Students, faculty, veterans and special guests were among the first to honour Canada's fallen military in Chatham-Kent on Thursday.
Chatham-Kent Secondary School held its 30th Remembrance Day ceremony, which aimed to honour, not only the 44 Chatham Vocational School graduates who died in WWII, but also more recent veterans from conflicts like the one in Afghanistan.
Listen on @Country929 for more reaction from today's ceremony at CKSS #ck pic.twitter.com/7pxLx4loCo
— Jake Kislinsky (@Jake_Kislinsky) November 10, 2016
"It's important to have veterans from those recent wars coming to our assembly, because the kids can see the tie-in from the past, but there are veterans who have recently served that we also should be honouring," says history teacher Dennis Dutry.
Veterans stand during Chatham-Kent Secondary School's Remembrance Day Ceremony, November 10, 2016 (Photo by Jake Kislinsky)
A handful of veterans took in the assembly. Among them was 37-year-old Greg Rowden, who served as a light machine-gunner for the Canadian Army Reserves in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He was glad to see the students acting respectfully during the assembly.
"Compared to when I first joined the military, [Remembrance Day] has come a long way since then," says Rowden. "I think Afghanistan has opened a lot of people's eyes, that Canada actually has soldiers and they're actually put in harm's way, and we do die."
For a list of other Remembrance Day ceremonies going on Friday, click here.
