A Walk Amongst the Stones: 11 November 2024

Even with my 43 years' army service (21 in uniform, 22 as a civilian 'volunteer' - Kiltmaker, Historian and Museum Curator) I don't publicly identify as a 'veteran' (although it comes as no surprise to anyone: I shine my boots, I'm always up before dawn and make my 'kip'(bed) with hospital corners, I never 'pass a fail' and my Situational Awareness is permanently set at '10'...
I no longer attend the official reunions, but every year I observe The Eleventh. (my first act being the day before: cursing and tearing the house apart as I try to remember where I put my medals).
I observe it on my own, instead of going to the big ceremonies; during covid I played my pipes in the front yard at 1102hrs, and this year I decided I'd walk the fields at Mountainview just to see whom I might find.
Then, being 'me' I tabbed over to the pub so that , in the words of Hillaire Beloc
"Men who were boys when I was a boy,
Shall sit and drink with me" .
I didn't wear my regimental kilt and bonnet this year - I'd loaned my kilt to one of the lads - and as it'll soon be 50 years to the day that I first Took the Shilling I decided to wear the first cap-badge of my first unit: the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers.

[@susangrande8142]

Even though I’m an American and you, sir, are a Canadian, I thank you for your military service, and for paying respects to Canada’s war dead. 🙏 This video is a reminder for me of the heavy price of war, and that many besides Americans have paid with their lives. (My father, and father-in-law were both veterans.)

[@ducthman4737]

🍺

[@robyn3349]

Those who have gone on before…