‘Just overwhelming’: 103-year-old veteran reflects on his first Remembrance Day in Ottawa

103-year-old World War II veteran Elmer Friesen on his experiences during service and attending the Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa for the first time.

Elmer Friesen has attended a lot of Remembrance Day ceremonies in his lifetime, but the 103-year-old had never been to Ottawa for Nov. 11 until today.

“It was just, just overwhelming,” said Friesen. “It’s just something really special. I’m so glad that my son thought I should come here to experience this alive.”

Friesen enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in the 1940s. He was just 17 when the war began.

Friesen spent his military career in Canada, initially serving as an electrician helping to keep returning warplanes ready for battle. He later became an entertainer for Canada’s civilian population.

Friesen said he had hoped to be deployed overseas like this brother Alvin, who served in Europe as a front-line medic.

But Friesen said he is proud of his involvement in the war effort.

“I did what I was asked to do, and I served, where I served, where I was asked to serve,” he said, adding that he was proud to have joined the military voluntarily. “So it’s a great memory now that I had a good part in it.”

More than one million Canadians served during the Second World War. Today, 80 years after that war began, Veterans Affairs Canada estimates that just 3,691 men and women who served in the Second World War are still alive.

Friesen, who currently lives in Calgary, said he always wanted to come to Ottawa for Nov. 11 but just never got around to it.

“I watched it seriously on the TV all the time, but this time I just mentioned the fact that I’ve never been and I would like to go and my son just said, ‘Let’s go!” Freisen said.

Asked about the ceremony, Friesen said it was hard to describe how he felt taking part.

“I really felt the sacrifice of so many guys who never came home, and here I am sitting here, and people are admiring me,” he said. “It was a privilege for me to be in the service, really just, I can’t really describe it.”

Like many Canadians in attendance, Friesen placed his poppy on the Tomb of the Unknown Solider at the conclusion of the ceremony.

“Mostly my brother,” he said when asked who he was thinking about.