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Legion members visit schools as guardians of Remembrance

November 17, 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

For younger people, Remembrance Day may not hold the inherent special significance that veterans and their families respect each November.

After all, for most kids, war is just something they see in movies and people don’t really die and once the movie ends so does the war.

That’s why members of the Royal Canadian Legion, Colonel Fitzgerald Branch 233 in Orangeville take their message directly to local schools, retirement homes, and other institutions in the region.

Members of the Legion visited Mono-Amaranth Public School on Hockey Road on Friday, November 10, to speak to students and answer questions.

Student members of local Cadet groups wore their uniforms and placed wreaths in memory of fallen soldiers.

“We’ve been continually getting involved more and more in the community,” explained Orangeville Legion branch president and Deputy Zone Commander, Chris Skalozub. “For the last 10 years we’ve been at Westside Secondary School. Their drama department and music department is involved. We do two acts of remembrance then we explain who we are as veterans and we put it out to the kids who have had father, mothers, grandfathers who have served and they can mention their names.”

The kids are asked to mention any family member who has served or currently wears a uniform as part of their job.

Several kids at Mono-Amaranth Public School raised their hands and mentioned parents who are police officer or fire fighters and several had relatives who served in the military.

“As a Legion we are ‘keepers of remembrance.’ We’re the ones that have to be out in the community and saying this is what remembrance is. We have a question and answer period. We want questions that we can answer and explain what remembrance is all about,” Skalozub said.

The Legion’s colour party attended, as did their bugler and bagpiper.

The school visit gives children the opportunity to hear first hand what Remembrance Day is about and meet the veterans who served and the Legion members who volunteer their time to keep the fallen soldiers names from fading into history.

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