Good morning.

The original post regarding this weekend’s activities was based on last year’s information and the weekdays weren’t updated from Thursday and Friday to this year’s Friday and Saturday. This has been corrected in the original post. Please accept our apology for any confusion this may have caused.

Remembrance Day Vigil and Parades

J Lemoine
Captain
Administration Officer
809 Newark RCACS
Immortal!

Our Annual Remembrance Day Vigil begins on Friday, 10 Nov 2023 at 1900 (7:00pm), cadets will meet at the Royal Canadian Legion’s Ed Boldt Memorial Hall (upstairs) and begin preparations for Remembrance Day on Saturday.

Bring your uniform (on a hanger) and your boots; pajamas; a sleeping bag and pillow; toiletries; and any other essential items for a sleepover.

Dress for the Friday evening portion is casual. Jeans and a t-shirt are fine. Dress for the Saturday parades is full dress uniform: C1. The early forecasts are calling for clear skies and 4º. Bring your parka and prepare for cold weather.

Breakfast will be provided by the Squadron Sponsorship Committee through donations by our cadets’ families. Please accept our sincere thanks if you are contributing to our breakfast. Please see the Remembrance Day Breakfast Contributions sign-up sheet and bring the items with you when you arrive on Friday night.

The sign-up sheet for Remembrance Day breakfast contributions can be found here: Event Sign-ups. Please remember that you need to be logged into the site to see the sign-up sheets.

Our schedule for Remembrance Day is as follows:

0600 – Reveille (First Group)
0620 – Breakfast (First Group)
0645 – Walk to Cenotaph (First Group)
0700 – Shifts begin
1000 – Last shift at the Cenotaph
1030 – Old Town parade begins
1200 – Old Town parade ends and cadets return to the Royal Canadian Legion
1230 – Cadets are bussed to Queenston for the afternoon parade
1300 – Queenston parade begins
1430 – Queenston parade ends and cadets return to the Royal Canadian Legion
1500 – Cadets are ready for pickup at the Royal Canadian Legion

Shifts last for 30 mins each with five (5) cadets per shift.

Changeovers will occur at the top and bottom of each hour until the last shift takes position at 1030. This shift will remain for the duration of the Remembrance Day parade.

Thank you to all who contribute to making this event successful. The Remembrance Day parades are where we have an opportunity for cadets, staff, and volunteers to show our respect for our fallen and, through them, our community.

D. Couroux
Lieutenant
Commanding Officer
809 Newark RCACS
Immortal!

Here is the current schedule for Remembrance Day activities.

Morning Vigil – Old Town Cenotaph

Supervising Officer / Wreath Laying – Capt Lemoine

Reading of “In Flanders Fields”

Vigil Shifts

1015 – 1045:
1045 – 1130:

Afternoon Schedule – Queenston Cenotaph

Supervising Officer / Wreath Laying – Lt Nicolescu

Reading of “In Flanders Fields”

Vigil Shift

1245 – 1330:

Cadets should be dropped off (at the Old Courthouse parking lot for Old Town and at the RiverBrink Art Museum parking lot for Queenston) 30 minutes before their shift. They can be picked up at the end of the respective service.

If you have any questions, please contact me.

J Lemoine
Captain
Commanding Officer
809 Newark RCACS
Immortal!

It is a tradition in Niagara-on-the-Lake, that 809 Cadets stand vigil at the Old Town cenotaph on Remembrance Day from the early morning hours to the end of the 1100 service. In the afternoon, we also participate in the 1300 service at the Queenston cenotaph. Obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a wrench in the entire process and we have been unable to participate since Remembrance Day 2019. This year, we’re slowly but surely resuming our role.

Normally, we do an overnight sleepover event at the Royal Canadian Legion the night before and begin standing vigil in half hour shifts from 6am to the end of the first service. We then go to back to the Legion for lunch, travel by bus to the Queenston service and then return to the Legion for parent/guardian pickup. Restrictions on overnight activities and mixed gatherings require us to modify the program this year, so here’s what we’re going to do:

At a minimum, cadets will stand vigil at the Old Town and Queenston cenotaphs during the services themselves and will read “In Flanders Fields” at each service. We already have enough cadet volunteers to fill this role. We’ll work backwards from the 1100 service and begin our half-hour shifts as early as we can depending on how many cadets can get rides to and from the Old Town cenotaph.

Dress for Remembrance Day will be 1A/C1A.

Please email 809air@cadets.gc.ca with your availability for Remembrance Day activities as soon as possible so that we can begin building the schedule.

For those cadets participating, the following letter has been made available to explain to your teachers why you’ll be absent from school while participating.

Remembrance Day Excuse Letter 2021

Cadets who are unable to attend have blanket permission to wear their C1A uniform to school to represent the squadron.

J Lemoine
Captain
Commanding Officer
809 Newark RCACS
Immortal!

Remembrance Day 2020 may not look like previous years but the reading of names, the wearing of poppies, the minute of silence, the playing of the Last Post, all give meaning and expression to the gratitude and regret for lives lived and lost in the service of Canada. #CanadaRemembers #LestWeForget

A message from our Commander:

“I am incredibly proud of the small, yet meaningful gestures and actions cadets and JCRs take to show their respect for veterans and their sacrifices. You are clearly demonstrating that the next generation of Canadian leaders will not forget those who gave their lives to defend the values that define Canada.”

Commodore Kurtz, Commander CJCR