Tofield Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 91 Honours Service and Sacrifice

Tofield Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 91 Honours Service and Sacrifice

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

A poppy was placed on every photo displayed on the Tofield Royal Canadian Legion’s Wall of Honour on Remembrance Day Nov. 11.

Near the front entrance was a beautifully decorated display table that had the name of veterans and members of Branch 91 who had passed away since they could gather together in 2020 and 2021. Included on the list of veterans were: Hans Christensen, James Warren Sr., Vera Tiedemann, John Cooper, Gage Pendleton, Wade Douglas Clement, Bill Barrett and Skip Willis. Included on the list of associates, affiliate and friends were: Joan Williams, Bruce Ratcliffe, June Jabs, Louise Demeria, and Myra Laplante.

Tofield RCMP Officer Cst. Andrew Gillan lead the Colour Party as veterans, RCL members, Officers of the 1 Service Battalion Administration Company, special guests and members of the public marched to the cenotaph by the town office. Army, air force, and navy officers were all represented and stood during the brief outdoor ceremony there.

RCL member Paul Shaw.

(Lorraine McNeely/Submitted Photo)

RCL Chaplin ….stated, “We honour and respect those who have served and who’ve sacrificed. We pray that we will all feel the spirit of those who’ve gone before us as they gather here today.

RCL President Barbara Ferguson recited one stanza in Robert Binyon’s famous poem For the Fallen. “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.”

Ferguson as well as a representative from the Canadian Forces 1 Service Battalion Administration Company each laid a wreath before the service moved indoors at the Tofield Community Hall.

Just as the poppy campaign got underway, the cenotaph was vandalized, stated Ferguson. While there was no time for replacement or repairs, she said that will be rectified in the New Year.

She highlighted the fact that this year marks the 100 year of the Remembrance Poppy and how the idea to distribute poppies as a way to raise money for veterans came about, and in July of 1921, the Great War Veterans Association adopted the poppy as the flower of Remembrance.

Beaver County Councillor Kevin Smook then recited A Poem for Remembrance Day.

Guest Speaker Chaplin recalled attending a Remembrance Day service at his school. He said veterans put seats out for those who had served and died. “Just look around at the empty seats today and imagine those fallen in combat. People you knew. People you loved. People from the community. People from your family. People from your unit.

I was too young to appreciate what I was witnessing…I’m learning to appreciate more than ever the sacrifice each of those soldiers made.

Most of us have never experienced the trauma of combat. We can only imagine the terror and pain of it. One thing stands out to me from that assembly so many years ago was how many veterans had lasting scars. Many of them came in in wheelchairs, using canes. So of them many caused by the war. The ones that didn’t have wheelchairs had no less debilitating emotional and mental scars they carry with them. There’s something special about the kind of person that is inherently drawn to the aid of others at the expense of their own health, safety and comfort.”

He asked attendees to join him in honouring, respecting and revering the soldiers for their sacrifice and their service.