It's Remembrance Day on Saturday, November 11, and a master corporal from Sarnia is sharing his story about serving our country.
Keegan Lester, 28, has been in the Army Reserve for 11 years, ever since joining the First Hussars in Grade 12.
He said he's gained valuable experience during his time with the unit, including taking part in missions domestically and abroad.
"I went up to the Arctic several times for exercises with the Inuit," said MCpl Lester. "I've gotten to travel to France for the 100th anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge with my unit. In 2020, I was deployed domestically to Toronto for the COVID response that the military took part in. I was involved in supplying and working with the long-term care facilities that were struggling due to the pandemic."
He said he was deployed to Lebanon in 2021.
"I was a combat first aid instructor," he said. "I trained about 500 Lebanese soldiers on first aid experience. I've also done several courses through the military such as leadership courses and smaller stuff like snowmobile and ATV training."
MCpl Lester said right now his unit does weekly training and works on the weekends.
"Basically we go on exercises all throughout the province where we train for all different types of things the military could be called up for," he said. "For example, that includes domestic response, things like flooding or forest fires or just being prepared to react to a request for assistance from a local government. We're also involved with the Army Cadets, the teenagers aged 12 to 18 that are always in the city. We help them out and train with them. In a broader context, members here have been deployed all over the world on different missions. They've been to Afghanistan, other places in the Middle East and Europe."
MCpl Lester said you'll see the First Hussars out as a unit on Remembrance Day in Sarnia, and they'll also attend smaller ceremonies across the county.
He said it continues to be extremely important to mark Remembrance Day and the sacrifices soldiers made for our country.
"It's important that we honour and remember those sacrifices because that's what paved the way for us to enjoy the freedoms that we have today," he said. "It's a tradition and it's something we do every single year as a way to show respect to the people that laid down their lives in the past. It's important to Canadians to have the freedoms that we have, so it's important that we take the time to remember those sacrifices."
MCpl Lester said he's always filled with a sense of gratitude toward veterans of the Second World War.
"Hearing about their experiences really affirms my dedication to wearing the uniform, working with the people that I work with, and being committed to the values that Canada has," he said.
On Saturday, November 11, the annual Remembrance Day parade will march through Sarnia's downtown.
Those taking part will form up at the Legion, and will march off at about 10:35 a.m.
They'll get to the Cenotaph at Veteran's Park just before 11 a.m., where there will be a ceremony of remembrance and the laying of wreaths.
