This past weekend was Remembrance Day in Canada and I hope everyone took a few moments to think about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the country.
I also think it's important to think of those who may be still alive but have served in the Armed Forces because just being in harms way in the wars and conflicts can cause both physical and emotional scars as well.
This past weekend in Trenton, Ontario, home of Canadian Forces Base Trenton, a new memorial was unveiled.
For those who don't know, the Trenton Air Base is the place where all service members killed in action overseas are repatriated (returned to their home country).
In all there have been 158 fallen service members returned to Trenton since 2001 before taking the journey down the Highway of Heroes.
The new memorial honours those who were killed during the Afghanistan conflict. The Afghanistan Repatriation Memorial consists of the silhouette of a soldier standing in front of a two large granite maple leaves. One of these leaves has the names of all of the fallen service men and women inscribed on it. It's really quite moving to see.
The unveiling ceremony on the day before Remembrance Day included a parade, a fly past, a wreath-laying ceremony and speeches by Veterans Affairs Minister Steven Blaney and other dignitaries.
It was a very emotional service with many of the families in attendance.
In the photo I took that you can see here, the family of Cpl. Bryce Keller, who was 27 years old when he killed in a firefight with insurgents in the Pashmul District of Kandahar, Afghanistan, August 3, 2006, left his picture pinned to the memorial.
