A virtual Remembrance Day

By Chris Jones/The Oshawa Express

People are urged to tune into their computers this year to honour Remembrance Day.

Pandemic protocols have forced drastic crowd restrictions for this year’s Royal Canadian Legion ceremony, which generally draws about 3,000 people to Memorial Park.

“Legion Command has [instructed] their Legions to have reduced ceremonies and be as virtual as possible,” says Councillor Bob Chapman, a retired colonel who has been the master of ceremonies at the Remembrance Day ceremony for the last few years.

“So the decision was made in Oshawa to do as much of a virtual ceremony as we can.”

Chapman says they will follow provincial guidelines and allow a group of only 25 people near the cenotaph this year.

“We don’t want to encourage people to show up. I mean, last year we had over 3,000 people crammed in the park… that’s not a good thing during COVID times,” he says.

He also notes there will be several other differences due to crowd limitations, as those who donate won’t be able to lay their own wreathes this year.

“There will be two representatives from our six service clubs that will… be laying the wreathes in order,” he says, adding Mayor Dan Carter, MP Colin Carrie, and MPP Jennifer French will be there to lay their own wreathes as well.

This portion of the event will be played out virtually and the names of wreath donors will be announced as each wreath is placed.

A fence will be erected around the cenotaph to prevent visitors from coming too close. There will also be COVID-19 screening of those in attendance at the ceremony.

Chapman says the 2020 Remembrance Day is special as it marks the 75^th anniversary of the end of World War II. Because of this, he will be making additional remarks to close out the ceremony.

A veteran himself, Chapman says Remembrance Day has a double meaning for him.

“One is that we need to remember those folks who gave their lives [for] the freedoms we enjoy today,” he says. “But we also need to recognize those people who served and came home as well, because they gave five, six years of their lives… to go over there and fight in the war.”

He adds the people who are still serving today need to be remembered as well, as there are still several “hot spots around the world” which need assistance.

Chapman, also deputy mayor, notes this is an interesting Remembrance Day, as he looks back and asks, “What did those men and women sacrifice for?”

“Well, they sacrificed not for themselves. They didn’t join the military looking for medals and honours – and it certainly wasn’t for the pay,” he laughs.

He says the reason they fought and made the sacrifice is because they knew they had to fix a wrong in the world.

“We have to fix this wrong, and I’ve got to… protect my loved ones, my friends, my family, and my country,” he explains.

Now he looks to today and says people are being asked to make much smaller sacrifices, such as wearing a mask, washing hands, and staying six feet apart in order to protect those same people.

“Nobody knows whether they’ve got COVID unless they’ve been tested. I could be sitting here and I could be positive for COVID, and I have no symptoms and I don’t get a test,” says Chapman.

He believes the little sacrifices being made today should bring to mind the weight of the sacrifices made by those who are remembered on Remembrance Day.

For this year’s Remembrance Day, Chapman wants residents to know there are other ways they can celebrate the sacrifices made by Canada’s veterans.

“People can do stuff on their own, do the silence at home, watch it on TV, watch the national memorial on TV, and pay their respects in their own way as opposed to crowding down at the park,” he says.

For more information on this years Remembrance Day service, visit https://www.oshawa.ca/things-to-do/Remembrance-Day-Parade-and-Ceremony.asp.