Thursday, November 12th 2009

By paige faber

This year, Canada celebrated its 91st annual Remembrance Day memorial service to honour our troops lost and living. Two of the many ceremonies held yesterday took place in downtown Hamilton and on campus at McMaster.

In Hamilton, the memorial was held at downtown Gore Park and Cenotaph, at the area of the park named Veteran’s Place. This year, despite the cold and windy weather, there was a substantial crowd gathered to pay homage to their fellow Canadians. By the time the ceremony started, the crowd was stretched from the edges of the buildings on King Street East and filled the park.

Waiting in the crowd before the ceremony started, seven WWII military planes flew over Jackson Square Park in honour of their fellow patriots. As the planes flew over, the crowd cheered and many veterans turned to each other with faces lit up and began naming the plane models and types, sharing a few stories about their experiences as members of the Canadian forces.

The ceremony started just before 11 a.m. with introductions to those involved in the ceremony, the key figures in this years’ memorial were Mayor Fred Eisenberger, the Hamilton Veterans Committee and Deacon Bruce Lacillade as the Officiating Clergy. Others involved in the memorial were the Silver Cross Mothers, Bev McCraw and Linda Learn. The ceremony included several hymns, wreaths laid on the cenotaph, the traditional reciting of “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae followed by the Last Post and the two minutes of silence. This was followed by a lament and a reveille performed by the Dundas Concert Band and the East Hamilton Strings.

The speakers expressed their appreciation for all of the youth and children that were in attendance. The ceremony even included a pop-rock song entitled, “Canadian Heroes” by a local band was played at the end of the service. The speaker noted that some may find this song unconventional for such a traditional day of remembrance, but that, if they listened to the words, people would realise that the song fit the occasion just perfectly.

After the final remarks, the crowd slowly dispersed as many walked up to the cenotaph to look at the wreaths that had been laid and to speak with friends and family that they knew.

At McMaster, the Remembrance Day ceremony was held in Convocation Hall and was organized by the McMaster Alumni Association. The ceremony followed a similar progression to the one at Gore Park, with a hymn, welcoming message and prayer. This memorial also included the Last Post, lament, reveille, and two minutes of silence. Those involved in the service included Peter George, president of McMaster, and the president of the McMaster Students Union, Vishal Tiwari.

In addition to the traditional services, a reading of the Honour Roll, a list of former and present McMaster students who died fighting for Canada, was read. George read the names of 56 students who perished during WWI and WWII, and two that have died in the Afghanistan war. George thanked and remembered those lost in war and said, “Rest in peace for we have not forgotten the price you gave for our freedom.” This year Charles Johnston and the Alumni Association are building biographies of those listed in the McMaster Honour Roll so that they may be remembered further.

Both Remembrance Day services paid great tribute to those who have fought and sacrificed much for Canada, for those who lived and for those who did not. Although the attitude of the memorials is sombre, they include aspects of peace, hope, democracy, and freedom that are uplifting and encouraging of Canadian patriotism. The speakers maintained that the importance of Remembrance Day is to not focus on the concept of war and suffering, but to focus on what emerged from that war, which is peace, freedom and nationalism to honour those who bravely gave their life and service to the preservation of what Canadians value.

With Files from Lily Panamsky

Tags: Canada, patriotic, Remembrance Day 2009, Veterans