Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - November 8, 2006, Winnipeg, Manitoba B4 lest we forget Winnipeg free press wednesday november 8, 2006 nov 10 nov. 11 remembrance Day memorial service at 1 . At the Stone of remembrance 10 30 . At Brookside cemetery a Field of honour. The Public is Winnipeg convention Centre indoor ceremony events in City invited to the service and to Register for a tour of the Field valour Road commemorative Plaza outdoor ceremony of honour followed by a visit to Neil Bardal inc. Across the valour Road at Sargent Avenue. Nov. 8 Street from the cemetery to meet with veterans. For info Minto armouries indoor ceremony 969 St. Matthews ave. Aboriginal veterans Day 11 ., Winnipeg Indian and mation and to Register for the tour Call 986-4348 or 986-Mcgregor armoury indoor ceremony 551 Machray ave. Metis Friendship Centre 45 Robinson ave. 4299. Vimy Ridge Park outdoor ceremony Portage Avenue. And when each Man died and then. student t my Mceachern does a rubbing of names on Portage Cenotaph. Wayne Glowacki / Winnipeg free press Queenston school students from left Logan a san Sydney Adam fair and Jaedike Sansom place a Canadian Flag at a Gravestone in Field of honour. Kids pay respects to War dead cemetery opened to school groups for the first time by Carol Sanders f or the first time the City on tuesday gave Winnipeg school children a tour of Canadas old est military cemetery. Shivering but keen grades 4 and 5 students toured Brookside cemetery a Field of honour the second largest military burial ground in Canada and paid their respects in a special per Sonal Way. The students were awed at the sight of almost 10,000 military grave Mark ers belonging to the likes of War hero sgt. Tommy Prince and it. Harry Cole Bourn who adopted the Bear that came to be known As Winnie the Pooh. The City a first Ever educational visit to the cemetery kicked off a week of school group and Public Tours. Near the end of tuesdays tour at the oldest tear drop shaped part of the Field of honour they broke off into Small groups and paid particular Atten Tion to a Headstone. With sheets of White paper chunks of charcoal and Frozen fingers they took rubbings of soldiers killed in first world War Portage students put faces to the names by Nick Martin Portage la Prairie ? some of them have lain in Graves in France for 90 years their names forgotten by All but a handful of relatives. Almost a Century after the first world War erupted the history students in Larry Smith and James Kostuchik a classes Are finally telling the stories of those incredibly Young men who died fighting in the trenches or charging up Muddy Hills in the face of German artillery and machine guns. For the past four years Portage collegiate Institute Grade 11 history Stu dents have gone to the Cenotaph to choose the name of a local lad killed in the wars made a paper rubbing of his name and then written an extensive research project about that individual. Veterans affairs says such projects could be entered into a National Dat Bank of Canadas military Kostuchik said tuesday. The goal is to have every one of those veterans researched said Smith who started his class on the project tuesday. One message i a getting from the vet Erans ? the kids Arent realizing the sacrifices that were Smith said the students research local residents killed in the first world War whose individual service records and considerable personal information Are available from Ottawa. Because Many second world War and korean veterans Are still alive the Federal government releases far less information. The students have to find out where the grave markers. We re going to use them in our Assembly Roll Call said Jaedike san som a student at Queenston school. Jaedike and schoolmates Logan a san and Sydney Adam fair took a rubbing from the Marker for pet. Whitford p. Birch 9th july 1918, 3307537. Asleep till Jesus Calls read Logan a Grade 5 student. Its the first time his name has been read out loud in 60 when they were finished the rub Bing they paid their respects to pet. Birch placing a poppy and a tiny Cana Dian Flag on his grave with a solemn thank they headed across the Street to the Neil Bardal inc. Chapel where Veter ans met with the schoolchildren who peppered them with questions like what was your Saddest experience and Why did you join the the Saddest experience was carry ing a loaded weapon in my own coun try said Joe Mecones recalling the 1970 october crisis when Trudeau imposed the War measures act. The 65-year-old Dene Man born at Madoule Lake near Churchill was a sol Dier in Montreal at the time Quebec Cabinet minister Pierre Laporte and British Trade commissioner James Cross were kidnapped. Laporte was found murdered oct. 17 and Cross was released after being held eight weeks by the front de lib ration do que Bec Fly. Mecones recalled going door to door looking for Fly terrorists and caches of weapons. The cemetery tour and meeting with the veterans was organized by Winnipeg a cemetery administrator Jane Saxby who a had the Job for just a year after immigrating to Canada in 2003. It was really really Good to hear the children asking so Many questions said Saxby who was a cemetery administrator in the . Before moving to Winnipeg. Saxby is giving school and group Tours All this week with a tour on Fri Day that members of the Public can Call to join. For information or to Register Call 986-4348 or 986-4299. A memorial service is being held at the Stone of remembrance held at 1 . On Friday As Well. research the Battle or Campaign in which the Man lost his life. It hits really close to Home ? All the names Are of people who walked Down the same streets we do said Grade 12 student Kaitlyn Mcdermid who did the project with Kostuchik last year. Allie Smith said students tried to find the houses where the War dead lived and tried to track Down family members. One student researched a 30-year-old last year but everyone else on the first world War portion of the Cenotaph the class chose died at 17 to 21 years lamented Smith. Its a really eerie feeling. That could be our friends our age Mcdermid said. Mine was killed Only two weeks from the end of the War in 1918, said Karrah Nelissen. Brittany Brookes said it All happened an Ocean away kids from Portage and Oak Bluff and Poplar Point dying in a War. They seemed like people you would find normally at your school Carly Hamilton said. Quite Young said Ryan Shirtliff qui etly. We reflected on it later Mcdermid said. It was like a War that did to have a reason. You wonder what relevance it is to your Small town. Fifty or 60 years Down the Road there la be kids looking at the names of More recent wars she said. On Friday senior students will read Short biographies of several pc students and grads killed in the wars during the High schools annual remembrance Day service ;