An estimated 300 to 400 Rossland residents attended a Remembrance Day ceremony at the cenotaph outside the Rossland Public Library on Friday morning.
Following a service at the Rossland Legion Hall, Parade Marshall Doug Halladay and the colour party led the parade down Columbia Ave. to the cenotaph, and there joined their fellow Rosslanders in remembering the men and woman who fought for Canada.
All those gathered sang “O Canada,” and Nick Nelson played “The Last Post” before everyone observed a moment of silence.
After a lament on the bagpipes and “Reveille” on the trumpet, Joanne Drystek, president of the Rossland Legion, read the Act of Remembrance and Vince Profilli, master of ceremonies, read the roll call (see below), while Scouts laid poppies in front of crosses put out for Rosslanders who served in the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War.
Then representatives of the Queen, and the federal, provincial and municipal governments, and representatives of businesses and organizations in Rossland, laid wreaths at the base of the cenotaph.
Reverend Ken Siemens then gave the prayer of commemoration and the benediction, reminding Rosslanders to live their lives in a way that respects the sacrifice that was made for them.
“You have done well to attend this service. You are to be commended for your solemn respect, but my friends, there is a far greater act of respect, which we owe to the brave men and women that we remember today,” said Rev. Siemens, “those who went to war and did not come back. That act that is so very important is this: that we must live as people worthy of the sacrifice that was made on our behalf.”
Following “God Save the Queen,” which concluded the service, many went to the Legion Hall, where there was free stew and hot dogs, and where the Rossland Light Opera Players sang old war-time songs.
Drystek, Legion president, was happy with the turnout for the ceremony. “We were thrilled to see the number of people that came out to the cenotaph. It seems every year there’s more and more people, and that just continues. So it’s really good that people are remembering our troops.”
Rossland’s Fallen Comrades
Second Boer War (1899-1902)
C.W. CotterhillB.H. LeeE. Mackintosh
First World War (1914-1918)
C.E. AdamsH. BowersR. BowieE.V. BloomfieldA. CampbellJ. CockingT. CrossJ. DawsonR. GunnH. HolmesJ. InchesM. JanichJ. Kearney E.J. LeeA.G. LeesonA. LindsayR.J. MartelloA. McLeanJ. MellachZ. NikitovichF.S. OliverH. PackerJ. PaulJ.A. PaullR. RakovichT. TalbotJ. TrewhellaG. WallaceT. WallaceWm.V. Wyldes
Second World War (1939-1945)
G. BeleyR.S. ChurchillJ.W. ClarkB.F. CleetonR.E. CoulterE.S. CoutureE.T. CoxT. DunneD. FunkR.A. JohnsonJ. HowellC.J. LewisJ.C. LeesR.J. MartelloJ.McLellanC. MorrisA.W. OggW. OzeroffE.T. PhillipsJ.B. RichardsonJ. TongueD. WatsonJ. Wright
