“He’s still over there. He’s still over there.”

These were the words of retired Lieutenant Colonel Donald G. MacLeod as he addressed over 1000 people gathered at War Memorial Gymnasium for UBC’s Remembrance Day Ceremony Wednesday morning.

MacLeod’s remarks were in remembrance of Lieutenant James Douglas Hamilton, a UBC alumnus who died during the Korean War in April 1952.

Veterans, politicians, RCMP officers, scouts, students and faculty members gathered to commemorate Remembrance Day—one of the largest turnouts since its first ceremony in 1951.
MacLeod, who graduated from UBC in 1953,  said that 25 years ago only 50 people attended the UBC Remembrance Day Ceremony.

“I think the [number of] youths here today is tremendous,” said MacLeod. “It’s astounding; they realized what freedom means and hopefully they will all remember those people that never came back, like James Douglas Hamilton.”

In a year that has already seen more than two-dozen Canadian deaths, the annual ceremony was a special commemoration of the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy and the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Red Cross.

“This is best turnout I’ve ever seen here, and I think it is probably a reflection that people are remembering that there are troops serving in Afghanistan, and the fact that all the military are relatively in high profile right now,” said Michael Sanderson, executive director of BC Ambulance Service.

Vancouver Quadra MP Joyce Murray joined Reverend Roberta Fraser, UBC Provost and VP Academic Dr David Farrar and other veterans to observe two minutes of silence. “On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, we remember those that have made sacrifices for Canada,” said Murray.

Remembrance Day marks the anniversary of the Armistice Treaty between Europe and Germany in 1918, signalling the end of the First World War.

Murray said that with the decreasing number of veterans each year, there is a greater importance getting new generations involved and “keeping the flame alive.”

The ceremony also included a reading of John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields,” by AMS VP Academic and University Affairs Johannes Rebane.

“Remembrance Day is the time to connect with the past, to connect with the veterans, and to remember the sacrifices they made for us so that we are the society we are [today],” he added.

Christine Orr, a naval base warrant officer of the Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in Victoria, said she was impressed by the number of people attending the UBC Remembrance Day ceremony. She said Remembrance Day is to remember the soldiers who have fallen in the past in WWI and WWII—and recently, Bosnia and Afghanistan.

“I’ve been attending Remembrance Day ceremonies for almost 30 years,” she said, “and it’s always the same message: it’s for the youth, it’s for the youth to remember.”

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