HALIFAX -- A trio of helicopters whirred through the clouds above the Grand Parade in Halifax on Friday as hundreds of members of the public, military personnel and veterans stood for a two-minute silence in honour of those who lost their lives defending Canada.
The Remembrance Day ceremony was punctuated by the sound of cannon from the Halifax Citadel for a 21-gun salute.
Jay Tofflemire, master of ceremonies for the day and second vice-president of the Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, said the day was about honouring those who fought for the country.
"Today is all about remembrance," Tofflemire said in an interview. "My heart breaks for the sacrifices everybody has made during times of war and peace."
Tofflemire reflected on that history of sacrifice stretching from Nova Scotia-born Pte. Karl Douglas Woodman, who was killed in action on Vimy Ridge in France in 1917, to Capt. Jonathan Sutherland Snyder, born on Canada's West Coast almost 100 years later, who died in 2008 two days after receiving the Star of Military Valour for his service in Afghanistan.
Snyder's mother, Memorial Cross recipient Anne Snyder, laid one of the first wreaths on the Cenotaph in honour of her 26-year-old son.
Halifax Mayor Mike Savage and Halifax Liberal MP Andy Fillmore also laid wreaths to pay their respects.
"We pray upon those who have returned from war still carrying the burden of all they have seen and done, and all of which they could not do," Cmdr. Shaun Yaskiw told the crowd. "We ask ... all who serve in positions of authority that together with them we may continue to build a nation worthy of the sacrifice offered by so many in the years gone by."
People lined up to pin poppies on white crosses as the ceremony drew to a close, with the sound of a Navy band growing fainter as a procession of veterans, cadets, service men and women marched away.
