Stirling honours veterans with candlelight march

By Mo Cranker

BELLEVILLE – The streets of Stirling were shining brightly during a candlelit march through the town last Friday.

Members of the Royal Canadian Legion and the public marched through the downtown in honour of those who have fought for Canada and those who still serve with the Canadian Forces.

The candelight march also kicked off the Legion’s poppy campaign.

It was the first time for the event. Stirling-Rawdon Mayor Rodney Cooney explained organizers wanted to give the prominence to the Stirling cenotaph that another local war memorial had received a week earlier.

On Oct. 23, members of Stirling’s Legion marched to the cenotaph in the Rawdon Township hamlet of Harold, where newly restored German machine guns  from the First World War have been recently refurbished.

“They wanted to treat the Stirling cenotaph with the same respect that the Harold cenotaph got, so they decided to do the candle-lighting to kick off the poppy campaign here,” he said.

After the group arrived at the cenotaph, members of the Legion led a group singing O Canada.

The march hit home with Parry Chrysler, who is sergeant-at-arms at the Stirling Legion.

“I myself am still a serving member of the Royal Canadian Air Force. I’m in my 31st year. And this is about showing our respect and honouring those that have served to give us what we have today and to keep us safe,” said Chrysler.

Another participant was Clara Bateman, who served as a Wren – a member of the Women of the Royal Navy Services – in Britain during the Second World War, and came to Canada as a war bride afterward. This time of year is bittersweet for her, she said.

“It’s a sad time but a good time too, because it brings back a lot of memories from the war and what happened to a lot of people,” Bateman said.

Bateman reminsced to QNet News about what it was like to live through an air raid in London during the war:

On Remembrance Day, there will be a march from the Stirling Library to the cenotaph.