Under grey skies and a cold November rain, the weather served as a pathetic fallacy, reflecting the mood, for remembrance day services in Orangeville, Shelburne and Grand Valley.

Attendance in Orangeville was large, Rosemarie Elsdon, Mistress or Ceremonies, described it as being the bestattended in a number of years, estimating the crowd number close to 2,000.

"Personally I was overwhelmed," she said. "The parade route was heavily lined and in all my years I have never seen so many turn out for the service."

In Shelburne, the crowd was about 300 and another 100 attended the service in Grand Valley.

Both the Royal Canadian Legion's spokespersons in Shelburne and Orangeville said it appeared services across the country were well attended because of the recent focus on the Canadian military mission in Afghanistan.

"Perhaps it's the issues Canadian's are facing today and an increased awareness for the sacrifices made," said Maribel Townsend, spokesperson for the Shelburne Legion Branch 220.

Traditionally remembrance day services honour fallen soldiers. In World War One 69,000 Canadian's died in combat, another 47,000 in World War Two and in the Korean Conflict 516 Canadian's lost their lives. This year's service also included the 42 Canadian soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since the mission began in 2002.

Members of the Legion, after the cenotaph ceremony at 11 a.m. returned to the Legion for an afternoon of comradeship, esprit de corps and completed the day's events with a banquet.

Additionally, Shelburne Legion members attended a service at Dufferin Oaks in the afternoon and in Orangeville a sunset ceremony was held at Forest Lawn cemetery.