Remembrance Day 2022

Remembrance Day 2022 was well celebrated from coast to coast in Canada. This year I attended the service at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto, the final resting place of many Canadian aviators. The service centred on the mausoleum where Canada’s great W/C William G. “Will” Barker, VC, DSO, MC and 2 Bars, is entombed. A wide spectrum of Canadians attended to honour Canada’s veterans from wars down through the generations, including the Commander of the RCAF, LGen Eric Kenny, and other dignitaries, to a Guard of Honour from 16 Wing Borden, and Air Cadets from 330 and 631 squadrons. On the dot at 1100 hours a C-130 Hercules from RCAF Trenton made a perfect, low pass over the event. Here are a few photos from this important day honouring Canada’s military heritage:

The Mount Pleasant Mausoleum on Remembrance Day 2022, then the entrance to the Smith family crypt where Barker, VC, rests.

Some of the crowd in attendance.

The Honour Guard marches in.

Wreaths laid at the Barker monument on the steps of the mausoleum.

Following the main ceremony, people gathered at the grave of Francis Granger Quigley, DSO, MC and Bar, another of the many airmen buried in Mount Pleasant. Quigley finished his war with 21 enemy aircraft to his credit. While returning overseas in October 1918 to commence a new tour over the front, he contracted the dreaded “Spanish Flu” aboard ship. He died a few days later in hospital in Liverpool.

Also interred at Mount Pleasant is the great Royal Naval Air Service ace, Arthur T. Whealy (19 victories). There is much more to learn about Canada’s great aerial warriors of the First World War. These three books will get you well started: Aviation in Canada: Fighter Pilots and Observers 1915-1939, The Brave Young Wings, and Barker VC.

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