Respect

Thousands of people lined the highway of heroes today as the three soldiers came home:


Aaron Harris Toronto Star


Kevin Van Paassen, The Globe and Mail

From the Toronto Star story:

Heavily bundled mourners, some waving flags and some wearing red hats, scarves or coats, lined both sides of the street outside the base.
"I wanted to play `Going Home' but the pipes froze. I couldn't even feel my fingers on the holes," said Dan Irvine, 49, a former military man from Napanee who took his bagpipes to the procession . . .
The convoy reached Cobourg at about 4:15 p.m. There, on the Ontario St. bridge, stood a shivering crowd of perhaps 200, including 73-year-old Korean War veteran Dave Galbraith, who arrived with five friends. . . . As the hearses passed, some people took their hats off despite the wind and heavy snow.
The motorcade passed Oshawa around 5 p.m. People had begun arriving on local bridges more three hours earlier. Korea veteran Danny Mann, 74, wore medals and a Royal Canadian Dragoons beret.
. . .
"The public response to the casualties, I think, has been quite extraordinary," said Canadian military historian Jack Granatstein.
"I have never seen anything in my life like the crowds that line Highway 401," he said.