BARRY’S BAY – People from around the Valley packed into the Barry’s Bay Royal Canadian Legion Branch 406 on November 11 to participate in their annual Remembrance Day ceremony.
Soldiers kept vigil at the cenotaph outside. As the clock struck 11 a.m., a moment of silence was observed.
President of Branch 206, G.G. Mills, read a passage before Reverend Bob Hill read the poem It is the Veteran. After a reading from the Book of Isaiah, Reverend Hill led the ceremony in a prayer.
“We thank you God that we awakened this morning in a country that is free and democratic,” he said. “We can travel unhindered anywhere we want to go. We are free to choose those whom we wish to govern us. We are free to worship in the religion of our choice. We can express ourselves on the affairs of our country without fear of being silenced by a police state.”
He acknowledged the high cost paid to protect the freedoms that Canadians enjoy.
“Rows and rows of white crosses is the currency of our freedom,” he observed.
Reverend Hill prayed for soldiers who lost their lives in battle, laid to rest on foreign soil.
“Also for the surviving veterans who remember again comrades who paid the supreme price,” he said.
The wreath laying ceremony began. Starting with Constance Chippure, who laid the Silver Cross Mother wreath.
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