'm always hoping for references or even photos from some Hitlerjugends memories or albums to show up, thats from a private collection, never shared before. One can only hope. I didn't view the whole site yet, just this one page so far:

http://www.hitlerjugend.net/history.html

I just found this story dated April 13, 2005 about a film portraying MOHNKE as something he wasn't/isn't? ... K.

Roundup: History Being Talked About

Randy Boswell: : Hero of German Film Was Linked to Atrocity

Randy Boswell, in the Montreal Gazette (4-11-05):

Downfall, an Oscar-nominated German film about the last days of the Third Reich, is being condemned by historians for what they call its "sympathetic" portrayal of the Nazi general believed to have ordered the murders of dozens of Canadian prisoners during the invasion of Normandy.

Wilhelm Mohnke, who died in 2001 in Germany after failed efforts by Canadian investigators to have him tried for war crimes, was accused of committing the single worst battlefield atrocity in Canada's military history: the execution of 35 soldiers captured shortly after the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.

At least 30 more Canadian PoWs are alleged to have been killed on Mohnke's authority, including the machine-gunning of three surrendered soldiers in a case that was thoroughly documented by the Canadian War Crimes Investigation Unit in the 1940s.

Mohnke was also accused of ordering the deaths of 80 British captives in France in 1940 and 72 unarmed American soldiers in Belgium in 1944.

But in Downfall, which has been seen by 4 million Germans and is now showing at theatres throughout Britain and North America, Mohnke is cast in a heroic light, two British historians have complained.

"Most astonishingly, Waffen-SS General Wilhelm Mohnke is depicted as a humanitarian pleading with Hitler to evacuate civilians and arguing with (Joseph) Goebbels against the suicidal deployment of poorly armed militia against the Red Army," University of London professors David Cesarani and Peter Longerich argue in an article published in The Guardian newspaper.

"This is the same Mohnke whose Waffen-SS unit massacred 80 captured British soldiers outside Dunkirk in May 1940. He later led a Waffen-SS regiment in Normandy that murdered more than 60 surrendered Canadian troops."

Downfall's director, Oliver Hirschbiegel, has responded that Mohnke's alleged crimes were never proved and that the characters and events in the film were scrupulously researched and based on scholarly accounts of the Nazi regime as it was imploding at the war's end.

Posted by Editor on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 at 1:53 AM

Hi ... here I am STILL trying to pick out my Uncle Ed's face from the Royal Winnipeg Rifle's group photo. All along, I keep coming back to one face as a possibility ... but what do you folks think? I'll post the RWR segment and my uncle's photo

Look at the:

BACK ROW ... FIRST soldier on the LEFT

Here is my Uncle's "Missing in Action" photo that was in the Winnipeg Free Press:

I'm so SURE that that's him, but I need to verify this somehow..... and the soldier also does have a striking resemblance to Ed's sister "Anne"'s sons, especially one in particular. (Aunty Annie was the sister who was married to Rifleman Phillip Genaille who fell on Juno Beach ... the sons I speak of are from her 2nd marriage)

Maybe I'll also send both photos to Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum and ask them if they already have a name for that soldier I think is Uncle Eddie. If they do ... then I'm wrong of course. If they don't have a name for the soldier, then it may well be Eddie.

Meanwhile ... am interested in hearing from any of you if you think it could be him by comparing Ed's photo against the Soldier.

Thanks a lot,

Karmen

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

Karmen,
Believe it or not,I was watching the program a 4:00PM today on Newsworld called "Strictly Canadian"about the veterans.and briefly,they show the gravestone on a Canadian soldier,I did a doubletake when I saw the name'E.D.Smith"Too bad I wasn't taping the series at the time.It may be on later tonite.Is this your uncle??
Garry

Originally posted by Garry Shipton
Karmen,
Believe it or not,I was watching the program a 4:00PM today on Newsworld called "Strictly Canadian"about the veterans.and briefly,they show the gravestone on a Canadian soldier,I did a doubletake when I saw the name'E.D.Smith"Too bad I wasn't taping the series at the time.It may be on later tonite.Is this your uncle??
Garry

Hi Garry,

My Uncle(s) would be so awed if he (they) could only know that you and other people here now know and care about his existance, story, and sacrifices ... and appreciate him enough to notice his name. It still blows me away how much people care.

Regards the E.D. SMITH headstone ... thank you so much Garry, but my Uncle was "E. SMITH" on his headstone (no "D." in his name ... he had no middle name)

Karmen

Hello Everyone ...

You all probably are aware that I accompanied our own Master Sunray Geoff to Ottawa for the VE Day Events ... and visited where the people and vehicles were camped out ... I was stunned and happy to bump into Don Zorniak, the man from Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum in Winnipeg who helped me much ... he was one to tell and confirm for me that my Uncle Eddie was executed, and where and how it happened, a couple or so years ago.

Don was there in WW2 dress ... PerthRegimental dress... but for the parade he wore Royal Winnipeg Rifles dress and I told him that i would be thinking of him as being my Uncle for the parade... just because it made me feel good to imagine that.

Don will be playing with the photo, cropping the soldier that I (and Mark Tonner) believe is Uncle Eddie, and trying to get "more sure" that its actually him... (though by now I'm SO convinced it's him as one of the faces that first twigged my memories)

I also hope to get some more names for some of the other soldiers in that photo. Remember, it was a group photo taken June 1943 in England of C Company RWR's.

Well ... very tired now... but wanted to say something about bumping into Don Zorniak ... that was really something for me! Small world!

Karmen

PS:

Well ... I gotta make another comment here about something that upsets me lots since I started this research, about ALL of our fallen soldiers, no matter how they sacrificed their lives ... They NEVER got to experience the fact that their actions and sacrifices won the war and liberated ... and SAVED so MANY others ... this is just SO sad to me. I hope that somehow they know ...

Their VE DAY ... they couldn't be there and part of that knowing they'd done it!

Karmen

... I still have a bee in my bonnet about this Greek Battalion business

- 25 Feb 1943 - Taken on Strength of 2nd Greek
Battalion - in UK

WHAT the heck was this GREEK BATTALION all about????????? Please? I'm sure I've asked before but still don't recall any clear answers. Could just be that the "clear answer" didn't sink into my wee bittie unclear lwee bittie grey cells?

By the way Mark ... reading, again, through your written up list of Uncle Eddie's service record, I AGAIN enjoy how simply and chronologically you've written it up. Not bad for someone who turned into a grandpa not long after the writing of it

Karmen

[Mark W. Tonner]

Originally posted by Vets Dottir
WHAT the heck was this GREEK BATTALION all about????????? Please? I'm sure I've asked before but still don't recall any clear answers. Could just be that the "clear answer" didn't sink into my wee bittie unclear lwee bittie grey cells?

Good question Karmen, one thing it wasn't was the 2nd Greek Infantry Battalion, they were formed in June 1941 in Palestine and remained in the Middle East until disbanded in April 1944 after they had mutinied.

I can find no reference to this '2nd Greek Battalion' in the UK in 1943. The only thing I can think of, is that, this Battalion may have been a 'Training Battalion' of some sort which was made up of Greek Nationals who had either been living in the UK or made their way there after the fall of Greece in 1941 and were being trained in the UK prior to being shipped to the Middle East as reinforcements for the 'Royal Greek Armed Forces of the Middle East', who had been formed after the fall of Greece in 1941.

Thats about all I can say about this 'GREEK BATTALION'.

Cheers

Originally posted by Mark W. Tonner
Good question Karmen, one thing it wasn't was the 2nd Greek Infantry Battalion, they were formed in June 1941 in Palestine and remained in the Middle East until disbanded in April 1944 after they had mutinied.
Cheers

Mutinied ... wow... now there's another story, hey?

Thanks a lot Mark. This whole mention of this GREEK BATTALION just seemed SO remarkable to me ... your guesses about what they we're doing there are probably right ... can't think of anything else that logical as an answer, but I say that as someone who doesn't know much history still :



Karmen

PS: Whatever the reasons this Greek Battalion was there, Uncle Eddie was there from 25 Feb 1943 to 18 march 1943. That's almost a month.

- 25 Feb 1943 - Taken on Strength of 2nd Greek
Battalion - in UK

- 17 Mar 1943 - Taken on Strength of 2nd Canadian
Infantry Reinforcement Unit - in UK

- 18 Mar 1943 - Stricken off Strength of 2nd
Greek Battalion

I'm going to keep searching on this, as I'm curious

Karmen

Hello Everyone,

Well, another D-Day Anniversary today ... Normandy The whole war covered a lot more than Normandy, I know, but I'll always think of two of my uncles in particular and of all these other men now, when D-Day Anniversaries roll round once again. With my research, I especially remember the executed POWS, and just want to bring their names up to the front again, special for today... Lest We Forget

Karmen

Originally posted by Vets_Dottir
Hi Everyone. I've checked several times for possible spelling errors and to make sure I missed no mans name. If anyone spots any errors...please let me know asap so I can edit/fix it `yesterday'. Thank you...Carman


_---------------------------------------

FROM the BOOK:
`Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the Murder
of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy.
BY: Howard Margolian
Copyright: University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1998.



Adams, William C.
Anderson, H. E.
Angel, Harold S.
Arsenault, Joseph F.
Arsenault, Joseph R.
Bailey, Harold W.
Barker, Reginald D.
Baskerville, Ernest C.
Beaudoin, Oscar J.
Bebee, Charles W.
Bellefontaine, Oswald J.
Benner, George A.
Beresford, William
Birston, Hilliard J. H.
Bishoff, Emmanuel
Bolt, James E.
Booth, Walter J.
Borne, Cecil M.
Bowes, Arnold D.
Bradley, Ernest W.
Brown, George Andrew
Brown, Lorne
Brown, Walter Leslie
Bullock, Paul
Burnett, Donald J.
Campbell, John R.
Charron, Albert A.
Chartrand, Lawrence
Chartrand, Louis
Cook, Etsel J.
Cranfield, Ernest W.
Cresswell, Sidney J.
Crowe, Ivan L.
Culleton, Stewart
Daniels, Walter
Davidson, Thomas R.
Doucette, Charles
Doherty, Walter M.
Dumont, John D.
Fagnan, Anthony A.
Ferguson, William S.
Findlay, Robert M.
Firman, Roger J.
Fleet, Lambert A.
Fontaine, George
Forbes, J.
Freeman, Lant
Fuller, Austen R.
Gilbank, Ernest N.
Gill, George V.
Gold, David S.
Gosse, Silby
Grant, Thomas J. D.
Guiboche, Lawrence R.
Gurney, Robert J.
Hancock, Arthur R. H.
Hargreaves, Jeffrey D.
Harkness, Alvin J. J.
Harper, Robert J.
Harrison, Francis D.
Henry, Thomas H.
Hill, John W.
Hodge, Frederick E.
Holness, Frederick W. G.
Horton, Charles A.
Ionel, John
Izzard, William L.
Jones, Henry C.
Julian, Anthony
Keeping, Reginald
Kines, Clare D.
Kyle, James F.
Labrecque, Herve A.
Lawrence, Kenneth S.
Leclaire, Joseph A. M.
Lefort, Elmer J.
Lewis, Gordon J.
Lockhead, Roger
Louks, William D. C.
Lychowich, John L.
Macdonald, Charles J.
MacDonald, Hugh A.
MacIntyre, Joseph F.
MacKinnon, James W.
MacLeod, Angus M.
MacRae, Roderick R.
Marych, Frederick
McGinnis, William J.
McIntosh, James D.
McKeil, Hollis L.
McKinnon, William L.
McLaughlan, Thomas C.
McNaughton, George R.
Meakin, Frank V.
Meakin, George E.
Metcalfe, John
Millar, George E.
Moloney, David T.
Mont, Thomas E.
Moore, Raymond
Morin, Norman J.
Morrison, Wesley K.
Moss, James A.
Muntion, George
Murray, John B.
Mutch, Robert
Nichol, William
O’Leary, Gerard J.
Orford, Douglas S.
Ostir, Frank
Owens, Allan R.
Parisian, Percy
Perry, Clayton G.
Peterson, Alfred M.
Philip, Harold G.
Poho, William
Pollard, George G.
Povol, Ervin
Preston, Lee I.
Reid, James A.
Reynolds, Henry E.
Riggs, Cecil
Rodgers, Henry
Ryckman, Frank
Sawatsky, John
Scott, Robert
Scriven, Gilbert H.
Sigurdson, Kjartan
Silverberg, Frank
Simmons, William E.
Smith, Edward
Smith, Frederick
Smith, Richard G.
Smuck, Harry L.
Slywchuk, Steve
Sutton, Lawrence F.
Taylor, James A.
Thomas, William D.
Thompson, John A.
Tobin, Douglas V.
Vickery, Nelson J.
Webster, James S.
Willet, Gerald L.
Williams, Fred
Williams, James P.
Windsor, Thomas A. L.
and ten but known to God

LEST WE FORGET

---------------------------------------------------------

Hello Again,

Here is another post I wanted to bring to the front today ... with special mention of 3 particular soldiers were and are very close to some of our particular members hearts, who have been part of this thread and story.

Karmen

Originally posted by Mark W. Tonner
Sixty years ago this evening, those here in Canada with loved ones serving overseas, had no idea that many of their loved ones serving in the R.C.N., or the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, or the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade, or the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, or in the R.C.A.F., were approaching the coast of Normandy, or had already landed in Normandy, or were engaged in the skies over Normandy, in what was to become the beginning of the Liberation of North West Europe.

Some of those serving would not see the end of what they were about to embark on, while still others, to this day, carry the scars, both physically and emotionally of what they were about to embark on.

This thread was started by one among us here today, who simply wanted to know the story, of one of those, who Sixty years ago this evening, was about to take part in the beginning of that Liberation.

May they and their deeds never be forgotten.

Corporal R.E. Spencer
Rifleman E. Smith
Rifleman H.W. Tonner

Royal Winnipeg Rifles
Hosti Acie Nominati
June 1944

[Wolfkin]

Hello!

Reading through this thread made we want to comment on the great achievement that all of you involved have accomplished. It was really great to see how everyone got together to solve a mystery. Good job everyone!

Cheers,

Jon Fitzgerald
Calgary,AB,Canada

[fieldboy]

hey karmen,

i was jsut reading the other posts about archie and william viznaugh because they are my grandmas uncles. my grandmas mother was a sister to them. i was just wondering if any more information was possible on them. thanx alot.

Terry

Originally posted by Wolfkin
Hello!

Reading through this thread made we want to comment on the great achievement that all of you involved have accomplished. It was really great to see how everyone got together to solve a mystery. Good job everyone!

Cheers,

Jon Fitzgerald
Calgary,AB,Canada

Hi Wolfkin,

I agree with you hundred-fold This MLU community is incredible ... only because the membership is so loaded with all the right people who even go out of their way to "solve mysteries" ... simply because they care, and care about people showing interest and caring.

No doubt ... this place "rocks", to use an expression my daughter uses!

Karmen

Originally posted by fieldboy
hey karmen,

i was jsut reading the other posts about archie and william viznaugh because they are my grandmas uncles. my grandmas mother was a sister to them. i was just wondering if any more information was possible on them. thanx alot.

Terry

Hi Terry,

Well, I'll be a monkey's Uncle (Aunty?)

I do have SOME information on William and Archie ... though not ton's/ I'm more than glad to share everything I've found out. Much information regards their regiments etc, has come from people in here ... especially Mark Tonner (bless his Grampa soul)

There is another thread in here regards WW1 and Archie and William mentioned in it (maybe this is the same thread that you found them in?) ... I'll find it and place the link here for you shortly, so please check back okay

Karmen (MY Granny was Mary Ellen Viznaugh, her dad was LOUIS VIZNAUGH, Louis's brother was JOSEPH VIZNAUGH ... (I believe taht JOSEPH may have been Archie and William's dad but I just need to doublecheck to verify this) ...

For TERRY,

Hi again Terry,

I found the link I mentioned in my last post. Archie and William are mentioned. Please see link to thread below as it's an EXCELLENT source to find out about their military service and actions on their last day:

http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...=&threadid=290

By the way, if you're related to Archie and William, then YOU and I are related!!! It will be fun to find the connections. If you're also into the family geneology and history in general, I do have a lot of info ... perhaps we can share/pool? I know I'm very interested in finding out and naming Archie and William's siblings You can either PM me (private message) or send me an email through my profile in here, if you're interested in the geneology aspect.

The military aspect, much has been covered regards regiments (who these young men served with and the battles they died in) and so forth, in the link I just gave you. It's a darned good start.

By the way, DO you know that you can get their service records (gotta pay about .40 cents per page of photo copied records) from our Canadian National Archives?

Basic attestation papers you can find and actually view online (a free service) at in the WW1 Soldiers records online ... here are William and Archie's files: http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/ne...e.html&r=0&f=S

Another VIZNAUGH who served as an R.C.A. GUNNER .... here is a thread about Uncle JOHN VIZNAUGH who lived at Stoney Point ... do you have any information about Uncle John's service, particularly service record number or birth or death dates? http://www.mapleleafup.org/forums/sh...h&pagenumber=1

Karmen

Hi,

Am just thinking about Uncle Eddie and Grandpa Joe today ... Uncle Eddie would be celebrating his birthday today (83rd?) ... and this day is also the anniversary of Granpa Joe's (Uncle Ed's Dad) death in the housefire 1945.

I wish i could have known them, still

Karmen

[Mark W. Tonner]

Hi Karmen;

Thought you might find this of interest, here. It was in this mornings paper.

Cheers

Originally posted by Mark W. Tonner
Hi Karmen;

Thought you might find this of interest, here. It was in this mornings paper.

Cheers

I don't know how I missed THAT one Mark ... thank you for pointing it out for me. I read through the whole article and sent myself a copy for future reference.

I just get upset knowing how many got away and blended in, tucked amongst us going on about their lives, especially the one's who conned their way to live here in Canada ... sociopaths to the nth degree and thriving in Canada. Something just SO damned morally and spiritually bankrupt and outrageous about that.

It just ain't never bin right and still ain't.

Karmen ...

[Ponysoldier]

Hello

There is something that you both might interested
in knowing. This might one of the reasons why so few
were caught and convicted.
At the end of WWll the combined intellence services
of both our countries,used a German Named Ghelen
A high ranking Nazi intellence officer.
These services formed the Ghelen Network,Ghelen
and all the other Nazi officers,Gave the allies information
about the russians. When their service was done many
were resettled In the US and Cananda. Some of these
people committed war crimes but because of their
service,every single word,names, all of every thing
that they did was deleted. They remain there to this day.
Patrick

Hello Everyone,

It's been a while since I've visited the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Museum website, and having an insomnia night again, I visited a while ago .... whilst browsing the site for new information I found the guestbook and started browsing to catch up. You never know what you find in guestbooks

-Where I found this information:
http://www.mts.net/~rwpgrif/Rifles/RifMain.html

Personal Site:
http://home.cogeco.ca/~kallen14/JAllenWWII.htm

I read through much of the sites contents but am not finished, and gained a lot of really good and interesting details "of life" for some of the RWR's through training and D-Day plus ... Normandy fighting ... etc. Maybe some of you historians will like reading through "actions" details given. There really is a "lot" of true story here ...

There is mention of one of our 8 JUNE 1944 executed RWR POWS who was murdered with Uncle Eddie ...

SGT. JAMES ALLEN REID H/40798
(his enlistment number is also very close to Uncle Ed's )
http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/general/sub...sualty=2060054

I'm so glad EVERY time I find yet another family member of one of our Vets doing these things for their "loved ones" and appreciating them. That's only as is right ... I just STILL always feel so damned sad though. What great losses ...

Hello All,

This from the Winnipeg Sun today ...

November 12, 2005
Courage honoured
Veterans recall war's toll, why they fought
By BOB HOLLIDAY, STAFF REPORTER


Pipers lead the parade of veterans from remembrance ceremony in Bruce Park to the St. James Legion yesterday. (JON SCHLEDEWITZ, Sun)

The Royal Winnipeg Rifles were the first Allied-command regiment to reach its objective on D-Day.

And, although the regiment -- nicknamed "The Little Black Devils" -- suffered casualties that fateful day, the worst was to come five days later, said Norm Donogh, one of several veterans honoured at Remembrance Day ceremonies at Vimy Park yesterday.

On June 11, 1944, 58 members of Donogh's and other Canadian regiments were murdered by the Nazis.

"We'd taken Putot-en-Bessin, but the Nazis brought up the 12th SS Division, and the regiment was overrun," said Donogh, who had been wounded two days earlier.

"Many were captured or wounded, but 58 were murdered, taken out and shot. Eight support staff were also shot."

SS MURDER VICTIMS

Major Fred Hodge was the first SS victim, said Donogh.

"He refused to talk. He would only give them his rank and serial number," said Donogh.

The Rifles were part of one of the last pitched battles in Holland, liberating the town of Appingedam. Their efforts were recognized yesterday as the town's mayor sent representative Jack Jager to lay a wreath at the newly erected memorial containing the names of SS murder victims.

About 500 people attended yesterday's event at Vimy Park. A kilometre away, another crowd of about 500 watched the unveiling of a plaza dedicated to the memory of three Victoria Cross recipients who once lived on Pine Street, now known as Valour Road.

Robert Shankland, a boarder at 733 Pine St., enlisted in the Cameron Highlanders in 1914 and was awarded his VC for actions while fighting in France. He also fought during the Second World War and retired as a lieutenant-colonel.

Fredrick William Hall lived at 778 Pine St. before enlisting with the Black Devils. He was killed April 24, 1915, as he crawled toward a wounded man about five metres from the trenches near Ypres, Belgium.

Leo Clarke was awarded the VC posthumously for almost single-handedly turning back a German counter-offensive on Sept. 9, 1916. He was killed a few weeks later.

"All the legends, the heroes lived on this street," said Leonard Erstelle Jr., who travelled from the North End to the former bus loop at Sargent Avenue and Valour for the dedication. "My dad was in the service, I'm here to remember."

On Portage Avenue, George Metcalf watched his comrades enter the St. James Legion following a 1.3-kilometre parade from ceremonies at Bruce Park.

"This is the first time I didn't complete the parade," said Metcalf, one of 12 cousins from Portage la Prairie to join the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Dressed in period uniform as a Canadian commando, Paul Pastien stood out from the 400-plus parade participants.

Pastien served for six years in the Canadian Armed Forces during the 1980s with the Governor General's Foot Guards, the 3 Royal Canadian Regiment and, later, the 1 RCR.

"People are not aware of the sacrifices still being made by our military to rid the world of tyranny. We all need to play a role in reminding others what Remembrance Day is all about," said Pastien.