Small Remembrance Day ceremony in Smoky Lake

By Irene van der Kloet

The Smoky Lake Legion had it all set up: a Remembrance Day ceremony in the complex, complete with a full-service wreath laying, a minister and children carrying flags. Normally, many children attend the Remembrance Day ceremony, and altogether about 250 people attend the event to honour Canada’s veterans. However, a respiratory virus (or more than one) sweeping through Smoky Lake kept many residents at home. 100 children at the H.A. Kostash school were sick. “We could not take that risk for the community,” George Brooks, Legion president, says. “If we had brought all these people together, for sure more people would have been sick a few days later, and we did not want that responsibility.” Hence, a much smaller event was held at the Legion. On November 11, at 11:00, two minutes of silence were held by approximately fifteen participants, most of them Legion members. This is the designated moment for the ceremony as the Armistice between the Allies and Germany at the end of World War I was signed on November 11, 1918, at 5:15 a.m. in a train wagon in Compiegne, France, to become effective at 11:00 a.m. that same day. Ironically, when France capitulated to the Germans at the beginning of World War II, Hitler demanded that the French capitulation be signed on June 22, 1940, in that same train wagon on that same spot in Compiegne. Every year at 11:00 a.m. on November 11, veterans are honoured with a ceremony. Veterans are all those who have served in the Canadian Forces, regardless of whether they have been deployed abroad or not. Following the silence, everyone went outside, and Legion representatives laid a wreath by the cenotaph. The ceremony was concluded with a lunch offered free of charge by the Legion. The Legion is creating another chance to connect with the community: they are planning a Christmas dinner for the community on December 25th. More about this to follow in mid-December.