Remembrance Day is next week and it serves as a day that honours every armed forces member that fell in the line of duty as well as the veterans who remain with us.
The current President of the Terrace Branch of the Legion, Ray Hallock, whose father served in World War 2, recently spoke with us and discussed what Remembrance Day meant to him;
“Remembrance Day means many things to me, it means in the traditional sense that we are being respectful and remembering all those tens upon tens of thousands of Canadian servicemen who gave their lives in the great wars of modern history. The First World War, the Second World War and the third big war was Korea. Those are all serving members who gave their lives, whom we must honour and remember. But there is also a loss of other people to remember. There are lots of current active servicemen who lose their lives, like the recent tragedy in Wainwright, who have paid with their lives in other deployments at the behest of the Canadian Government in different areas around the world. We also honour the losses of the RCMP, firefighters and other first responders. Because the philosophy, particularly to me, is that anybody who gets up in the morning and says goodbye to their wife as they go out to work, not knowing if they’re going to come home that night, that means they definitely have a commitment to looking after us.”
Hallock also mentioned that the Terrace Legion was having some issues finding new members and volunteers for events, with him hoping that more members of the public and younger veterans will give them a chance, stating that the Legion is open to everyone, not just veterans, and that it’s offering free memberships this year to celebrate 100 years of it’s existence.
Terrace will also host it’s annual Remembrance Day Parade on the 11th, and it’ll form at the Safeway parking lot at 10:15 AM, then start marching at 10:40, pass by McDonald’s for a review, stop at the Cenotaph for a ceremonial service, then eventually return to the Safeway parking lot and disband.
Any children who participate in the parade can stop by the Happy Gang Center for refreshments afterwards.