[LINK] "Remembrance Day ceremony held under grey Ottawa skies"

[rfmcdonald]

From the CBC.

Thousands of Canadians gathered under grey skies at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Tuesday morning for Canada's largest Remembrance Day ceremony.

Roads were closed within a three-block radius of the memorial.

More than 100,000 Canadians soldiers have died in various conflicts, including:

* More than 66,000 in the First World War.
* More than 44,000 in the Second World War.
* 516 in the Korean War.
* 121 in peacekeeping missions.
* 97 in Afghanistan.

[. . .]

This Nov. 11 marks the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War, in which more than 600,000 Canadians volunteered to go overseas. More than 66,000 Canadian soldiers were killed and 172,000 were wounded.

John Babcock, 108, is Canada's only remaining First World War veteran.John Babcock, 108, is Canada's only remaining First World War veteran. (CBC)Only one Canadian veteran from that war is still alive — John Babcock, 108, who was born on an Ontario farm and now lives in the United States.

Babcock participated in Ottawa's ceremony by video conference, "passing" a lit torch among a series of veterans.

"We must never forget our fallen comrades. I pass this torch of remembrance to my comrades. Hold it high," Babcock said.

Beginning with a veteran from the Second World War, the torch was handed to a Korean veteran, a peacekeeping veteran and a "modern-day" soldier who served in Afghanistan, before it was placed at the base of the memorial.

A choir sang In Flanders Fields as dignitaries put down wreaths on the steps of the memorial.