Students, Legion veterans, Cadets, and members of the public gathered at Lindsay Thurber High School on Wednesday for their annual Remembrance Day ceremony. (Photo by Ian Gustafson/ rdnewsNOW staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Honouring veterans

Thousands gather at Lindsay Thurber for Remembrance Day ceremony

Nov 6, 2024 | 4:34 PM

Lest we forget.

Well over 2,000 people attended the annual Lindsay Thurber High School Remembrance Day ceremony on Wednesday, honouring those who sacrificed their lives fighting to protect Canada.

The ceremony attracted people of all ages including numerous uniformed personnel such as students, Legion members, RCMP, members of the public and Cadets.

The school has been holding a Remembrance Day ceremony since 2001.

Before that, most schools in the area honoured veterans in more informal ways but after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks over 20 years ago, they decided to hold a full Remembrance Day ceremony.

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Janna Armstrong, event organizer and teacher at Lindsay Thurber, said it’s important for the students to continue to honour those who served.

“We’re moving farther and farther away from the time when some of these conflicts happened. It’s important to keep this tradition alive so that our students understand the historical impact,” she said.

The ceremony began with the marching in of the colour guard followed by remembering those who fought during D-Day.

Some of those included a performance of “Where the Light Begins” by the LTCHS Treble Choir and a video display explaining the events of D-Day. They also showed art work done by students and the LTCHS Symphonic Band also performed “Hymn to the Fallen.”

This year marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day, which took place on June 6, 1944, where thousands of Canadian soldiers landed at Juno Beach in Normandy, France.

On that day, 381 Canadians were killed in the fighting of D-Day and 5,500 died during the Battle of Normandy. They were among 45,000 Canadians who died in World War II.

Student Fahd Mohamed read the poem In Flander’s Fields followed by the reading of names of former students of Lindsay Thurber who served in the First World War and Second World War.

Students, faculty, and veterans layed wreaths and Colten Kilpatrick performed the Last Post and Rouse. The treble choir and symphonic band performed O’ Canada before wrapping up the ceremony.

“Many areas of our school contributed to the ceremony,” Armstrong said.

“We have our band, art programs, choir, and the English department get’s involved with our poetry contest. Our social studies get’s involved with the learning aspect because we always have a video about what our theme was that year, so not only are we doing our part to memorialize the people who were here but also there’s a learning piece.”

Al Low, a local veteran who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force for 36 years, was in attendance alongside other veterans.

Originally from Nelson, B.C., he joined the Air Cadets and moved to Red Deer following his retirement in 1999 from the RCAF.

His father served in the Second World War as a tank driver and had an uncle who was killed in France during the Phoney War which began at the onset of the Second World War.

Low himself served in Germany during the Cold War. He explained that Remembrance Day is a sign of respect whether you’re in the military or not.

“It’s keeping up a tradition and this is a good example here with over 2,000 kids doing this every year,” he said.

“Every year they keep the kids up and involved knowing something else went on before they were born. Our mission is to assist wherever we can. Some Legion members go to schools where they talk to the kids but it’s all about keeping up a tradition.”