She said the morning ceremony at the cemetery, which was attended by the K-6 students, was beautiful. Members of the local Legion worked hard to identify the 190 graves of the veterans so the students could lay poppies on them. Woods said all of the students attended the memorials, either in the morning or the afternoon at the cenotaph at the Boissevain Health Centre.
In the afternoon, the grades 7-12 students, as well as staff, Legion and officials gathered in front of the marble tribute to Boissevain’s dead of the First World War. After O Canada, Woods invited all in attendance and then turned to Turtle Mountain School Division Superintendent Tim De Ruyck as the first speaker.
As De Ruyck explained, they were gathered to remember those who lost their lives for our freedom. Many lives lost were very young. He said he had done some reading and the average age of a soldier in World War Two was 26. Further reading showed that males as young as 13 were trying to get into the armed forces to fight for their country. As the years go by, we continue to lose our veterans, but he said remembrance must continue.
“It remains as important as ever that we pay tribute and remember all of the fallen as well as the survivors because of the selfless sacrifices they made for all of us,” De Ruyck stated. “We enjoy a freedom in Canada that is not present in many parts of the world, and we indeed continue to have men and women serve the country and risking their their lives every day. In a perfect world, there would be no conflict and maybe we will get there some day. But we honour those who had the courage to stand up for us all.”
Boissevain-Morton Head of Council Judy Swanson said the area has seen many young men and women leave the security of their home to join the military. One of the last surviving Second World War veterans, Roy Alvis, recently passed away. Swanson showed his picture to the assemblage, saying he was 21 when he went into the army. His father was a decorated soldier in World War One. Alvis went overseas and served in different locations in Europe, coming home after the war. He passed away in October at 98.
As Swanson said, Canada lost over 100,000 young men and women in the two world wars. As the survivors pass, the responsibility for honouring them passes on to us.
“It’s all ours now,” Swanson said. “We cannot forget the soldiers, the sailors and the airmen who died during service to their country. They gave their tomorrow so that we could have our today. We live in a free society because of them. Lest We Forget.”
Students laid their poppies on the cenotaph, Elena Neufeld read “In Flanders’s Fields”, there was a moment of silence and Doug McCallum of the Legion recited the traditional stanza of “For the Fallen”, the Act of Remembrance. Overall, Woods said the events had their intended result.
“We definitely achieved our intended purpose of reinforcing the importance of remembrance as we began Remembrance Week,” she explained. “We are happy with how it went and plan to do it again next year.”
The school is also holding their traditional ceremony on Friday, November 8, with the Legion to hold theirs on Monday, November 11.
by PAUL RAYNER, Recorder staff