RIVERS
BANNER November 18, 2016
ersary v i n Celebrating our 108th An
Gazette-Reporter
Serving the Rivers, Rapid City and Oak River areas for 107 years
Volume 109, Issue 21
89¢ + tax
All ages at Remembrance Day A By Sheila Runions Banner Staff
s time marches on and veterans who served in the Second World War are 90 years and more, it is encouraging to see so many elementary and collegiate students involved in the solemn ceremony of Remembrance Day recognition at Rivers. After the few veterans filed in, followed by legion/auxiliary members, police and EMS staff, our national anthem was sung. There was a hymn, bugle call, bagpipes, Scripture, “sermon” and students. Preston Bylo and Emily Oldenburger from Rivers Elementary School recited In Flanders Fields before collegiate student council president Connor English gave a short speech. He encouraged the crowd to think of the past wars and how those human resources would affect tutoring, graduation, sport teams, etc. When he mentioned that he was old enough to head to war should 2016 be 100 years ago, there was a somber sense as people paused to ponder his proposition. While Rivers has no cadet movement now, several youth head to Brandon to participate in all three divisions. They in turn, participated in the service here: Cadet Tessa McIntyre, Bombardier Hannah Toews, Sergeant Avery Toews (army), Leading Seaman Morgan Houghton, Master Seaman Brody Davis (navy), Flight Corporal Adrian McKay-Heide (air). The girls shared duties of pinning poppies on a styrofoam cross as 50 local honour roll names were mentioned, while the boys passed off nine wreaths to dignitaries who placed them. Another 50some crosses were purchased with nearly 30 of them lining the front of the stage of Rivers Collegiate. Several statistics were mentioned. Padre Glenna Beauchamp reminded the assembly that between April 9-12, 1917 the 4th Division of the Canadian
Photo by Sheila Runions
R/L: Percy Rosamond, Bert Cluney, Ivan Arnold, Ken Young, Ron Radford and more march in during the veterans procession.
army captured Hill 145, better known as Vimy. That “strategic hill overlooked a network of trenches and was Canada’s most celebrated military victory; 11,289 Canadians are listed on the Vimy Ridge memorial.” Sgt. Steve Damery of Shilo was the guest speaker; he mentioned
that 620,000 of our countrymen served in the First World War and that more than 10 per cent (66,000) did not return home. Of the more than one million Canadians who served in the Second World War, more than 45,000 perished and in Korea, some 27,000 fought with 1,558
injured and 516 succumbing to death. Since 1956 more than 125,000 Canadians have served in more than 50 United Nations peacekeeping missions; 113 of those died. is final statistic was that d ring the - ear con ict with Afghanistan, 158 of the 40,000+ Canadians have not re-
t rned home. It is fig res s ch as these that make one mindful of the sacrifices made b so man so that we who are left can enjoy so much. Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn… We will remember them.