They came. They listened to bagpipes. They heard stories of men and women at war.
Hundreds of students took part in a Remembrance ceremony Thursday morning at John Abbott College in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, coming from nearby MacDonald High and McGill's agricultural department and from the off-island school of Edgewater elementary.
Some of the elementary students had never been to a Remembrance Day ceremony before, and they were moved to see first-hand soldiers who had risked their lives.
Kayla Dias-Borris thought the ceremony was 'amazing.'
"It means for me to remember all the men who battle for our country," said Kayla, impressed by the uniforms.
Veterans from WWII and the war in Afghanistan gathered to pay tribute to those who lost their lives on foreign soil.
Cpl. Francois Dupere, badly injured by a suicide bomber, was on hand to remember those he considers heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice.
"I'm pretty glad I'm here. The fact is I really believe in these ceremonies," said Col. Dupere. "The freedom we have today is because of those veterans who gave everything for us."
Despite losing sight in one eye and permanently losing his hearing in one ear, Col. Dupere feels the wounds he survived are minor compared to those who fought before he was born.
Col. Bernard Finestone is one of the last of that breed.
92 years old, he volunteered to fight the Nazis when he was just 17, and says that of an association that once numbered in the thousands, just 10 WWII veterans remain in Montreal.
"We're at the end of the trail. Another year or two and it'll all be over," said Col. Finestone.
Still fit and mobile, Col. Finestone says of the ten other members of the McGill branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, only two other members can still walk.
That's why he pushes himself each year to visit as many schools and children as he can, so the young will see for themselves why soldiers need to be remembered.
"You can see in their eyes 'well, I'm not that far away from 17 myself,'" said Col. Finestone. "They appreciate the people who gave their lives."
The scale of horror of a world war is something else Col. Finestone tries to tell students, telling them that while 158 Canadians have died in Afghanistan, thousands of soldiers were killed in the battles of WWII.
"Every one of them is a sacrifice."
On Friday Nov. 11, Remembrance Day, CTV News Channel will air a special broadcast beginning at 10:30 a.m. hosted by Lisa LaFlamme.
