ESTEVAN — The Royal Canadian Legion's Estevan branch is ready to host the city's annual Remembrance Day service at the Estevan Comprehensive School on Nov. 11, starting at 10:45 a.m.
"Everything's lined up and ready to go for the service," said Troy LeBlanc with the legion.
The service will feature the traditional assortment of ceremonies, music and tributes. Once the dignitaries and the special guests have been paraded in, the Last Post will be played, followed by two minutes of silence and then Rouse.
Estevan legion president Jim (Frosty) Forrest will read the Roll of Honour – the list of names of people from the Estevan area who died in the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War and the Afghanistan War. A wreath will be laid on the Unknown Soldier's grave.
Amazing Grace will be played and Flanders Field will be read.
The guest speaker will be Chief Petty Officer Duane Gall, who is from Estevan and has been a long-time member of the Royal Canadian Navy.
After the ceremony, the service at the cenotaph will begin. Politicians, community leaders, protective services personnel, service group representatives, youth groups and others will place wreaths at a makeshift cenotaph.
Last year marked the first time since 2019 that the ceremony was held at the Comp. The ceremonies in 2020 and 2021 services were held outdoors at the permanent cenotaph due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
While it was nice to be outside at the monument, LeBlanc said a lot of people were happy to be indoors.
Lunch will be served at the legion after the ceremony. After lunch, there will be a plaque dedication at the permanent cenotaph in the afternoon. That ceremony is expected to be at around 1 p.m.
"We've updated the plaque on the cenotaph," said Cpl. Craig Bird with the legion. "We've added a bunch of new names, as well as added Afghanistan, because we had one member of the community that was born here in Estevan who died while he was serving in Afghanistan."
The ceremony will be part of a busy week in the community for the legion. The annual poppy campaign is underway with poppy trays to be found throughout the community. The proceeds will be directed to causes that assist veterans.
The Estevan branch has been hosting Remembrance Day ceremonies at seniors' facilities in the community, and there will be assemblies in Estevan schools.
Bird has also been involved with the South East Military Museum's banner project. Additional banners were completed this year. Two more communities, Kisbey and Whitewood, have been added to the 10 that were already participating.
Thirty-six new banners have been added to the communities this year, honouring 55 veterans. Included in that are 22 banners in Estevan, with five new ones this year.
