The Remembrance Service at the Cookstown Cenotaph on Sunday was special for a number of reasons.
It marked the 100th Anniversary of the adoption of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance, by Canadian and British Commonwealth veterans’ associations – inspired by the efforts of Mme. Anna Guerin.
In 1920, Mme. Guerin, herself inspired by John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields, began making cloth poppies to raise funds for the veterans of The Great War (World War I). The cloth poppy was adopted in 1921 as the symbol of Remembrance by the Great War Veterans Association, which later became the Royal Canadian Legion.
And four Legion branches – Lefroy-Belle Ewart, Alliston, Angus and Lisle – came together in Cookstown to mark the occasion, and “to remember those who died in the service of their country,” said Rev. Gregory Gilson, priest at St. John’s Anglican Church in Cookstown, “not for war but for a world that would be free and at peace.”
It was also the first in-person Remembrance Service held at the cenotaph since the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the first since the monument and the artillery gun on display were lovingly restored and repaired; the maple trees in the memorial grove behind trimmed and where necessary, replanted.
Tim Dougherty of the Alliston Legion sounded The Last Post on the bugle as a Legion Colour Party, flanking the pathway to the cenotaph, lowered their flags for the minute of silence.
Innisfil Pipes and Drums piper James Harvey played the Lament, then the flags were raised as Reveille sounded, and the names of the fallen in both World Wars – names that appear on the Cenotaph’s plaques - were read out.
“We give thanks for all who served their country in time of trial,” said Rev. Gilson, and especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Among those laying wreaths were MP John Brassard, on behalf of the government of Canada, Innisfil Mayor Lynn Dollin and Coun. Rob Nicol for the Town – and for the first time, a wreath in memory of Indigenous Veterans was placed by Lefroy-Belle Ewart Legionnaire April Paul.
A wreath was also laid by members of the Dawson family, in memory of brothers Gordon and Douglas Dawson, both of Cookstown, who gave their lives in the Second World War, in 1944.
Their names are among the many inscribed on the Cenotaph’s plaques.
