Guest speaker at the Bradford Legion’s Veterans Dinner on Nov. 2 was Brad Osmond, who for 15 years “served God, Queen and Country with the Royal Canadian Dragoons.”
Master Corporal Osmond, originally from Newfoundland, came from an ‘army’ background: the Salvation Army. Both parents were members, and were surprised when their son went into the Canadian military.
Osmond trained in Quebec, and then was posted to Petawawa.
“One year into it, I was sent to Bosnia,” he said. “I had never been outside of Canada before.”
Both of his tours in Bosnia were relatively light, as operations were wrapping up and the Armed Forces prepared to withdraw.
But his next posting was to Afghanistan, where it was “62 degrees in the shade,” and where his vehicle hit an IED – improvised explosive device – twice. Both times, he laughed it off, uninjured except for being struck by a loose ammo can.
He even joked about it, with his men – but things changed on his second tour of duty.
There was another IED hit, another loose ammo can – then two months later, he lost his best friend.
“That tour, I saw 36 soldiers die. It was horrible,” Osmond said. “On March 11, I hit an IED that near killed me. I lost my driver, I lost my gunner, I was nearly killed.”
Bones were shattered, in his legs, knees, back and wrist. “I broke my jaw, my nose, my orbital bone,” he said. Hospitalized, he insisted on attending the ramp ceremony for his fallen comrades, wheeled out onto the tarmac on a stretcher.
He was sent first to Germany, for multiple surgeries, then back to his home in Pettawawa - where he couldn’t get in the door.
“If it wasn’t for the Legion, the veterans, I wouldn’t be able to get here today,” Osmond said. The local Legion built a ramp to his house, moved his bed downstairs, and when he was diagnosed with PTSD in 2014, “to the point where I couldn’t go into Zehrs, I couldn’t go into the mall,” they provided the programs and support.
“If it wasn’t for the Legion, I would have been one of the numbers on the wall, one of the dead soldiers,” Osmond said. “They taught me how to be a person again. That is why I am here today.”
The annual Poppy Campaign and Poppy Fund provide financial support for veterans and their families - through a Comfort Fund for veterans in hospitals, a program for homeless veterans, programs that address PTSD – including a new program to provide PTSD Service dogs.
This year’s Poppy Chair, Anne Silvey was emcee at Saturday’s dinner. Among the guests were Legionnaires, veterans, and dignitaries that included Zone E-3 Commander and District Poppy Chair Judi Giovanetti, Zone E-2 Commander Bruno Scaturchio, BWG Mayor Rob Keffer and members of Council, MPP and Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney, and MP Scot Davidson.
Thirty-seven Bradford Orville Hand Air Cadets served and helped clear, and provided some insight on the importance of the new local Squadron.
There were prayers by Padre, Rev. Dana Dickson, and speeches by the special guests.
MP Davidson spoke of the “sacrifices that have been made by our veterans, to preserve our democratic institutions,” and the “hundreds of thousands of Canadians” who have earned the country’s respect and gratitude for their service.
“Many of those who served were from right here in Bradford West Gwillimbury, or elsewhere in York-Simcoe,” he said, carrying on the tradition of service. “At this time of year, we are especially reflective the daunting sacrifices made by families.”
Minister Mulroney urged all who are not of a military background, to “learn those stories, remember them, and share them,” of the service and sacrifice of Canada’s soldiers. She told the story of Private George Price from Saskatoon, killed by sniper fire at 10:58 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918, “two minutes before the end of the war. At the exact moment that peace was signed, he fell for us.”
Coming into this “season of remembrance,” she said, “They are not simply stories, they are acts of the greatest sacrifice… Canadians recognize and appreciate the sacrifice that all veterans have made.”
She added, “So many did not have the chance to come home and be veterans.”
The Last Post, the two-minutes of silence, Reveille, the poem In Flanders Fields were all part of an evening of Remembrance.
“I would like to thank the Legion for your vital service to our town,” said Mayor Rob Keffer, noting that the Legion’s Veteran Banner Program is “an important tribute, and an important way for residents to connect” with those who have served their country.
“We thank you… We salute you, and we will always remember you,” said the Mayor.
There were presentations, in Remembrance. Nancy Zajacz, daughter of Orville Hand after whom the Bradford Branch is named, noted that this year marks the 10th Anniversary of her father’s passing.
Hand attended the Remembrance Dinner at the Bradford Legion Branch 521 on Nov. 7 of 2009.
“He enjoyed the event, and driving three ladies home, and then he went to bed,” said Zajacz. “He passed in his sleep,” in his 91st year. She presented the Legion with a framed photo of Orville Hand as a young airman, and proposed “a toast to our fallen Vets – to Orville.”
Legion President Tammy Paglia, joined by both M. Cpl. Osmond and Poppy Chair Anne Silvey, also made a special presentation, to Bradford’s Silver Cross family – Carol and Jim Collier, whose son Brian was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.
Osmond presented Carol Collier with a bouquet of roses, Paglia gave Jim Collier a hand-made Maple Leaf quilt, and told the room, “We must make sure their loved one is forever honoured and not forgotten.”
There will be Remembrance Service at Trinity Anglican Church in Bradford at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 10 – followed in the afternoon by the annual Bradford Remembrance Parade, forming up at the TSC Plaza at 12:30 p.m. and parading to the Legion at 115 Back St. at 1 p.m., where there will be a Remembrance Service and Wreath-laying at the cenotaph.
On Remembrance Day, Nov. 11, there will be a ceremony at the Cenotaph, starting at 10:45 a.m.
