Thousands mark Remembrance Day in the Lower Mainland

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Thousands of people gathered at Victory Square for today’s Remembrance Day ceremony, and stood in silence at 11 o’clock. Some cried, while others clutched onto the person standing next to them.

The last post was played on the bugle, and a choir sang. Planes flew overhead, and a cannon was fired. The whole time, the crowd was mostly silent, until it was their turn to say thank you.

Then they stood in the rain, applauding the veterans who marched past them. Veteran Herbert Lim says he’s grateful for their gestures. “They should remember and appreciate what they have, especially the new immigrants.”

Lim says over the last few years, he’s seen more kids wearing poppies on Remembrance Day. “That I appreciate. It shows that they are remembering the dead. The people who sacrificed themselves there.”

Benjamin, a boy scout, was still selling poppies today. He says he gets an odd ‘thank you’ too from appreciative veterans.

The ceremony at Victory Square was one of several across the Lower Mainland.

The Olympic cauldron was re-lit in downtown Vancouver this morning for the occasion. The relighting marked one of just a handful of occasions when the flame has been rekindled since the cauldron was snuffed at the end of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

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