CANORA - The annual Decoration Day event is planned for Sunday, June 1, at 13:00 hrs. (1 p.m. local time) at the veterans’ area of the Canora Community Cemetery.
The first Decoration Day was held on June 2, 1890, a celebration of the veterans who fought in the Battle of Ridgeway. Many Royal Canadian Legions have continued this event ever since and it was the first and only Remembrance of veterans for 41years until the Remembrance Day Act in 1931, which made Remembrance Day a legal federal holiday.
In the beginning, there was a brief service followed by the cleaning and decorating of the veterans’ graves. Veterans and members of the public worked on this together. The goal and motto of the Royal Canadian Legion is “We will remember them,” also our Act of Remembrance.
We must recall that the local veterans who are buried there were largely responsible for our standard of life, for our safety, for our freedom, and for life itself. What better way for us to thank them than to proceed to their burial place and show that we care and do remember them.
This service of remembrance for veterans has been an annual event at the Canora Community Cemetery for several years but unfortunately has not resonated with our local community, with only 16 total members of the public attending over the past three years – in spite of public appeals through newspaper articles.
With this low rate of interest being shown by our local community, our local Royal Canadian Legion is questioning whether we should continue offering this annual Decoration Day Service of Remembrance for our veterans and this may well be our last one.
This year as we gather again to remember and thank our veterans, we ask for assistance from our public. We intend to honour them in similar fashion that was done during the original Decoration Day services with local legion members participating directly along with members of the public, hopefully including families.
We intend to hold a brief service at the Legion Cemetery Memorial and then all of us proceed to the gravesites, and there place a poppy, or flowers, or a decoration then voice each name, and state that “We remember them.” What better way to remember them than to have many local appreciative people go there and say it- eternal promise made; eternal promise kept. Then our future generations will know it and remember them.
Immediately following we shall have a time of fellowship at the Legion Dugout, southeast kitty corner to the elementary school. Please help us by attending this annual Decoration Day event at the Veterans’ area of Canora Cemetery on June 1 at 1 p.m. and help our local Royal Canadian Legion branch to thank, honour and remember our veterans for what they have done for us. Further, we are always happy to welcome new members.
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