PICTOU, N.S. — A pendulum clock on the wall of at Sutherland Harris Memorial Hospital was ticking down the minutes to 11 a.m. on Nov. 11.
At 10:58 a.m. people were still taking their seats and chatting while the voice of Vera Lynn, a wartime musician who used to perform for troops overseas, sang out from an antique looking radio behind an empty podium inside the recreation room.
Then the clock face told the room that it was 11 a.m.
Vera Lynn’s voice stopped, and the room went quiet.
That’s how the ceremony began-with two minutes of silence.
Everyone in the room, and there were many, observed the traditional two minutes of reflection. The recreation room was filled with people there to pay respects and honour of the men and women who have served in the armed forces.
Twelve veterans were presented with framed photographs of themselves from their years of service.
“There’s so many ways to honour our veterans and this is just what we thought up,” said Dennis Chipman, recreational therapist at the hospital after the ceremony.
The idea for the photographs, Chipman said, came from a banner which he once saw at the Legion in Amherst. The hospital staff contacted the printer who had helped that Legion and found that it would be no trouble to print the photos individually.
Like that of Leonard Joseph Landry from Loch Broom. Landry was in the army for seven years and served in Europe during the Second World War.
Or air force veteran June Edith MacIntosh.
“Everyone in this room knows a loved one who served,” Chipman told the room full of people. “Keep them in your heart.”
Earl Smith Holt
Second World War Veteran
Navy
Hometown: River John
June Edith MacIntosh
Second World War Veteran
Air Force
Hometown: Thorburn
Mona Lenora Hawboldt
Second World War Veteran
Allied Forces-British Army
Canadian War Bride
Hometown: Trenton
Hector Lawrence MacKenzie
Second World War Veteran
Air Force
Hometown: Saltsprings
Karl Dow MacKenzie
Second World War Veteran
Army
Hometown: Truro
Stanley Vernon Porter
Second World War Veteran
Air Force
New Glasgow
Frank Percy Taker
Second World War Veteran
Army
Hometown: Pictou
Cleve MacKay Sinclair
Veteran
Army
Hometown: Trenton
Jean Margaret Fraser
Second World War Veteran
Army
Hometown: Trenton
Leonard Joseph Landry
Second World War Veteran
Army
Hometown: Loch Broom
Albert Charles Murphy
Second World War Veteran
Navy
Hometown: Sheet Harbour
Helen Ramsay Langille
Second World War Veteran
Air Force
Hometown: Scotchtown
