While Remembrance Day always has special meaning for the veterans at Parkwood Hospital, this year’s event was especially heartwarming as a new Hall of Heroes was unveiled.

It's a place of contemplation and commemoration, where plaques, pictures, and words honour those who served and recognize those whose contributions support hospital programs for veterans.

Debra Wiltshire, director of the Veterans Care Program, says "It's important that people know how broad our support is from across southwestern Ontario.  It's not just here in London but from many organizations and individuals from across southwestern Ontario."

The original display was set up in 1994, inspired by the heroism of James Wilson - a veteran of the First World War who received care at Parkwood.

And just as Parkwood marks a beginning with the new Hall of Heroes, the hospital and its veterans are also preparing to say goodbye to Chaplain Darrell Shaule who is retiring.

“They have given me so many memories and a real appreciation for life itself,” he says. "It was my dream to be a hospital chaplain...and this has been my dream ministry, my dream job to be here."

For a quarter of a century, he's provided pastoral care to the veterans, who have been very appreciative.

And as much as he has given the veterans, Shaule says they have given him much in return.

"Some of the folks here - what they've been through - it's just been incredible. And it's been very sacred to hear them share the effects of war.”

And as he marks his final Remembrance Day service at Parkwood as chaplain, for Shaule there also will be recollections of the people here whose lives he's touched.

"It was just the way they welcomed me, shared their lives with me, their heartaches, their dreams. [They were] willing to let me share those sick times with them - those times when they were dying, their families as well. They've treated me like a king.”