4 minute read
We Will Remember Them
We Will Remember Them
Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser
More than 50 people attended the Remembrance Day Ceremony in the Village of Mannville on Nov. 11.
The Remembrance Day Ceremony was hosted by the LCOL W.C. Craig Armoury Historical Society, Mannville Elks #395 and Royal Purple Elks.
There was a procession from the Elks Hall, down Main Street to the Cenotaph located outside Mannville School.
Act of Remembrance recited by Sgt. at Arms Captain Don Henry. “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.”
Doug MacLennan recited a prayer before the laying of wreaths. Henry invited anyone to lay a wreath before attendees were given the opportunity to lay their poppies at the cenotaph. The procession returned to the Elks Hall for a short program.
County of Minburn Reeve Roger Konieczny shared a few words and memory from the time he was a student at Mannville School and Pat Cotter, Jean Boe and Florus Groeneveld making sure each and every student had a poppy to wear for its Remembrance Day Ceremony.
Village of Mannville Councillor Jocelyne Lanovaz recalled attending Remembrance Day when she was a Brownie and having to wear a skirt as members were not allowed to wear pants.
Don Henry spoke about his address during a recent graduation ceremony for firefighters. He touched on the students’ deployment to Jasper and the dangers and risks associated with that. He also had envelopes distributed to attendees. Inside was information on Sergeant Alburn Frankland Proctor. “D” Company, 49th Battalion.
It read as follows: Alburn Frankland Proctor was born in Yorkshire in 1896, but by the outbreak of war was a homesteader in Manitoba. Enlisting in Brandon with the 45th Overseas Battalion, the Battalion was dissolved yet his Platoon remained intact and was all transferred to the 49th Battalion in September, 1916.
Serving with the unit at Vimy and Avion, by the time of Passchendaele he was a 21-year-old Sergeant commanding a Platoon in “D” Company. He would be wounded to the leg by a German machine gun bullet.
In a memoir of his time at the front, he would write; “On the way out after leaving the dressing station Fritz was bouncing High Explosive shells off a pill box and a bunch of wounded were behind it, mostly able to walk. I expected the pill box to cave in and advised the boys to get out. The only lad who took my advice was a kid who was badly hit in the arm and shoulder. He didn’t think he could make it, but with a little help and a few shots of rum he did. He was a strong prohibitionist and what language he used when I poured it down him! He forgave me handsomely next day in the field hospital. He was on the next stretcher. I merely relate this to explain a few things to you – it just happened.”
Sergeant Proctor too would be invalided and ultimately gain a medical discharge.
Henry told attendees, “I hope that brings home on a personal level what it means to serve the country.”
During a video presentation, a total of 155 names of Mannville and Vermilion area soldiers killed in the line of duty were displayed as members of the Honour Roll.
