'I'm the only one left': 103-year-old veteran among those at Taber's VE-Day ceremony

David Bell · CBC News

· Posted: May 08, 2025 8:11 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

He's the lone 1 left, but a confederate Alberta assemblage came unneurotic to amusement him emotion and respect.

Burns Wood, a seasoned of the Second World War, was calved much than a period agone successful Taber, Alta., astir 200 kilometres southeast of Calgary.

The assemblage honoured Wood and others astatine a ceremonial for the 80th day of VE-Day (Victory successful Europe) connected Thursday successful the municipality of astir 9,000 residents.

"When I turned 21, you had to study to the army, if you weren't already successful the service," Wood told CBC News.

"A radical of america conscionable retired of precocious school, six oregon 7 of us, each went to Calgary and joined the aerial force. When I graduated from Fort Macleod (pilot training), I was transferred to the RAF (Royal Air Force) transport command. It was our occupation to instrumentality planes from the factories to anyplace successful the satellite they were needed."

10,000 planes delivered

He said his bid delivered astir 10,000 planes astir the world, an accomplishment for a radical of young men.

"Twenty-five years before, [Charles] Lindbergh flew the Atlantic, and present we, 21-year-old kids, were flying the Atlantic with conscionable a vigor beam to alert on," helium explained.

"We really mislaid 1 retired of 7 of our command, not from force action, but from caller planes and the weather, particularly upwind successful the North Atlantic winter. We weren't allowed to alert implicit 10,000 feet due to the fact that we didn't person immoderate oxygen, and each the upwind is beneath 10,000 feet. So we mislaid a batch of planes. Each level had 3 oregon 4 men connected them."

Close to 500 veterans from the area

A Taber Police Service subordinate said the assemblage goes retired of its mode to wage respect.

"We person adjacent to 500 veterans that served successful World War II successful Taber and the surrounding community," Regimental Sgt.-Maj. Christopher Nguyen said.

"They served and gave their lives for our freedom. We pridefulness ourselves successful being a beardown community, with our values and beliefs and beardown consciousness of household and friendship."

Nguyen said the ceremonial is akin to a Remembrance Day event.

"We instrumentality it precise seriously. It's different milestone we truly wanted to marque definite we acknowledged. We are truly grateful for the freedoms we have, and it's thing we marque definite to enactment and celebrate."

'Only 1 left'

For seasoned Wood, determination were immoderate unintended benefits that came from his service.

"In our group, we had fellows from Jamaica, Australia, New Zealand — each the Commonwealth countries. It was a fantastic group. For a young man, it was fantastic to spot the satellite and to spot different radical extracurricular my small municipality successful Taber," helium said.

"I'm the lone 1 left."