On the 8th of May, 1945, the surrender of the German Army came into effect and the European theatre of war was finished after six long years. Ukraine has taken that date to be their date of Remembrance of all the people who died, either by war, atrocities, executions, the Holocaust, bombings, and bloody battles during those years. At the National Military Cemetery in Ottawa, the Embassy of Ukraine in Canada held their Remembrance Day Ceremony underneath the clouds and in the rain to remember all those who perished to Nazism, Communist Russia before them, and the Communist Russian Federation now.
To see the pictures from the ceremony, CLICK HERE:
Ukraine’s Ambassador, Her Excellency Yulia Kovaliv, took to the podium to address a gathering far in excess of what would have been expected on such a rainy morning. She remembered Ukraine’s WWII tally of 5 million civilians and 3 million soldiers killed in the conflict, many in unspeakable ways, and the burnings of villages, deportation of people, mass executions, and other atrocities. Then, under the communist regime, there was the execution of political prisoners, the bombings of Kyiv and Dnipro hydroelectric dam. In short, Ukraine has had its fill of totalitarian regimes.
She noted that after 80 years, Ukraine is once again engaged in a life and death struggle, with Russia, for her very existence. Her people and land are being ravaged but she has reason to be hopeful as the whole free world is helping in the struggle and that Canada is helping as well, not only with money and equipment, but people as well. And it was the last point that made this ceremony special and yet, more sad, as the Ambassador, having recently lost family in the war herself, bestowed Crosses for Courage (Third Class) medals upon the families of two Canadian men who went to fight in the International Legion for Ukraine and died on April 26th, 2023.
Kyle Ronald Porter and Cole Conrad Zelenco lost their lives on April 26, 2023, in a heavy fight near Bahmut in Donetsk region as members of the First International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Porter had previously been an EMT and served in the Canadian Armed Forces. After leaving the CAF, he went to South Africa serving on anti-poaching missions but when the war in Ukraine started he went as a search and rescue tech for two tours recovering dead and wounded civilians in Kyiv and Kharkiv. On his third tour, he was part of the International Legion as a soldier and medic when he lost his life trying to save his friend, fellow Canadian Cole Zelenco.
Cole Conrad Zelenco was born in December, 2001 and served with the CAF for four years before being released and serving as a Jr. Sgt. with a special branch of the International Legion. After his death, he was officially declared a Hero of Ukraine.
The medals were presented to family who were present at the ceremony. George Porter (father) and Nichole Porter (mother) accepted the award from the Ambassador on behalf of Kyle and Lynn Baxter (mother) and Elena Zelenco (sister) accepted on behalf of Cole.
These presentations concluded the proceedings and at about just that moment, the rain stopped, the clouds parted, and the sun came out.
On a curious and humorous note, there were a large number of blue/yellow umbrellas in sight which I thought was in support of Ukraine as those are their national colours. And though that may be the case, I did notice that the blue/yellow umbrellas had IKEA printed on them.
