Despite the cold and sleet, thousands of Canadians gathered at the National War Memorial, on Elgin Street, to honour fallen heroes from major military campaigns, including the two World Wars, Korea, Afghanistan and various UN Peacekeeping missions. Following a tradition started by her late father Barbadian-born Owen Rowe (who served with the RCAF), Legacy Voices founder Kathy Grant coordinated the laying of wreaths for Black veterans. Cadet/Sgt Ebinezer Owusu-Ababio, of the Canadian Forces, laid a wreath on behalf of West Indian and Black veterans, while Charlie Brohman, a student at Hillcrest High School, laid another (brought to Ottawa by Senator Anne Cools) honouring the famous all-black No. 2 Construction Battalion. Charlie is currently working on a project about James Post, Canada’s only black recipient of the Distinguished Conduct Medal. James received the medal at Paschendael and fought at Vimy. He was only 16 when he fought in that historic battle. Joining Charlie at the Cenotaph was Nova Scotia-born Ottawa resident Robert Downey, who carried a photo of his late grandfather, George Alexander Downey along with the latter’s WWI and WWII medals. After the official ceremony, Black history Ottawa’s Sarah Onyango laid framed photos of Ottawa veterans Walter Peters, Samuel Estwick, Sammy Sayles and Welsford Daniels at the foot of the monument. For more information on the contributions of African-Canadians to Canada’s military history, see the Black Canadian Veterans Stories of War’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Canadian-Veterans-Stories-of-War/410625405682831
Submitted by Sarah Onyango
