The Weyburn branch of the Royal Canadian Legion will host the Remembrance Day services on Tuesday, Nov. 11.
The day will start with the gathering of the parade around 10:30 a.m., and at 10:45 the parade will march up Third Street to stop in front of the cenotaph at Memorial Park.
With padre Rev. John Ferrier acting as the emcee, the "Last Post" and "Reveille" will play, with two minutes of silence in between as people pay their respects to the memory of those who have passed on, serving Canada in war time or peacetime.
Legion member Jerry Ponto will then read out the names of those who are laying wreaths at the cenotaph, beginning with the War Mother, Lauretta Schmidt, followed by representatives of the City of Weyburn, province of Saskatchewan, Government of Canada, Weyburn Police Service, RCMP, the Legion, Cadets, and many, many organizations, individuals, companies and service clubs sponsoring wreaths.
Once all the wreaths have been laid at the cenotaph, the service will move indoors to the upper hall in the Weyburn Legion, with Rev. Ferrier as the emcee for the service.
Dignitaries representing the city, provincial and federal governments will bring greetings, and the Variations community choir will sing for the service, along with hymns for the audience to sing in taking part in the service.
Following the service, the special War Mother's luncheon will be held downstairs in the Legion Hall's Vimy Room, and members and guests are welcome to attend and share fellowship.
In addition to the main service of Remembrance on Nov. 11, the Legion's Colour Guard will visit the schools in Weyburn where they also hold their own services of remembrance, with Rev. Ferrier speaking at most of those gatherings, and the Colour Party bringing in the official colours. At some schools, representatives of the grades will lay wreaths at the front of the auditorium, and there are often recitations of "In Flanders Fields" or of essays or poems written by students as they learn about the importance of Remembrance Day.
This year, 2014, marks several significant anniversaries and milestones which will be part of the Remembrance Day ceremonies.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, which lasted from 1914 to 1918, and is also the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War, which went from 1939 to 1945. In the latter conflict, more than one million Canadian soldiers, sailors and airmen served, and more than 45,000 of them lost their lives.
This year is also the 70th anniversary of the Italian Campaign during the Second World War, and of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy.
D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944, with more than 14,000 Canadian soldiers taking part along with Normandy coast, and more than 5,000 Canadians died in that major campaign.
More recent milestones include the 50th anniversary of the Canadian peacekeeping efforts in Cyprus; Canadian soldiers arrived on the island nation in 1964 and helped keep the peace there until 1993, and a small Canadian contingent remains there today.
Also, this is the 40th anniversary of the deaths of nine peacekeepers in the Middle East, as nine Canadian Armed Forces members were killed on Aug. 9, 1974, the largest single-day loss for Canada in a peace support mission.
With the end of Canada's mission in Afghanistan, this year will see the rededication of the National War Memorial, including the more than 40,000 Canadians who served in Afghanistan.
This rededication will be particularly significant with the death of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo on Oct. 22 as he stood guard at the War Memorial.
