Vimy Ridge Day
Thursday April 11, 2019  10:15am - 12:15pm (2 Hours)
Festival / Fair Community

On April 11, 2019, the Royal Canadian Legion Ortona branch number 69, Berwick is having a dedication service for the War Memorial erected at the Berwick & District School, 224 Veterans Drive, Berwick. The service is open to the public. Since 2003, April 9th is designated as Vimy Ridge Day.
The monument was erected a few days before November 11, 2018, the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.
The dedication ceremony will take place in the school gymnasium at 11 am. His Honour, The Honourable Arthur J. LeBlanc, Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, and her Honour Mrs. Patsy LeBlanc will be attending the ceremony. The Lieutenant Governor is the Honorary Patron of the Royal Canadian Legion Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command.
Since 2015, the Berwick and District School has been the site for the Legion Remembrance Day Services held in the Town of Berwick.
The monument is located in front to the school entrance. The monument has direct walkway access from the Kings Mutual Century Centre (“Apple Dome”) parking lot across the street. The monument walkway is used daily by school students. Four new flag poles have been erected beside the monument to fly the flags of Canada, Nova Scotia, Town of Berwick, and County of Kings, and to enhance the visibility of the site.
The street view centre panel features a picture and quote of a Second World War recruiting poster. The picture is a statue holding a torch at the top of the Vimy, France monument. The quote is from the poem In Flanders Fields. “The torch be yours to hold it high, if ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders Field”.
The school view centre panel lists the names of the 154 servicemen from western Kings County who died in the First and Second World Wars, and the Korean Conflict, and the Act of Remembrance. On one side is a picture of the statue at Vimy, France of a woman who is weeping, and is called Mother Canada, or Canada Bereft, and on the other side, a picture of a First World War soldier standing on sentry duty.
The monument is in both English and French.
The monument site is a unique way to teach students about Canada’s military service since confederation, and instill a sense of appreciation for history, and a reminder of the sacrifices that have been, and are being made.
Prior to the dedication ceremony, a parade starting from the Berwick Town Hall, at 236 Commercial Street to the school will start at 10:15 am. Members from 14 Wing Greenwood, Legion members, veterans, RCMP, cadets, scouts, and guides, will be joined in the parade by students and teachers from the school.
The monument was financed by donations from Veterans Affairs Canada, the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, The Municipality of the County of Kings. In kind support came from the Town of Berwick, and the Annapolis Valley Regional Centre for Education (formerly the School Board).
Pricing & Tickets
Pricing: Free
Poster
236 Commercial Street
Berwick, Nova Scotia

 info@berwick.ca
 902-538-8068

       

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