Special Features - Remembrance Day 2015

We will remember them.

City Hall 501-3rd Ave., Box 190Fernie, BC V0B 1M0

www.fernie.ca

A Day to RememberThe City of Fernie honours our veterans and thanks those who have served andcontinue to serve.

Remembrance Day November 11

Military ProfilesParade Schedule“A Trip to Remember”Photo GalleryTribute in Verse

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6165 Brenners Road, Fernie, BC

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A day to remember...Thank you to thosewho sacrificed forour freedom.

Royal Canadian Legion Branch # 36, Fernie10:40 am Parade marches to the Cenotaph10:55 am Cenotaph Service11:00 am 2 minute Wave of Silence begins11:45 am Parade forms up again and marches back

to the Legion An Ecumenical service will follow in the Legion Hall

Royal Canadian Legion Branch #81, Sparwood10:00 am Church Service, Seniors drop-in centre at

101 Pine Avenue10:45 am Parade formation after service10:55 am Cenotaph Ceremony

March back to the seniors drop-in centre Hot chocolate for the participating youth A hot meal at Michel-Natal Branch 81, 117 Centennial Square

Royal Canadian Legion Branch # 279, Elkford10:00 am Alliance Church Service10:45 am Procession to Cenotaph at District of Elkford Office11:00 am Cenotaph Ceremony11:30 am Refreshments at Elkford Community

Conference Centre

Remembrance Day ServicesWednesday, November 11, 2015

C2 THE FREE PRESS Thursday, November 5, 2015 REMEMBRANCE DAY

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THE FREE PRESS Thursday, November 5, 2015 C3REMEMBRANCE DAY

As I walk by the cenotaph, I pause deep in thought.I think of the men who so bravely foughtWars of the past, the cause ours to rememberEvery day. Not just in November!

I think of the soldiers in trenches and mudI think of the wounded, all covered with blood.I think of the many who were lost at sea,And I thank God, that one wasn’t me.

I think of the airmen who fought in the skyWho went out on missions that oft went awryI think of the paratroopers falling from aboveAnd I think of them all with a lot of love.

As I walk by the cenotaph, I touch my cap peakIn a silent salute. In my mind I still seekA reason for the memorial. We have a debtWe cannot repay. We must not forget!

As I stand by the cenotaph in chilly NovemberI am with others who come to rememberThe comrades they had, and lost in that war.Not the last one, the one just before.

The memorial is there in every city or town big or smallIn a park, the city centre, or in front of the Legion Hall.The cenotaph is a reminder that we never learnWars are not won. And they always return.

The cause may be religion or a different ideologyIt may be a nation feels threatened, or maybeThey just wish to gain some more territory.It will start a new war, it’s the same old story.

As I stand by the cenotaph, and hear the bugle playTaps, and reveille, I wipe tears away.Then comes the kiltie with the bagpipe lamentAnd I think of the young men who so bravely went.

They answered a call, came from all walks of lifeFor a reason uncertain. They followed drum and fifeAnd marched off to war, and never returned.War is a dead end, a lesson not yet learned.

As I stand by the cenotaph on Remembrance DayI think of the sacrifices, the many who passed awayAnd in those memories there is one regretThe words we ignore are “Lest We Forget

The CenotaphKen C. Carlson Capt. Retd., enrolled in Oct. 1941 with the R.C.N.V.R. as a stoker. This part-time service came to an end in Jan. 1942, with a call to active service. Capt. Carlson served until demobilized in Aug. 1945. In 1949 he became an officer in the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corp in Kelowna, and subsequently was involved in the start-up of the corps in both Vernon and Williams Lake, B.C., retiring in 1971.

A former resident of Rocky Mountain Village in Fernie, he now resides in the George Derby Centre in Burnaby.

by Ken C. Carlson, Capt. Retd.


By John Chalmers Submitted

A book called The Stone Carvers, by C a n a d i a n author Jane U r q u h a r t p r o v i d e d motivation to see the great monument at Vimy Ridge in France, at the sight of one of the worst battles of the First World War. The story gave a human

perspective for the monument designed by Canadian sculptor and architect, Walter Allward (1875-1955). So my wife, Linda, and I decided that our travels in a trip to England should include an excursion to Vimy Ridge.

Allward’s design for the magnificent structure won a competition in the early 1920s and after construction finally started, the monument took 11 years to build. On April 9, 2007, ninety years to the day when the battle began on Vimy Ridge, Queen E l i z a b e t h , P r i m e M i n i s t e r S t e p h e n Harper and French Prime M i n i s t e r Domin ique de Villepin of France officially rededicated the great monument after nearly two and a half years of restoration work.

We already had tickets for a flight to London. The main focus of our trip would be to attend the 90th anniversary of Royal Air Force 101 Squadron, with which my uncle, Flight Sergeant navigator Alfred Chalmers perished with all eight aboard their Lancaster bomber on August 30, 1944. Previously, on August 30, 2001 I stood at the gravesite in Denmark of those young men and realized later that it marked the beginning of my research and writing about our military history.

On the internet, we booked tickets for the trip to France, travelling from London under the English Channel aboard the Eurostar train. After a few days in London, taking in such sights as Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, the National Gallery, the British Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral and two nights at the theatre, we boarded the train for a ride through the “chunnel.”

We alit at Lille, France, only an hour and a half later.

In Lille we took a rental car for the drive to Vimy Ridge to see the great monument that commemorates the terrible four-day battle In Lille that began on April 9, 1917. Working together for the first time, 15,000 infantry in four Canadian army Divisions took the height of land in the First World War. The victory was at a cost of 3,598 Canadian lives and another 7,000 wounded.

On a perfect day for our drive we could see in the distance the towering pylons representing Canada and France. But our first stop was at the roadside La Chaudière Cemetery with graves from 1916-18. There we first felt the impact of young men lost in

battle who never returned to their families. Row upon row, many military headstones marked the graves of men whose remains were unidentified.

Instead of name, rank and regiment, the inscription on some markers read, “A Canadian Soldier of The Great War. Known Unto God.” In that cemetery alone there are 638 Canadian and 268 British graves. Beyond the cornfields, sunflower and potato crops of the Douai plain stood the Vimy monument, brilliant in the morning sun.

The whiteness of the monument, when seen from a distance is its most outstanding feature seen against the green of the land surrounding it.

Shortly afterwards we arrived atop Hill 145 at the battle site where the monument is now located on Vimy Ridge. From the monument, standing beside the statue of a woman representing Canada mourning her lost young men, we could look east upon the countryside once devastated by war soaked with the blood of soldiers.

Historic photos show the battlefield site that was shelled without a tree left standing. Villages in the area were reduced to rubble.

Today in the green parkland surrounding the monument stands a planted forest, commemorating Canadian soldiers who fell. But near the monument are fenced areas with signs which warn of places still remaining dangerous because of unexploded shells.

Walter Allward’s design resulted in a splendid monument of white stone bearing

20 statues, each character symbolic and meaningful. Allward created each statue as a half-size model in plaster for professional carvers to use in shaping the white stone from an ancient quarry in present-day Croatia. Seventeen of the models are displayed at

the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, and three are in a museum at Canadian Forces Base Kingston.

It is hard to put into words the effect that the monument has upon one’s thoughts. A colleague, Timothy Dubé, who served as a military historian and archivist with Library and Archives Canada in O t t a w a , responded to my request for a comment in this way, when I asked what importance he feels that the m o n u m e n t represents.

He said, “I feel quite inadequate to comment about the importance of Vimy Ridge and the Vimy Memorial. The battle and its memorial do not symbolize the birth of a nation, as some people have

said. Instead, like too many memorials they mark the price paid by a country to ensure its survival. It is not the Vimy Memorial’s soaring columns that I see. Instead, my eyes, my mind, and my heart are drawn to its base and the names of the 11,285 Canadian soldiers inscribed on it who were posted ‘missing, presumed dead’ in France. They are

a very small part of the more than 66,000 Canadian soldiers killed in the First World War. I am reminded, too, of Sir Arthur Currie’s words to the Canadian Corps before a battle in 1918, when he said, ‘To those who will fall, I say, you will not die, but step into immortality... your names will be revered forever by a grateful country.’

“For too many years, Canadians had forgotten that pledge. With the Vimy Memorial’s rededication and the attention that Canadians, particularly Canadian youth, have shown in learning more about our history, that covenant has been restored. That’s what the Vimy Memorial means today,” says Dubé.

We walked across the battlefield site, through trenches resembling their 1917 appearance and took a tour through the tunnels below the battlefield where soldiers prepared to take the land above. There are 1.2 km of tunnels, of which 400 meters can be visited. Guides are Canadians, university students employed on four-month assignments through the Student Guide Program operated by Veterans Affairs Canada.

Although reluctant to leave, we had other places to go in our trip of remembrance. Next was Ypres, in Belgium, a short distance away, a town shattered by the war and rebuilt to

A Trip of Remembrance

Continued on page C5

In that cemetery alone there are 638 Canadian and 268 British graves. Beyond the cornfields, sunflower and potato crops of the

Douai plain stood the Vimy monument, brilliant in the

morning sun.

“For too many years, Canadians had forgotten

that pledge. With the Vimy Memorial’s rededication and the attention that Canadians, particularly Canadian youth, have

shown in learning more about our history, that

covenant has been restored. That’s what the Vimy

Memorial means today,” says Dubé.

“Canada Mourns,” The largest statue at the monument, was carved on site, as were all statues at the memorial, and symbolizes Cananda mourning her dead

Walter Allward, circa 1930Courtesy of Archives of Ontario

A statue depicting a male mourner at the Vimy Memorial. Within a 20-kilometre radius of the Vimy Memorial there are more than 7,000 Canadian soldiers buried in 30 cemeteries

A statue of a female mourner at the Vimy Memorial. Within a 20-kilometre radious of the Vimy Memorial there are more than 7,000 Canadian soldiers buried in 30 cemeteries.

The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is situated at the highest point of Vimy Ridge, overlooking the Douai Plain

La Chaudière Cemetery near Vimy Ridge. In the distance on the horizon, the two pylons of the Vimy Memorial can be seen.

“Breaking of the Sword, one of the many statues at the Vimy Memorial.


Fernie's Honour Roll(as it appears on the Fernie Cenotaph)

“Lest We ForgetErected to perpetuate our honoured dead and those who carried on in the Great War from

Fernie and District.”This saying is found on the Cenotaph in Fernie, which was erected on Victoria Day- May 24, 1923. The Cenotaph is still standing tall today in front of the Courthouse in Fernie.

WWIJ.C. DeedDavid LoganFrank TownsendFrank HerronAdam HowiesonAndrew CameronGarfield MitchellJames ScottJ.J. HixonT.J. SmithL. TeboThomas WakelemJohn F. AnnanG. ChedgyJoe DingsdaleRobert ConnellWilliam FitzgeraldWalter HarrisonWilliam ForsythT.S. IngramPete KennedyHarry JamesThomas MartinJock KellogJames HixonHarry S. BranchJohn MyersN. AlkeWilliam PrinceWilliam McArthurHarry ZuinceHugh McLarkeyLeonard RichardsonThomas SowersNathan RileyJames SteeleJames HarrisonNorman McBeanJ. SteeleRobert J. BlackJohn B. CartmellJoseph FearonJames CorriganRobert ForsythJames GorrieKenneth C. Carson

R.R. HenningAngus DunlapCharles HunnableThomas MartinStewart G. CorsanJoseph LeylandPeter JoinsonHector MurrayMurdock McKayThomas ShieldsPasquale PerriWilliam PeetHolden D. StewartWilliam RichardsonWilliam WilsonJ.J. MartinSam PoxonCharles YoungRichard StrainJohn AndersonThomas DixonJ.M. MurphyArthur SladeEarnest WilsonGeorge EvansJohn T. DixonJock AndersonJohn ApplebyT.W. StephensCecil HolmesWilliam McGuireArthur HopwoodJohn BoughT.A. FitzgeraldJames CorriganPeter GreenSydney McHughAlex BunchWilliam PhillipsThomas WoodF.M. WhitlowCharles ClarkeThomas PhillipsJames RavenJohn GaskellA.G. SmithWilliam Grant

WWIIRonald BrewerFrank CorriganThomas FitzPatrickPaul FrayneWilliam GillJames HowellLeslie HunterFrank IngramPeter KaneWilliam KlauerWilliam MahoneyJack McCluskeyJames McLeanPeter StefikJohn SwopeAlex SwiderskiFrank TownsleyEarl VanBuskirkDean WashburnFred Worth

Korea 1950-1953Vincent Liska

The Tyn Cot Cemetery is the final resting place of 11,956 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War. Of those, 8.369 are unidentified.

its original glory in the central core. Ypres is the home of the Menin Gate memorial, where every day at 8:00 p.m. a ceremony remembers those who were lost in the Great War. On panels at the memorial are carved the names of 54,389 soldiers who died in the

area, and who have no known graves.Another stop as we travelled through

Flanders fields was the Tyn Cot Cemetery near the battle site of Passchendaele, another bloody conflict of the First World War. There a Canadian victory was won in November 1917 at a cost of over 15,000 dead and wounded. It is at Tyn Cot Cemetery where we felt price of war the most. It is the largest cemetery in Europe maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves commission, where a staggering 11,956 graves are marked

by perfect rows of military headstones. After returning the rental car, next day

was another quick trip through the chunnel to London, where across the street from Waterloo Station we picked up our rental car for the drive to Lincoln. We spent two days in celebrations with RAF 101 Squadron Association, drove around the County of Lincolnshire, stayed at B & B’s, toured the countryside and travelled 940 miles on the “wrong” side of the road, shifting a 5-speed transmission with my left hand.

Highlights of the trip besides Vimy included visits to three major aviation museums in England and a chance to see flypasts by the only flying Lancaster bomber

in the country. Of 7,400 Lancasters built for the Second World War, there are only about two dozen left in the world and only two of them fly. The other is in Canada at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum at Mount Hope, Ontario, adjacent to Hamilton.

Returning home, I have greater admiration than ever for Canadians who serve in our armed forces, and especially for those who gave their lives for freedom. Likewise, I have a greater understanding of civilians whose lives were shaken by the winds of war. In my own life, I am more proud than ever to have worn the uniform of the Royal Canadian Air Force as a member of RCAF reserve squadrons in my high school and university years. We must never forget.

Returning home, I have greater admiration than ever for Canadians who

serve in our armed forces, and especially for those who gave their lives for

freedom. Likewise, I have a greater understanding of civilians whose lives were

shaken by the winds of war.

A reconstructed trench of the First World War at the Vimy Memorial

The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missingin Ypres, Belgium.

Author note: John Chalmers is an Edmonton writer and historian who enjoys visiting family in Fernie. For more information, check internet sites for Vimy Ridge, the Menin Gate, Veterans Affairs Canada, the Canadian War Museum and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

A Trip of Remembrance continued


Elkford

Sparwood

Fernie

Remembrance Day in The Elk Valley


On Remembrance Day…We recognize the many sacrifices made by our men and women in uniform both today and throughout our nation’s history. We honour their courage and

dedication, and we thank them for their contribution to our country.

Thank You, Veterans.

113 Red Cedar Drive, Sparwood * 250-425-6489

Wearing a red poppy for Remembrance Day on November 11 has been a tradition in this country for 90 years now. The white poppy,

dating from 1933, has recently resurfaced, however. It is a way to remember the civilian victims of war. The two complement each other: the red for those who died for their country, the white for the hope of peace.

Did you know that behind these poppy campaigns, both past and present, are some very committed women? The adoption of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance has international origins. The first person to use it in this way was Mrs. Moina Michael, a staff member of the American Overseas YMCA, during the last year of the First World War. In April 1920 she led a stirring campaign to have the poppy recognized as the official symbol of remembrance by the American Legion. At the same time, Mrs. Anna Guérin, from France, became an ardent defender of the poppy as the symbol that would help all citizens remember those who died in the war.

The efforts of these two ladies were not in vain. The first “poppy day” was held on November 11, 1921, in France as well as in Commonwealth countries. Ninety years later, the poppy is still a reminder to us all. But we must not forget that on November 11, 1933, the Women’s Cooperative Guild in the United Kingdom launched the white poppy campaign, symbolizing the will to work towards creating a world without violence, to resolve conflicts peacefully, and to remember civilian victims of war.

Red and white poppies

Lest We ForgetElkford Remembrance Day Service

10:00 am Alliance Church Service10:45 am Procession to Cenotaph

at District of Elkford Of� ce

11:00 am Cenotaph Ceremony11:30 am Refreshments at Elkford

Community Conference Centre

Wednesday, November 11Come out and honour our veterans

Sparwood, BCRoyal Canadian Legion Branch #8110:00 a.m. Church Service, Seniors drop-in centre at 101 Pine Avenue10:45 a.m. Parade formation a� er service10:55 a.m. Cenotaph Ceremony, march back to the seniors drop-in centre, hot chocolate for the participating youth. A hot meal at Michel-Natal Branch 81, 117 Centennial Square.

Remembrance Day Services

Lest We

Forget741B 2nd Ave, Fernie, BC(250) 423-4661www.salvationarmy.ca

Aaron KozlerAaron Kozler is back in Sparwood

after being based in Gagetown New Brunswick serving with the Royal

Canadian Regiment 2nd Battalion. He joined the military in 2008. He

completed one tour in Afghanistan in 2010. He is the son of Scott Kozler of

Sparwood B.C. and Cheryl Oczkowski of Coleman AB.

Bernie N KabelBernie Kabel was born June 12, 1934 in McCreary, Manitoba.He enlisted November 1953 and retired after 25 years on December 4, 1978 from PPCLI, Shilo Manitoba.Bernie Kabel now resides in Fernie at Rocky Mountain Village.

Harold Travis S.S.M. & Bar:C.D.& Bar:Harold Travis served from November 19th, 1949 until July 11th, 1972. Plus seven years in the reserves.He started as an armourer, commissioned from ranks in 1952 and studied as a Navigator; he ceased training (released) and re-enlisted in 1955 as a flight engineer.Harold flew DC 3's, Albatross, Buffalo, Argus and many others.Served in Bermuda, Belize, The Golem Heights, Britain, Ireland, France and Germany. Also Gibraltar, Cyprus and of course Canada's north country. Comox, Trenton, Winnipeg, Greenwood and Halifax. He recently had his 87th birthday, and is looking forward to many more.

Master Corporal Jeff Rygaard

Master Corporal Jeff Rygaard served for four years and was based in

Shilo, Manitoba. Jeff Rygaard also served

in Afghanistan.He graduated from

Fernie SecondaryJeff Rygaard is married

and has a little girl.


Special Features - Remembrance Day 2015

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