Remembering: The Ceremony

Photo by: Megmet

             By 10:40 a.m. on November 11, the Royal Canadian Legion in Stonewall, Manitoba reached its capacity. Four hundred people adorned with bright red poppies sat tightly in hard plastic chairs as two hundred others lined the walls with a common purpose: to commit to a collective moment of silence in memory of those who have risked their lives for their country.

            “The town is going to have to start thinking about having the service at the arena,” says Julie McConkey, an 84-year-old resident. “It’s getting too crowded in here. The turnout keeps getting bigger every year.”

            As the trumpet from the Stonewall Collegiate Institute band faded on its final note, the lights in the hall went out. Leading Seaman Stan Davis, president of the colour party, marched down the aisle, while reciting In Flanders Fields by John McCrae with a lit torch in his hand. The emotion in his voice brought tears to the eyes of several people in the packed hall.

            “It is comforting to see so many people show up today and to know that the sacrifices of others have not been forgotten,” says Davis as his eyes scanned the crowded assembly.

            Davis, a veteran of the Korean War, says the torch is a symbol of honour, justice, and freedom, all principles that our soldiers fought for. Davis has been a member of the colour party, a group of veterans and war enthusiasts who dress in uniform for funerals and parades, for 37 years.

            Reverend Leonard Oracheski, who presided over the service, reminded the audience that the men and women who risked their lives for our country should not be forgotten. He says at closing, “At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”