Warrior’s Day Parade at the C.N.E. 2012

Went down to the Canadian National Exhibition (C.N.E.) this morning with my daughter Vanessa in order primarily to show off the venue to my visiting cousin-in-law Carla from Germany.

In previous years I have deliberately gone to the C.N.E. in order to shoot the Warrior’s Day parade, but this time I hadn’t done the research as to when exactly it was happening and just chanced upon a notice at the Go Train entrance saying that it was today. So I dragged Vanessa and Carla with me over to the parade route and we stayed around for maybe half the parade. Luckily I had my favourite zoom lens with me and for once I got on the side of the parade opposite to the sun. I managed to shoot many pics, and here are some of my favourites:

Warrior’s Day Parade #03 (Toronto Police)

I understand from a comment from a previous year’s parade that this lady is a heroine of the Dutch resistance movement during WWII.

Warrior’s Day Parade #10

This smiling veteran was asking the crowd to smile and cheer and as you can see, he got his wish:

Warrior’s Day Parade #16

The next pic is interesting: I found out after the fact that my Step-Father-in-Law was also attending the parade, and that his brother Alan Roy was in the parade. He told me that he helped ensure that Jim Eddy, a highly-decorated veteran in his 90s who apparently insisted on standing in the jeep he was riding to salute the parade masters stayed safe. I went through my pics and sure enough there’s Alan marching beside the jeep holding Mr. Eddy:

Warrior’s Day Parade #21b – Alan Roy Beside WWII Veteran Jim Eddy

A smiling and waving female veteran nurse in the back of WWII-vintage troop truck:

Warrior’s Day Parade #24

A smiling American vet riding in a jeep:

Warrior’s Day Parade #26

Two airborne regiment veterans greet each other briefly during the parade:

Warrior’s Day Parade #33

Here’s a selection of the rest in gallery format: