Let’s Walk
Leave a reply
We Will Remember Them
Community Commemoration and Legion services were held Saturday in Welland
By Joe Barkovich, Scribbler-at-large
WELLAND – A young woman and two children Saturday morning made their way up the gentle slope in Chippawa Park walking toward the storied monument.
“Where are we going, mommy?” one of the girls asked. Her mom answered, “To see something special, just wait and see.”
The “something special” was the Remembrance Day Community Commemoration Service held at the site of the Welland-Crowland War Memorial.
It was started by Wellander Jean-Luc Clin in 1997. The way the story goes, Mr. Clin was distressed to find the cenotaph unattended one Remembrance Day after moving to Welland. So he went about organizing a commemorative service, one that was simple and without speeches. Mr. Clin passed in 2018, the service is carried on by Betsy Warankie and Ken Cassavoy.
Mr. Clin would have been pleased with Saturday’s. Cassavoy said attendance at the first was “25 to 30” people. Attendance at Saturday’s was around 300.
The “kids and young people” in the crowd did not go by unnoticed. Cassavoy said it was “wonderful” to see so many attending and expressed his appreciation to those who had brought them along.
Cassavoy said the service “remembers and honors” 207 servicemen from the Welland/Crowland area who gave their lives in the First World War and Second World War. He reminded the crowd the names of all those who perished are inscribed on the back of Elizabeth Wyn-Wood’s iconic monument. He said the service also pays tribute to those who served in Korea, Afghanistan and UN peacekeeping missions.
The service differs from others because it brings CBC Radio’s live broadcast of Remembrance Day at the National War Memorial in Ottawa to the park. The crowd’s respect for the Piper’s Lament, Last Post, 21-gun salute, singing by the Ottawa Children’s Choir and more was evident by its silence throughout. Dare I say: You could hear a poppy drop.
The service ended with Betsy Warankie reading In Flanders Fields. Following that, attendees were invited to place their poppies on the cenotaph.
Some children approached clutching art with Remembrance Day themes. Under mom’s watchful eye they left their cherished work on a plaque at the statue’s base. Their offerings attracted admiring glances and kind words from some of the people filing by.
Branch 4, Royal Canadian Legion, held its annual service also Saturday morning at the legion on Morningstar Avenue.
/Joe Barkovich photos
Late Bloomers
Caption: Spotted these on my walk this morning. Not my roses, wish they were. /Joe Barkovich photos.
We Will Remember Them
From Remembrance Day service Saturday, November 11, 2023, Welland-Crowland War Memorial, Chippawa Park, Welland. More coverage to follow. /Joe Barkovich photo.
Barky’s Billboard
Please support/attend this seasonal community event
Barky’s Billboard is a recurring feature on the blog. /Supplied graphic
Sign Language
Heritage Lives: It’s Sept. 4, 1939 And Canada Is About To Declare War
By Terry Hughes
The headline from the accompanying Welland – Port Colborne Evening Tribune reports the sinking of the liner Athenia off the coast of Scotland and fortunately, the majority of passengers were saved. With the British and French declaration of war for the invasion of Poland yesterday (Sept.3, 1939), German submarines and surface ships like the pocket battleship Graf Spee had taken up positions to sink Allied shipping. Canada would declare war on Germany on Sept 10, a day after the Labour Day weekend. And so this country of slightly more than eleven million people would begin a six year journey that would move us closer together as a nation and develop our reputation as a reliable ally.
By the end of the war we commanded the third largest navy, fourth largest airforce and fifth largest army in the world with 1.1 million people in uniform. Not only did we assist with the production of war materiel but we developed a much larger industrial base for post-war needs. And that was certainly true here in Welland. Although they had declared their neutrality, Italy and Japan had been waging war in North Africa and China and joined Germany shortly afterwards, bringing the United States into this conflict after the bombing of Pearl Harbour.
But there is a human side that was part of the war. Although we had moved out of the -Depression and plenty of jobs were available, rationing on everything happened creating shortages. We had to share our food with our soldiers overseas and the British who were being harrassed by the submarine threat of starvation. Profiteering was restricted with the issue of rationing booklets that regulated how much food and gasoline was being consumed by each family.
Other articles of interest on the local scene noted in the “Personals” that “Mr. and Mrs. J. Reddy and three sons of Pittsfield, Mass. are the guests of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Kean of Fitch St. for the holiday”. An announcement about the opening of schools after the Labour Day holiday and News Of The Port Colborne area are scattered through the inside pages along with sports. There were only eight teams each in the National and American baseball leagues. Comics and movies were featuring teen idol, Mickey Rooney and tough guy, James Cagney at the Capitol and Community “shows”. Canadian Tire that would fit into the entrance of today’s store offered sales on batteries from their building on East Main Street, two doors down from today’s Cheers!
And then there was the personal side of the war as reported in a publication, Remember Me by Edward Meade:
“The troop train began to move. The soldier drew his wife to him again. Their kiss, ineffably soft and gentle, seemed to fuse them. Then, he turned away and sprang onto the last car. She stood on the platform, her eyes fixed on the fading trail of smoke. Gradually, the sensation crept over her that the flame of her life had left her, and she was only an empty shell. When she got home, she sat for a long time listening to the silence of the room.”
Remembrance Day services in Welland:
Saturday, November 11, 10:55 to 11:15 a.m., Community Commemoration Service, at the Welland-Crowland War Memorial, Chippawa Park;
Saturday, November 11, 10:30 a.m. at Branch 4, Royal Canadian Legion, 383 Morningstar Ave.
Next Column; A Celebration Of Christmas.
(Terry Hughes is a Wellander who is passionate about heritage, history and model railroading. His opinion column, Heritage Lives, appears on the blog once or twice monthly.)
Sign Language
Barky’s Billboard
Please support this deserving community event
Heritage Lives In Pictures: King Street Railway Crossing
By Terry Hughes
The photo at left shows a rather lonely scene featuring one railway track with flasher protection that sees one train once in several days. A park has been put in place to the right close to the former Station Hotel while on the left the property that once housed the station is blockaded and overgrown with weeds. Looking south to the end of King Street and Ontario Road shows a vacant space once occupied by the Page Hersey Pipe Co. The centre photo, from the Welland Museum, shows King Street in 1929. It was a very busy space. Four gates operated from a nearby tower protected three tracks, two of which carried at least 50 mainline trains a day. The end of King Street shows the Page Hersey and a nearby store promoting CocaCola. The photo at right, at least a dozen passenger trains daily stopped at the station pictured here looking west toward King Street. The photo is from the author’s collection.
Next for Heritage Lives In Pictures: The N.S.& T. Trolley Station
(Terry Hughes is a Wellander who is passionate about heritage, history and model railroading. Heritage Lives In Pictures is a recurring feature.)
fromareportersnotebook 