PICTOU – Day-to-day life for residents at the Northumberland Veterans Unit can be slow.
But a regimen of activities gauged to each resident’s abilities and preference make living there more pleasant, and it includes ways for them to commemorate Remembrance Day.
Matt Young and Clem Guthro recently sat for a game of 45s with Veterans Unit recreation director Dennis Chipman, whom they admire for the things he does for them at the unit and during outings to different places around the area.
“I like it here – people come to see us,” Young said.
This time, the card game gave way to entertainment provided by local musicians who visit the unit occasionally.
“This is a good place,” Guthro said. “The food’s great. Dennis is great.”
Chipman drives those veterans wishing and able to travel to different places. This year, it will include a trip to a Remembrance Day service at the cenotaph in Pictou.
Young said he’s accustomed to the service, but is glad to visit with others who attend.
“I know so many of them,” he said. “It’s nice to get out and meet everybody.”
Guthro said the observance prompts memories of his time in the Second World War. He joined the Canadian Army in 1943 as part of the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944.
He remembers being wounded slightly by an enemy hand grenade.
“It brings back the war,” he said. “We landed in Normandy and went right to the end.”