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Sarnia Sting hockey club honours 2 Landmark Village residents
Bill Abbott and Bruce Murray recognized for their military service
4/19/2017
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Deron Hamel
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Landmark Village resident Bill Abbott (centre) is seen here during a ceremony at Progressive Auto Sales Arena to recognize his military service.
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The Sarnia Sting hockey club recently honoured two Landmark Village residents for their service in the Canadian Armed Forces.
For the past few years, the Sting has regularly hosted ceremonies during the first intermission of their games to recognize local veterans.
Each veteran is invited to attend the game and can bring as many family or friends as they wish. They are VIP guests for the evening and are escorted to their seats. During the first intermission, they are brought down to ice level and piped onto the ice during ceremonies which see their corresponding military flags hoisted.
The vets are introduced and it is announced what their roll and rank was in the military. Then they are presented with lifetime Sting home-game tickets.
Bill Abbott served in the Royal Canadian Navy in 1945, signing up when he was 17 and discharged when he was 19. He served on the HMCS Matane, based in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.
Bill and his wife, Ruth, have been married 67 years. Bill and Ruth have eight children, 23 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
At the March 10 game against the Windsor Spitfires, the Sarnia Sting honoured Bill for his service and also presented him with service medals to replace ones he lost in a house fire two years ago.
Landmark Village resident Bruce Murray was also honoured by the Sting in March. Bruce served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War as a bombardier in the 23rd battery of the Royal Canadian Artillery.
He was stationed with the Atlantic command on the Canada’s East Coast and then went overseas to the south coast of England where he helped protect radar stations.
He returned to Canada in 1946. Bruce is married with three children.
Ray Robertson, a former resident of Landmark Village, was honoured by the Sting in 2016.
“Each of the men who have been recognized has felt very honoured,” says Landmark Village social and marketing director Tania Bergen.
“It is a wonderful thing that the Sarnia Sting is doing for our local veterans.”
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