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On Nov 6th, we welcomed 7 veterans and 7 guests to our special Veterans Dinner which continues to be our favourite event. For over thirty years the Rotary Club of St. Marys has entertained the Veterans of St. Marys and area observing Remembrance. A special thank you to Rotarian Ray Bennett for his efforts in organizing this honoured event since its beginning. This year Rotarian Grant Barton and his committee took over the reins from Rotarian Ray.
After a dinner of turkey and trimmings our Past President Stan Malcolm gave a presentation about his trip to the Canadian Vimy Memorial and the 100 year anniversary ceremonies held on April 9, 2017. We were reminded that 60,000 Canadians were killed during the Great War of 1914-1918. The Canadian National Vimy Memorial bears the names of 11,168 missing Canadians, killed in action in France but whose remains have not been found or identified. Stan also brought several Great War artifacts including uniforms, a gas mask and a copy of the iconic "Wait for Me" photo to name a few for us to view. We thank Stan for sharing his very personal story which included the story of his father's survival and the hardships his father faced during and after the war. His PowerPoint Presentation will be posted on our website.
The last post was played by Tom Osgerby and later in the program Frank St. Germaine played some old war time songs and encouraged everyone to sing along.
The Rotary Club of St. Marys has donated 12 books in honour of our local veterans on the occasion of our annual dinner which we hold in their honour on the Monday evening prior to Remembrance Day. This year we decided to recognize all veterans from St. Marys and surrounding area as a group which would include veterans who are unable to attend the dinner. A bookplate which honours our veterans has been placed in each book and a sample bookplate, a list of the books donated along with group picture of these books were made available to the veterans in attendance. Please click "Read more" for additional information on the books selected...
