Thousands gather to honour veterans at Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum

Over 2,000 people gathered at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum to mark Remembrance Day. It is one of the largest indoor events in Canada.

The event featured a performance of the war poem “In Flanders Fields” by the Redeemer University Concert Choir followed by a moment of silence at 11 a.m. Only the humming of the Fairey Firefly and the B-25 Mitchell flying overhead could be heard then.

Ten Second World War veterans were in the crowd today, eight of them over the age of 100.

Joan Fuller was in her 20s when she joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1943 as a radar operator.

“It was lots of fun. It was a really interesting job too. I enjoyed it. I was in Northern Ireland most of the time, “ Fuller said. “I was very happy to join the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) because I like blue,” the colour of their uniforms.

Doug Iverson vividly remembers his role as a signaler in the second world war.

“The infantry only had walkie talkies. They couldn’t get in touch with headquarters,” said Iverson. “They would relay their message to us, we would relay it to the headquarters and then in a couple of minutes, the firing would start,” he said.

Ranald Harrison recalls his time as a wireless operator, looking for submarines in the Atlantic Ocean. “Long flights, 10 hour flights. They needed the weather reports,” Harrison said. “We had to fly anywhere from 50 feet above the water to as high as the aircraft would go.”

There were also some people in the crowd who had their sights set on fighting for Canada one day in the future.

Andrew Keep, Air Cadet, says “it’s amazing how people will go out of their way and serve and put themselves in harm’s way to serve the country and help protect the rights and freedoms that we have in Canada.”

“Even if I can’t fly planes but if I can work on them and help keep our planes in the sky and help us stay in the air for longer, then that means the world to me,” Keep said.

READ MORE: ‘You don’t need to be a veteran to be a member’: Royal Canadian Legion