Canadians may better appreciate their freedoms won by the sacrifices of others now that the threat of armed conflict is in all our minds. Yesterday was a reminder that we should not take peace for granted.

The Service of Remembrance took place at the Hart House Soldiers’ Tower yesterday, starting at 10:30 a.m. With the war on terrorism in the daily news, the large turnout wasn’t a surprise.

The service was meant to honour all Canadian soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the two World Wars, the Korean War and in peacekeeping missions.

The four Canadian soldiers who died recently from American friendly fire in Afghanistan were also remembered yesterday. In addition, those Canadian women who lost husbands and sons, nursed injured victims and stayed behind to wait and pray were commemorated.

Major Reverend Canon W. Ebert Hobbs, chaplain of the Fort York Branch for the Royal Canadian Legion, began the service with a dedication to the “Garden of Remembrance,” a series of bronze plaques that shed light on why war became necessary and victory had to be achieved. The plaques were installed yesterday on the west side of the 1914-18 Memorial Wall at Hart House.

Major Reverend Hobbs’ words resonated throughout the crowd. He said the “struggle for peace and freedom continues.”

“Remembrance Day serves as a time to honour those who laid down their lives to protect us,” he added.

The crowd stood silently, moving only to dab tears. When Lieutenant Owen S. Williams of the Soldiers’ Tower Committee began reading “In Flanders Fields,” the crowd had easily doubled.

Cannon shots rang out from the distance, shocking attendees. As four planes flew in formation they captivated the crowd’s attention, while signalling the end of the emotion-filled ceremony.

The crowd mostly accepted the Christian ceremony as something to be expected, in keeping with U of T’s traditional values. Some students interviewed felt the religious overtones of the ceremony may have prompted minority students to stay away from the event, saying the ceremony may not have been “welcoming to all segments of society.”

Sarah Pomper said she was upset by the failure of some classmates to “recognize the moment of silence” at 11 a.m. Pomper said her late grandfather, a war veteran himself, was determined to make it to every Remembrance Day ceremony even if he was weak and tired.

So many others, including SAC president Rocco Kusi-Achampong, whose grandfather fought in WWII, share Pomper’s respect for, and connection to, November 11. Kusi-Achampong said he felt the value of Remembrance Day lay in its ability to remind us “not to go to war.”

Jean Elliot, volunteer organizer for the Soldiers’ Tower committee, said anti-war sentiment was virtually non-existent this year, a drastic change from previous years.

In 1991, the Reverend Clark Macdonald, the chaplain of Hart House, had to explain in writing that the service was not meant to glorify war.