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Port Moody legion urges private remembrances of veterans

Community ceremonies cancelled because of COVID-19 pandemic
wreath
Port Moody residents are being asked to place wreaths privately on the city's cenotaph as formal Remembrance Day ceremonies have been cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The branch president of Port Moody legion is hoping the city’s residents will stand on their balconies — or outside their front doors — to observe two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. on Remembrance Day.

Brenda Millar said while individual remembrances won’t be as powerful as 5,000 people gathered collectively around the city’s cenotaph in front of the arts centre, the need to honour the sacrifices made by Canada’s war veterans shouldn’t be diminished by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Even wearing a poppy takes on added significance this year because they won’t be as easy to obtain as the veterans and legion volunteers won’t be out and about with their boxes of bright red plastic flowers and collection tins.

“Wearing the poppy this year is a great tribute to lots of things people have had to endure,” Millar said, adding the special pins are still being distributed to schools and various stores, some of which will collect donations at the till.

Still, Millar said, the money the legion receives from poppy sales is expected to be down, and that will have a rollover effect on its ability to support veterans, various community organizations like Share and Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation, and even some students who receive bursaries to help pay for their post-secondary education.

“We feel it’s going to have a huge impact,” she said.

But it’s the absence of the annual parade and ceremonies at the cenotaph that will likely most remind people of the unique circumstance of this year’s Remembrance Day.

Millar said while the dozens of Cadets, Scouts and Brownies as well as band musicians, who participate in the events, are at loose ends, the bugler and bagpiper are planning their own individual performances at their homes. 

Also missing will be the sentries who stand vigil.

Millar said wreaths still will be laid by legion volunteers on behalf of people and organizations in the community and families are being invited to drop by privately through the day, as long as they’re attentive to social-distancing recommendations. 

As well, there will be two private observances at the legion for its members, one in the morning that is prioritized for veterans, and another in the afternoon.

Millar said it’s important people find a way to remember.

“It helps not only our veterans remember, but it also helps our children because they have to know what’s gone before them to direct our future.”