Les Peate gravestone marker and final resting place at Beechwood National Military Cemetery
Newell Durnbrooke
On Monday June 28, a formal military ceremony was held at Beechwood cemetery in Ottawa to pay final respects to Leslie (Les) Peate. A guard of honour was provided by the Governor General’s Foot Guards who led the procession past the National military cemetery cenotaph to where the actual graveside ceremony was held.
In attendance were Les’ widow Joyce, family, friends, a delegation from the Korean Veterans Association (KVA), representatives from the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) Association (including the senior serving RCR member, Lieutenant-General Omer Lavoie) and Colonel Ken Moon,the military attache from the Republic of South Korea.
A military appointed chaplain, Rev Carol Hotte presided over the service which concluded with a bugler playing The Last Post, followed by a bagpipe tribute.
Attendees then paid their individual graveside respects.
Les Peate passed away on Thursday 25 February, 2021 at the age of 92. He had served with the British Army in the Korean War, and was a “Bobby’ in the British police force before he emigrated to Canada. He joined the Canadian Army in 1954 and served a total of sixteen years with the CAF. During that career he served with the Royal Canadian Regiment, the Provost Marshal Corps and the Intelligence Corps.
After retiring from the CAF he continued serving as a public servant working for Employment & Immigration and then the Emergency Planning Service. In addition to this, Peate dedicated his time to the KVA to such an extent that he ended up serving a term as their National President. He was also a dedicated member of the Royal Canadian Legion. A Liaison officer to the Army Cadet League, a volunteer at the Canadian War Museum and an eager participant with the Memory Project Speakers’ forum.
Esprit de Corps readers will also know that Peate was a contributing editor with the magazine for nearly 30 years. He contributed articles on the Korean War, The Old Guard Update and our Trivia section.
The official Eulogy was presented by David Peate (son) wherein he asked three questions of his father’s life; Did he live well? Did he raise his family well? And Did he make the world a better place? The answer to all three questions was a resounding ‘yes'.
On behalf of Esprit de Corps Magazine, publisher Scott Taylor spoke of Les (and Joyce) Peate’s long standing association with the publication. Katherine Taylor gave the final address as a personal tribute to Les Peate’s honesty and strength of character.
The organizers at Beechwood did a fine job of overcoming the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, while still allowing all in attendance to pay a fitting tribute to a fine man and a lifelong warrior.
