There were ceremonies at the War Memorial this morning in honour of the dead, wounded, and veterans of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, in France. It was the 95th anniversary.

I am always pleased to be around so many veterans at these events. They are a breed apart. There are no more veterans of Vimy itself, they have joined those who died on the day. And the crowd of veterans was a bit different this year, with more young veterans of the NATO and Afghanistan campaigns. And a surprising number of young people, I guess college-age, students of Canadian history and concerned about the markers that went into creating a nation.

While most vets have thinning gray hair, there were enough vets with long hair to start a ponytail brigade. There were no cannon salutes or flybys today. The strong wind whistled and thumped in the microphones, drowned out by the collective sighs and owws as 200 vets sit down at the same time.