Gone but not forgotten

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Published on Saturday, June 20, 2015

By Sheila Runions

Banner Staff

Although not an official holiday or celebration in Canada, several Legion branches try to plan a memorial service for their war dead as close to D-Day as possible. In Rivers, the 2015  Decoration Day ceremony was Sunday, June 7. In fact, Branch No. 75 basically honoured veterans, dead or alive, all weekend long. 

Friday was the annual veterans’ banquet which approximately 60 people attended, 39 being veterans from Rivers and surrounding communities such as Oak Lake, Brandon and Winnipeg (Hector MacDougall, a member of Branch 75 who also received his 30-year pin that evening).

On Saturday members spent the afternoon at Rivers Cemetery placing crosses at all the veteran headstones. Sunday was a 15-minute service at the cenotaph park, followed by cookies and coffee in the upper hall. Some 35 people were counted in the park for this service, which was opened by branch president Darryl Childerhose; also participating were auxiliary president Marlene Hayhurst and padre Glenna Beauchamp, who provided handouts for responsive readings and prayer.

During the invocation she talked of the “great victory over tyranny and insidious evil,” and the people responded that “we honour those who fought and died in war time.” In her reflection she mentioned the televised 70th anniversary celebrations in Holland. She was “struck by how very well cared-for these cemeteries are. Cemeteries are kept in perfect condition not on special occasions or once a year, but year after year, day after day. These war cemeteries testify that the people of Holland never forgot, and never will forget, the sacrifice Canadian soldiers made to give them back their freedom; 7,600 Canadians died so Holland would be free again. Decoration Day is a time when we acknowledge the special part these gravestones have in helping us to remember the courage and sacrifice of those who fought and died so that we, and many others, might live in freedom.”

There were prayers, scripture reading, royal and national anthems, Last Post, silence, Lament and Rouse. As the people so aptly prayed, “Help us to be faithful to those ideals for which they fought and died. We pray we may be worthy of their sacrifice. May we continue to perpetuate the memory of our departed comrades, and remember our solemn obligation.”