Remembrance Day 2019

Grade 8 student Darius M. led the Colour Party and laid the wreath during the school’s Remembrance Day Service on Friday, November 8

 

IHMS conducts a special Remembrance Day prayer service every year to commemorate all the Canadian soldiers who fought and died in previous and current wars. Since November 11th fell on a Monday this year, staff and students enjoyed a Remembrance Day long weekend – the first in 3 years. So on Friday, November 8th, everyone gathered in the school gym shortly after 9:00 a.m. for the Remembrance Day prayer service.

 

Students and staff gathered in the school gym for a Remembrance Day Service on Friday, November 8th. The focal point of the service was the symbolic cenotaph, shown in the above photo. Note that a cenotaph is a tomblike monument erected to honour a dead person who is not actually buried there. A cenotaph usually commemorates people who died in a war.

 

After a brief welcome by Mr. Picklyk, the service began with an entrance procession of three grade 4 students –Anna C., Ilyana S., and Maxym I. who carried the Canadian flag, the Ukrainian flag, and an icon of Mary respectively into the gym.

 

Mr. Picklyk (top 2 photos) and an entrance procession of three grade 4 students carrying the Canadian flag, the Ukrainian flag, and an icon of Mary

 

Everyone rose for “O Canada”, the national anthem, followed by a reading of the biblical passage Ephesians 4: 25-27, 29-32 by Sr. Emily Schietzsch, SSMI.

 

Sr. Emily Schietzsch, SSMI.reading Ephesians 4: 25-27, 29-32

 

Next, Khushleen D.(the student council president) read a short Remembrance Day passage entitled “A Poppy is to Remember”.

 

 

 

The poppy has come to symbolize Remembrance Day as a result of a poem written during World War I by a Canadian military physician called John McCrae. The poem, called “In Flanders Fields”, referred to the poppy because it bloomed in some of the worst battlefields of Flanders, and its red colour was an appropriate symbol for the horrendous bloodshed of the region. According to the Vetern Affairs Canada website, the Royal Canadian Legion suggests that the Poppy be worn on the left lapel of a garment or as close to the heart as possible. A real poppy flower A symbolic poppy worn on Remembrance Day

 

 

The grade 6 class sang a song entitled “In Flanders Fields” (top 2 photos) and the grade 5 class read a French poem entitled “Brave Soldats” (third photo). The Kindergarten class sang a song entitled “I’ve Got Peace in my Fingers” (last three photos)

 

This was followed by five grade 7 students reading their “Sentence of Remembrance”. The students read a Remembrance Day assignment that they did in class. The five student read their assignments in five different languages.

 

Grade 7 students reading their “Sentence of Remembrance”

 

Next, Mrs. Stanowych led the grade 4 class in a choral song entitled “Peace Song”.

 

The grade 4’s sang a song called “Peace Song”

 

Probably the highlight of this year’s Remembrance Day service was the traditional laying of the wreath by the school’s “Colour Party”. The Colour Party is always composed of a group of grade 6-8 students who belong to a “uniform” wearing organization such as Sum, Plast, or the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. This year’s Colour Party was made up of Darius M., Nazar B., Dennis D., Lukyan B., Chrystyna D., and Madelyn Y.

 

The Colour Party preparing to march to the cenotaph

 

The Colour Party marched loudly and in perfect formation from the gym entrance, along the back wall, and down the middle of the gym to the symbolic cenotaph at the front. Darius M. laid the wreath on the cenotaph and then stepped back and saluted while the rest of the marchers filed around on either side of the cross.

 

The Colour Party marched to the front of the gym where Darius M. laid the wreathes at the base of the cenotaph

 

The marchers assumed their positions and saluted during a recorded bugle call entitled “Last Post”. The Last Post is a bugle call that has been incorporated into military funerals where it is played as a final farewell, symbolizing the fact that the duty of the dead soldier is over and that they can rest in peace. Everyone remained silent and solemn while the Colour Party held their salute during the moment of silence.

 

The Colour Party held their salutes while observing a moment of silence. After the moment of silence. they were ordered to stand at ease and remain in place.

 

After everyone recited the closing prayer (“Our Father” in Ukrainian), the Remembrance Day Service was over and students filed out of the gym and back to their classrooms.

 

The Colour Party posing with the cenotaph at the end of the service. Click HERE to enlarge