LEST WE FORGET, Remembrance Day 2011 - 20 photos of then and now here in Fort William and Port Arthur.....

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

The picture to the right is taken on the corner of Red River Road(formerly Arthur Street before amalgamation), and Cumberland Street facing north.  A little faded out but on the right is the Prince Arthur Hotel.  This picture was taken on VJ day (Victory in Japan day) in 1945 during the ticker tape parade.

This photo was taken about 1918 welcoming home WWI soldiers to Fort William Ontario.  This picture was taken on the corner of Victoria Ave and May Street facing west. 

This is how the corner looked in 2009....the changes are incredible but there are still 2 rows of 7 windows across the upper floors of the Scotia Bank building.

This is a 1917 photo of the 141st Battalion coming down Simpson Street heading south/west around the corner onto Victoria Ave. 

This corner as it looked in 2009 on Google images barely looks like the same spot, as most all the historic structures on Simpson St have burned to the ground in recent years.

This is a photo of the arrival back in Port Arthur of the 52nd Battalion on March 29, 1919, only 5 months before my father was born.  The battery of soldiers are moving off on parade.  This old Port Arthur CPR station would be right in the middle of what is now Water Street just east of the Prince Arthur Hotel.

The Next few photos are taken on Oct 10th 1940.  Local soldiers of the 52nd Battalion are marching down Red River Road to the CPR station where they will head by train to the east coast and then overseas.

This is how this corner looked in 2009 on Google images.

The Pagota in this picture as you can see was moved west up the hill somewhat towards the Prince Arthur Hotel.  Water street was quite narrow and the time and was west of the old CPR station as shown in the older photo.  This old station would actually be right in the centre of the present day Water Street.

This is a 1940 Colour Guard parade on the corner of Victoria Ave and Brodie Street in Fort William showing soldiers heading off to war.  Thank you to Roger Rickards for this great photo.  All the old Victoria Ave landmarks are clearly visible in this photo.

This is how the same spot looked in 2009 on Google Images.  It's nice to see most of these Victoria Ave building are still in use today.

 Canada Car and Foundary(CC&F) built 1,441 Hurricanes and Sea Hurricanes during the war effort.

This is how the inside of the Fort William plant looked in 1944.  My father was stationed on the west coast near Victoria BC after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour.  There was concern that there would be more bombings of naval bases in the US and in Canada in the early 1940's.  My parents were married just before my Dad was sent to Victoria and I would be born there when this photo was taken in 1944.

Thanks to all those who donated or loaned photos for this and many other posts.  Be sure to click on all the photos for enlargement and also go to this link to see more photos from last years Remembrance Day post http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.com/2010/11/lest-we-forgetremembrance-day-november.html