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Taber preparing for this year’s Remembrance Day ceremonies

Posted on November 9, 2022 by Taber Times
TIMES FILE PHOTO

By Ian Croft
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
news@tabertimes.com

With Remembrance Day only a few days away, it is good to know exactly what the community is doing for this day. Cst. Christopher Nguyen, Regimental Sergeant Major for the Taber Police Service and a Lieutenant of the Canadian Armed Forces – CIC, was able to provide insight into all of the things that will be happening in Taber on a

nd around Remembrance Day.

“I’m a member of the Remembrance Day service committee, so each and every year there’s a whole bunch of us from the community that get together to plan and coordinate for all these events that are coming up,” said Nguyen. “As you know, November is a really important time, especially leading towards Remembrance Day ceremonies in order to honour our heritage, our veterans, those who served, those who we have unfortunately lost in the past, and in present times. It’s really important to us as a community to make sure that we honour those who have given up so much for us — who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.”

Nguyen briefly went over the poppy ceremony that occurred on Oct. 28 before going into more detail about the other Remembrance Day events that will be happening this November.

“The poppy campaign, of course, is the poppy that we wear every year. Poppy boxes are available at all major and public venues with donations being received on behalf of the Legion which goes to local veterans in support and service of them. In addition to that, the town has launched the veterans banner program. You might have seen them going up around town, and people from the community are invited to make an application to purchase a banner on behalf of a veteran they want to recognize. Usually, it’s reserved for members of the military, law enforcement, or service personnel that have served as part of the Commonwealth — so, Canadian or his majesty’s loyal countries. That’s a really great program that’s been launched since last year and it’s going strong this year. Already I think we’re at capacity, and along with that there is now also a history book and a tour that you can actually go through and learn about the veterans that are being honoured which is amazing.”

Following this Nguyen spoke about the veteran supper that will be starting at 5 p.m. on Nov. 10 before going into the details of Remembrance Day itself.

“The next big event we have will be a veteran supper which is held on November 10 at the Legion, and it’s public invitation,” said Nguyen. “You can purchase tickets at the Legion, and for veterans and their plus ones, it is a free dinner to honour them as well. Members of the Taber Police Service serve the guests at the supper — it’s a common thing that we do, and the meal is prepared by the ladies’ auxiliary branch — it’s an amazing thing they do every year. Of course, on the day of Remembrance Day, we have the cemetery ceremonies where cadets and community members honour those at grave sites by placing a poppy and a Canadian flag on each of their gravestones. Following that, there is a march over from the Legion — cadets, service personnel, and military march over to the community centre where we begin the service around 10:30 a.m. to coincide with the act of remembrance and the moment of silence at 11 o’clock.”

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