Uxbridge Remembers Those Who Gave All ...
... with a Remembrance Day parade November 11th starting at 10.40 and Service at the Cenotaph afterward. This is but one way of paying tribute the more than 100,000 men and women who have given their all.
Our local papers paid tribute and remembrance to those who served with articles about why it is important that we do remember and the part Canada and Canadians played in the wars. In one article the author Roger Varley tells a story about Cyril Allison, who later became a resident of Uxbridge, being the first person to have read the poem "In Flanders fields" right after it was written by John McCrae.
Local Author and Journalist Ted Barris,provided further insights utilizing excerpts from his new book "Breaking the Silence". He talks about Local resident Steve Bell's escape from a German POW camp only to be thrown into a forced march as a "prisoner" of the Russians and his ultimate escape. Barris also related a part of an interview he had in Uxbridge with one of the survivors , Cpl. Brian Decaire, of the "friendly fire incident" in Afghanistan.
"To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high."
from the poem
In Flanders fields.
- Lt.-Col. John McCrae -
Canadian Students are picking up the torch
Canadian students have had an opportunity to walk in the footsteps of those who went before, with a number of tours over the years They have been given an opportunity to see the places where the events actually took place, to hear the stories. ... To walk through history, to learn an appreciation for those who paid the ultimate price and to remember; today, tomorrow, even years from now so that they will to be able to pass it on to the next generation.
Students at Uxbridge Secondary School are preparing for a history lesson like no other. An educational field trip in May that is tied in with the 65th anniversary commemorating"Victory in Europe".
Students Raising Funds For The Tour At The Uxbridge Fall Fair
The National student tour coordinator is Dave Robinson, a recently retired teacher who taught at Port Perry High School, he has organized several educational tours over the last few years. In 2004 he coordinated a group of 150 teachers and students who attended the D-Day anniversary at Juno Beach. Other tours included France in April of 2007 for the 90th anniversary of the battle of Vimey Ridge; Hong Kong to commemorate the Canadian Soldiers who gave it all in 1941; and a walk in the footsteps of Canadian Soldiers through the streets of Ortona and the Liri Valley.
For some of the students the tour will be following in the footsteps of their grandfathers and great grandfathers who participated in the liberation of the Netherlands. They will remember.
