As I stood at the Cenotaph on Friday, Nov. 11 in the pouring rain I couldn’t help but think of what it was like for my great-grandfathers to have had to endure so many hours in the cold, wet and uncomfortable conditions of the trenches giving everything they had to bring us freedom. As I looked around I was glad to see that so many people had come out to support our veterans on such a miserable day. While it was great to see that the veterans were given ‘reserved seating’ under a tent getting them out of the rain it was disappointing to see that this special seating was at the very back of the crowd leaving none of them able to see the ceremony take place. My great-grandfather at the age of 86 years old wanted to see what was happening around him and we are lucky enough that he was able to push his way to the front of the crowd and stand in the rain for the duration of the ceremony, however many of the veterans are not able to do this. Although everyone fights to get the best view of the Remembrance Day Ceremony I would like to see that in the future our veterans are given priority seating and that they have a front row view to be honoured during this ceremony as they so deserve.
TJ McCandless