November 8,1963
Remembrance Day Assembly
At school, Remembrance Day is a solemn occasion. The last day of school before the holiday, the school assembles to mark the occasion. Everyone wears a red poppy—minimum donation 5 cents. I am in grade 5, the top grade in the school.
We have been prepared by the teachers for this day. We did not personally serve in a war, but many of our teachers did, as did many parents of the pupils in the school. We have heard about World War 1, World War 2 and the Korean War and the fearful Vietnam War which is in the news. We have heard that the Russians might very soon drop a nuclear bomb on us and that something called fallout was in the rain that poured down on our innocent heads in the Alberni Valley. The idea of war seemed both unreal and imminent at the same time.
My teacher had asked me to do a reading at the assembly. I thought the poem was very moving—it was about an old lady selling poppies and telling how both her sons had served and died. My assignment was to copy the poem onto a cardboard folder and to practice the reading at home so I would be ready to read it in front of the hundred or so pupils and teachers.
I took it home and my Mom offered to help me to practice. You have to realize that Mom was an elementary school teacher, who was at home and therefore not teaching professionally. She seemed to view her role as an associate teacher. Often she would send materials to school with me that she thought the teacher would be able to use—children’s records, books of poetry and bouquets of garden flowers. He seemed to welcome these contributions and would frequently incorporate them into the day’s lessons.
It surprised me that she thought I needed coaching in reading aloud, something I had been doing for about 5 years already. I gave it a go in front of her. Her opinion that the poem was “sentimental” surprised me in that she said “sentimental” as if it was not a desirable thing! Also I had been under the impression that everything we learned in school was topnotch and it astonished me that she didn’t think this particular poem was that great. What an eye-opener for me.
So I read out the poem and she gave me some good feedback about phrasing and breathing and so on and cautioned me not to say the word “about” like an American. She spent about 15 minutes total with me and I felt very prepared.
The assembly goes well. We sing Oh Canada all together. The Grade 4s have learned In Flanders Fields and they do a great job of reciting it with great expression. I do my poem and get a nod from the teacher. He gives us a speech about how lucky we are to live in Canada where we are safe and secure because all those good people went to wars in order to secure the peace for all. He urges us to remember their sacrifice, to never forget what they gave up for us. It is very moving indeed. We all stand up for one minute of silence for all the dead soldiers, sailors and airmen. We close up the assembly by singing God Save the Queen.
We tear out of school a bit early, in celebration of the long weekend ahead. We are lucky, we will never forget the soldiers who died.
Two weeks later the US president was assassinated in Dallas. We heard about it when we went home for lunch. After lunch the teacher told us we could go home because everyone was upset about this bad and terrible news. We have many things we will never forget, and some of them happened in our own lifetime.
Rest in peace all the soldiers, police, firefighters, public servants, volunteers and citizens who have laid their lives on the line for us, so that we can have a peaceful life. We must not forget their sacrifice.
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