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Eckville honours service of veterans

The Eckville Community Centre was full Nov. 11 in remembrance of those who fought and served
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Brownies getting ready ready for the Eckville Remembrance Day ceremony. Grace Flaherty and Tayiah Hallgren laid a wreath on behalf of the Brownies. Photo by Myra Nicks/Eckville Echo

Eckville held their Remembrance Day ceremony at the Eckville Community Centre this morning at 10:45 a.m. The service included a procession of the Legion, Branch 156 and Colour Party, the singing of the national anthem and a tribute to the veterans and the fallen by Doug Gordon.

Mayor Helen Posti laid the wreath on behalf of the Town of Eckville. The Unknown Soldier’s wreath was laid by Mary Knutson. Veterans who were once part of the Eckville community were also honoured with wreaths. In memory of Don Macrae, Jane Macrae laid a wreath. Faron Stopsen laid a wreath to honour the memory of John Keith Audley Charles. To remember Edna (Polly) Ross, Jasmin Reimer laid a wreath. The “Last Post” was played and two minutes of silence were observed

Rev. Sandra Franklin-Law said a prayer, remembering those caught up in “cycles of violence” while also “[remembering] the people who bind up the wounds of war.” Franklin-Law used her prayer to acknowledge the people who stand up for human rights, people who dedicate their time to addressing the root causes of violence and search for a way to live without war. “May we also demonstrate that another way is possible,” she prayed on behalf of the people assembled.

Franklin-Law shared the story of Margaret Douglas Cooper one of the “Wrens” (WRNS, Women’s Royal Navel Servide) sent to Bletchley Park to help with decoding encoded messages. The work was top secret and nobody ever shared their work unless they were in the room with the people they worked with. Law also found out from Cooper’s family she had the added stress of carrying around a book that had every scenario of D-Day mapped out. There were only three or four copies of the book.

She met her husband, Royal Canadian Air Force Officer Craig Cooper, on a train station near Bletchley while he was on his way through to London. They didn’t have time to exchange names but his letter found it’s way to her eventually and they wrote to each other for three years before they met again and Craig proposed. Even her husband never knew what she actually did during the war. Eventually she wrote down her experience so we now know the story of her contribution.

The work she did helped to shorten the war by four years and the technology used at Bletchley Park has contributed to the development of computers used today.

After the reverend shared this story, the St. Paul’s Choir sang the anthem “In Flanders Fields.” The congregation sang two sang “Weep for the Dead” and “Let There Be Peace on Earth” before the benediction. The Legion and Colour Party recessed to “God Save the Queen.”



myra.nicks@eckvilleecho.com

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Photo by Myra Nicks/Eckville Echo
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Mayor Helen Posti laying the wreath for the Town of Eckville. Photo by Myra Nicks/Eckville Echo
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Photo by Myra Nicks/Eckville Echo
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Photo by Myra Nicks/Eckville Echo