Each November, the Innisfil Lions Club hosts a Veterans’ Dinner at their clubhouse on Innisfil Beach Road, which includes a catered dinner to thank the veterans for their service, during the month of remembrance.
Several dozen veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces, British Royal Air Force, Army and Navy, and Veterans of United Nations Peacekeeping attended the dinner, which was held Tuesday evening.
“They really look forward to it,” said Dolores Courts-Hamilton, with the veterans from Sandycove adult lifestyle community often coming down by bus for a dinner provided by Catering by Colin, and a free beverage at the hall’s bar.
Denis Mainville was one of the veterans who attended, in a double role as both sergeant-at-arms of the Lefroy-Belle Ewart Royal Canadian Legion and a veteran of the Gulf War.
“I was an aircraft technician on F-18s,” Mainville said. “I was there when they bought the first one in the 1980s," and he kept the ‘birds’ airworthy over the years.
Mainville was accompanied by fellow legionnaires Pat Morley and poppy chair Robert Stuart.
Many veterans of the Canadian Forces served overseas, on NATO missions, or with peacekeeping forces.
Bob Molyneaux, a veteran with the Canadian Armed Forces, served in Africa from 1961 to 1962, in Canada, and in Germany from 1965 to 1968.
His service in Africa came at the time of the conflict in the former Belgian Congo.
Asked if it had been a tough challenge, Molyneaux replied: “Not when you’re 18 and don’t know anything!”
Among the veterans of the Second World War was Sandycove resident Vicky Urwin. Urwin joined the Canadian Women’s Army Corps in 1942, “fudging” her baptismal record to enlist. She and her twin sister, Mabel, were only 16 at the time.
Urwin was discharged in 1946, reaching the rank of lance corporal, but re-enlisted, eventually transferring to the 8th Signals Regiment and finally retiring with the rank of staff sergeant.
“I have had 16 years in the service, in the war and after the war, so I guess I know a little bit about the army,” she said.
