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Remembrance Day ‘different’ this year: Veteran

The Brandon Sun - 11/10/2020

Bob Mawson has participated in many Remembrance Day ceremonies during his time, but none quite like the one he will be a part of this year.

Mawson, 73, is a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces and a longtime member of the Royal Canadian Legion. He will lay the wreath in honour of veterans during the Brandon Legion’s scaled-down and socially distanced Remembrance Day ceremony on Wednesday.

“This year is different, it’s a lot different,” Mawson said.

Mawson served in the Canadian Armed Forces for 33 years, working as a physician’s assistant in the Medical Corps. His career sent him many places, but his longest tour of duty was at Canadian Forces Base Shilo from 1989 to 1997, after which he retired to the Brandon area.

Mawson stressed the importance of continuing to mark Remembrance Day despite the limitations presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re always going to have conflict in the world,” Mawson said. “We have to do something for the people that we lose … even if it’s just to support their families, you know, we have to say thank you … (because) that’s quite the sacrifice.”

Mawson encourages people to watch one of many Remembrance Day ceremonies that will be broadcast on television or streamed online, including the Brandon Legion’s service and the national service held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

“We can’t forget, so many people lost their lives, to give us this freedom that we’ve done. We have to say thank you somehow, and if it’s acknowledging them every November the 11th, then we do that.”

After laying his wreath on Wednesday, Mawson said he’ll still mark Remembrance Day the same way he always has in the past: by remembering those we have lost.

“(I’ll) go over and visit my friends in the cemetery that are passed on,” Mawson said. “I reflect on my friends that I’ve lost, that were military. Everybody has to do their own way, which I can understand.”

» eklatt@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @emdashklatt