Last Friday people around the county gathered to acknowledge National Day of Honour — a day set aside by the Government of Canada to mark the end of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan.
Legion branches in Parksville, Qualicum Beach and Bowser participated by hosting ceremonies in their respective communities to pay their respects to the 40,000 veterans who took part in the war — including 158 soldiers, one diplomat, one journalist and several civil servants who did not return home.
Lowering the Canadian flag to half-mast at Branch 49's ceremony was Parksville's Warren Paterson-Welsh, Operations Officer 39 Signals Regiment, who served in Afghanistan.
"It was an interesting experience," said Paterson-Welsh of his tour which lasted from June to November 2011.
During the mission, he worked as the deputy chair of operations production desk in the intelligence unit.
"It was 18-hour days of paperwork and proofreading and I probably went through 1000 papers in six months," he said.
"But that's a war — you just do it."