Honouring our veterans

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Remembrance Day is next week, and Strathmore and area communities will gather to honour veterans.

Attendance to the indoor Remembrance Day ceremony at Strathmore’s Royal Canadian Legion Branch 10 will be restricted due to COVID-19, but residents still have an opportunity to watch.

For the service, the legion will be providing seating for 100, the maximum allowable number for indoor events currently under provincial gathering restrictions. This will be for veterans and their spouses, dignitaries, executives and their families, and the ladies auxiliary and their families.

That means there will be little room for other members of the public to attend, which is being discouraged anyway to minimize the chance of spreading COVID-19, explained Alan Auger, branch president.

“We encourage the public to stay home. With everything that’s going on, we don’t want to put anybody at risk,” he said.

Members of the public can watch the service online, as it is being streamed with the help of the Town of Strathmore to the legion’s Facebook page. People can also stop by outside the legion, where there will be wreaths laid at the cenotaph. 

“If (people) want to come up to do a two-minute silence in front of the legion cenotaph, they’re more than welcome to, but we won’t be doing any ceremony outside,” said Auger.

The legion will be erecting its field of crosses in the week prior to the ceremony and will perform a wreath laying at the cenotaph.

The legion’s wreath campaign to date has been successful. 

“It’s going very well,” said Auger. “We hoped for a good turn out, but it’s going better than what we thought.”

The branch’s poppy campaign started Oct. 30. In addition to Strathmore, volunteers will be visiting Carseland, Gleichen, Rockyford and Standard, he noted.

Gleichen ceremony

For the Gleichen Remembrance Day ceremony, attendees are to meet in the parking lot west of the Gleichen and District Community Centre (hall) at 10 a.m. The procession to the cenotaph will occur at 10:30 a.m., after which there will be a service and laying of wreaths. A service at the field of honour, located within the Gleichen Cemetery, will follow.

There will be no indoor service, food or gathering, with masks and physical distancing required.

Standard services

Those interested in the Remembrance Day service in Standard should meet in the Standard Community Hall parking lot before 10:45 a.m., with the services starting at 10:50 a.m. sharp and laying of wreaths to follow. 

There will be no indoor service, food or gathering, and masks and physical distancing is required.