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Small Remembrance Day ceremony scheduled again for this year

The pandemic once again puts a hold on the usual parade in Revelstoke
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Past president of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 46 in Revelstoke, Ed Koski presented Mayor Gary Sulz with the first poppy of the season at the Oct. 26 council meeting. (Josh Piercey-Revelstoke Review)

Revelstoke’s Remembrance Day parade is once again cancelled this year, as well as the usual gathering in the Legion, however a small ceremony is planned for 10:55 a.m. at the cenotaph.

Attendees are asked to continue following COVID protocols.

The ceremony will also be live streamed by the Revelstoke Review for those who do not wish to attend in person.

READ MORE: Remembering John Augustyn: one of Revelstoke’s last Second World War veterans

This year is the 100th anniversary of the poppy being adopted as a symbol of remembrance.

Anna Guerin, of France, is credited with having first proposed the poppy as a symbol of the horrible costs and sacrifices of war in the aftermath of the First World War.

Guerin drew inspiration from In Flanders Fields, the moving poem written during the war by lieutenant-colonel John McCrae and which continues to be read at Remembrance Day ceremonies across Canada and other parts of the world each year.

READ MORE: Legion marks 100th anniversary of poppy symbol during campaign launch

The Great War Veterans’ Association of Canada officially adopted the poppy symbol in 1921, and the iconic flower has been worn in the weeks leading up to the annual ceremony ever since. Donations collected during the fundraising campaign are used to support various Legion programs for veterans, including:

•training and research

•medical appliances to assist the care of veterans

•services through Canadian Military Family Resource Centres

•housing and care facilities for elderly, disabled and homeless veterans

•bursaries for children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of veterans

•veteran drop-in centres and meals-on-wheels programs

•sponsorship of cadet and youth programs

The Legion asks everyone to wear a poppy in remembrance.

READ MORE: Photos: Remembrance Day in Revelstoke during COVID-19

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@RevelstokeRevue
editor@revelstoketimesreview.com

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