The first wreath to be laid at Weyburn’s cenotaph on Nov. 11 will be by Susan Mailhiot, chosen to represent War Mothers for the Weyburn Legion at the Remembrance Day ceremonies.
Susan was chosen as her two husbands had both served in the Second World War, along with two brothers-in-law.
“I was really privileged to be asked. I never expected it,” said Susan, who feels it is of vital importance that the sacrifices of past generations in wartime continue to be remembered and honoured.
“It’s important particularly for the younger people that they remember the sacrifices that their parents and grandparents made,” she said.
Noting that Legion members who were veterans are dwindling in numbers, she said, “Hopefully this is something that they will carry on.”
Her first husband, Bob Abel, served in the Navy, and after he passed away, she remarried to Lucien Mailhiot, who had served in Army with a motorcycle unit.
Bob first served in Regina after he enlisted in the Navy, and was sent to the naval base at Esquimalt, B.C., where he served on board a ship that did patrols for 10 or 20 miles off the coast of Vancouver.
“While they were on patrol, that’s where they detected a Japanese submarine, and watched it for two weeks before it disappeared again,” said Susan, noting the ship never fired on or interacted with the sub out of concern that they might get torpedoed.
After he was discharged from the Navy, he returned to Weyburn and worked at the Weyburn Mental Hospital, where he took training as a psychiatric nurse.
Susan met him there as she was working as a psychiatric nurse at the time, and they were married in 1944. When their son Ron was born in 1945, she left her position to stay at home with the baby.
After Bob passed away, Susan had been a widow for around two decades when she met Lucien on the dance floor at the Weyburn Legion, and they got married in 1991.
During the Second World War, Lucien led a platoon of soldiers who did nighttime patrols by motorcycle to get intelligence on the German forces and what they were doing.
He was wounded in Sicily and spent some time in hospital recovering before returning to his unit, and he stayed with them until the end of the war, remaining in Europe for a time afterwards.
Lucien was originally a farmer in the Alida area, and after his service in the war, he returned to farming.
Two of Bob’s brothers served in the war. John Abel was in the air force stationed at St. Kitts in the Caribbean, and Harold Abel served in the army in Europe.
While Susan was still married to Bob, they experienced a fire at their home on Prairie Avenue, and they lost many irreplaceable items, including Bob’s papers from the Navy, photos and many other items, such as a hockey stick that belonged to her son Doug that had been signed by the Montreal Canadiens. One of the results of this fire was that there is no photo of Bob in the Veterans Photo Gallery in the Vimy Room at the Legion, but there is of his two brothers, Harold and John Abel.
As the representative for War Mothers, Susan will be the first person to lay a wreath at the cenotaph on Nov. 11, leading off the wreath-laying ceremonies after the parade at 10:45 a.m. After the wreath-laying, the service will move indoors to the upper hall of the Legion.
She will be introduced at the service and will have a place of honour on the stage with the other dignitaries, and following the service, the War Mother’s Luncheon will be hosted downstairs in the Legion Hall, to which all of the public is invited to attend. The War Mother and any family members in attendance will have a place of honour in the Vimy Room during the luncheon.
