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Gaven Crites photo
Mike Reichely, a member of the 2887 Rocky Mountain Rangers Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps, stood on ceremonial guard in front of the cenotaph outside the 100 Mile Community Hall before a Remembrance Day ceremony on Nov. 11.
Heart-warming turnout for ceremony Hundreds gather at 100 Mile Community Hall for Remembrance Day
Gaven Crites Free Press
Uniformed figures stood still and silent on ceremonial guard at corners of the cenotaph outside the 100 Mile Community Hall, while onlookers with red poppies on their chests lined the sidewalks of Birch Avenue in anticipation of the annual Remembrance Day parade. The sound of distant bagpipes announced its commencement. Hundreds of residents packed the community hall for the hour-long Nov. 11 ceremony that followed. Royal Canadian Legion Branch #260 president Bob Wangensteen said the large turnout was heart-warming, and customary of 100 Mile House. “It’s like this every year. People in 100 Mile are fantastic. Everybody gets behind it 100 per cent. This is a
wonderful small town. Branch #260 pastor, talked about “I want people to know we’ve gratitude during the ceremony and had hundreds of thousands of vet- then led the crowd in prayer. erans make the ultimate sacrifice “We all witnessed some horrific in the last 100 years,” events,” Forsyth said of Wangensteen added. the attacks on Vincent It's like this “They gave us the and Cirillo. every year. country we live in. It “We heard about People in warms my heart to see two men that lost their 100 Mile are the people come out and lives.... What we witfantastic. honour them.” nessed was evil. There’s Everybody Recent attacks, which no other way to put it. gets behind it claimed the lives of two “I think all of us in our 100 per cent. Canadian soldiers – daily lives, we deal with – Bob Warrant Officer Patrice evil to some extent,” he Wangensteen Vincent, 53, and Cpl. added. “However, there Nathan Cirillo, 24, – in are those who live in eastern Canada in October, seemed our country and in our community to have added to the gravity and who have made a choice that they poignancy of Remembrance Day confront evil as a vocation ... a proceremonies all over the country this fession, a way of life.” year. The Eclectica Community Choir Pastor Gary Forsyth, Legion sang throughout the ceremony,
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which saw close to two dozen groups lay wreaths at the foot of the stage in the Community Hall. Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett also paid her respects and addressed the crowd. “Many countries are not at peace,” she said. “Men, women and children, still live day-to-day, hour-by-hour, wondering, ‘Will it ever end?’ Lives too many to count since the First World War have been taken. “We do not understand why guns cannot be put to rest.... Why not settle differences with ballots, not bullets? Why not think of life, not death?.... I hope we will one day soon find the answers to these questions.” Barnett also gave thanks to those serving Canada today, and to those who never came home from war. “We will never forget your sacrifice.”