A local high school held its Remembrance Day ceremony with a focus on soldiers from Chatham-Kent who made the ultimate sacrifice during the First World War.
Due to Remembrance Day falling on a Sunday this year,Chatham-Kent Secondary School (CKSS) had its assembly Friday morning. The gymnasium was full of students looking to pay their respects and veterans who served Canada in a variety of conflicts.
This year's theme focused on the First World War, being the 100th anniversary The Great War ended.
Georgia Craven is in Grade 12 and has been a part of CKSS Remembrance Day Ceremonies since she entered the high school. She researched, wrote and presented a segment of the ceremony all about the First World War and the local soldiers who died because of it.
"It is an honour to be part of the this ceremony and an honour to remember all of the dead and tell their stories to other generations so they can continue to remember them," Craven said. "We're reminded of the sacrifices they made. It is important to remember the consequences war and the damages if can put on a country."
Craven said usually the school's Remembrance Day ceremony is focused on graduates of the old Chatham Vocational School who served and died. She said this year was a bit different because that school wasn't created until after the First World War.
Craven highlighted the lives of just a few of the 358 men from Chatham-Kent who died in the First World War.
One of the veterans in attendance was retired Corporal Greg Rowden, who served six months in Bosnia in 2001. Rowden said this is his fifth year attending the CKSS ceremonies and it never gets old seeing the youth of today honour veterans.
"It is really great to see the respect the younger generation is giving the veterans and the fallen," Rowden said. "I am very happy to see that every year."
Rowden served for the Essex-Kent Scottish regiment in CK and retired eight years ago.
"Corporal for life is what I like to say though," Rowden added.
While the focus of the ceremony was the First World War, the school assembly also honoured the 382 local soldiers who lost their lives in the Second World War and those who sacrificed their lives in more recent conflicts.