It ways always a school holiday growing up in Nova Scotia, but not so here in the have-not province of Ontario.
I think it's great the kids are in school. I was able to attend a ceremony this morning at DD 9's school. They had some of the kids read some memorial poems, a slide show of images from WW I & II, a couple of veterans from WW II were present and we all read aloud In Flanders Field. A student brought a great grandfathers journal from WW I. The soldier was station just outside Ypres prior to the big battle. Unfortunately the teacher reading the passage from the diary didn't know how to pronounce Ypres. The principal also mentioned about our contributions in Afghanistan. At 11:00 we had two minutes of silence.
We had a celebration at my DD9 school as well (and yes, growing up in Nfld, the schools were always closed on Nov.11th - they still were this week). ; We had a celebration at 9am, cause we had a WW2 vet who would be participating in the Centataph ceremony at 11 downtown. ; It was a very moving ceremony. ; The girls' choirs all sang, the Flanders Field poem was read, there were speeches - but by far the most moving was that of the special guest. ; Bill MacCrae - a WW2 vet who flew spitfires with the 401 squadron - he was the only member of his squadron to return (many died, some were captured as pows and of those, some later returned) - but he was the only one to return to Canada. ; He was so moved by the girls' speeches and singing, and of course his own emotions of the day, by the time he reached the microphone, tears were streaming down his face. ; He read an eloquent speech about how Canada has never started a war, but is always there to support peace and/or the security of our friends and neighbours and ourselves. ; I don't think there was a dry eye in the place! ;
