Remembrance vigil

Devin Van Elburg says it’s hard for teenagers to fathom just how young soldiers who went off to fight in the First and Second World Wars actually were.

At 17, the Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate and Vocational Institute student is starting to realize that if Canada was in a similar situation today, it would be his friends and classmates called on to head into battle.

It’s a message he hopes to share with the rest of the city, as his school takes part in the National School’s Vigil, a week-long nation-wide visual commemoration of the 68,000 Canadians who lost their lives in the First World War.

During the day the names of each casualty will be projected simultaneously at 150 high schools across Canada, in Switzerland and at Ypres, Belgium, where the names of 54,896 soldiers whose bodies were never found have their name carved into the Menin Gate.

At night, between 4:30 and 10 p.m. between now and next Wednesday, the images will be projected on the exterior of the school, for everyone in the city to view.

"I think it’s great that all the names are going to be posted on the wall," Van Elburg said Thursday. "Remembrance Day services have become routine, and this is something different. I like that it’s a different way of honouring those who served us. Otherwise they’re just names. They could be anyone. But now I know they are directly related to my life and how I’m free and everyone else is free. So this is important."

Though Canada is at war today, having lost 152 soldiers in Afghanistan since the war began early this century, the youngster, whose grandfather served as a medic in the Second World War, said he can’t imagine what it would have been like forced into trench warfare nearly a century ago.

"It’s not something that we live in, but it’s still very real at the same time," he said.

For veteran Roy Lamore, a past president of the Branch 5 Royal Canadian Legion, Van Elburg’s words are music to his aging ears.

For years Lamore has been saying schools must increase the awareness level in classrooms about the atrocities and sacrifices of the past and connect them with the country’s proud military history. Without that knowledge, future generations will forget, a day Lamore never wants to see.

"This is our new generation, and they’ve got to learn the same as everybody else," Lamore said. "It’s good to see a thing like what’s happened here today, to be able to come over here and explain your reasons to kids, at an age when in the Second World War were joining up in service. That’s something that really makes us feel good. The public is really getting interested in our past."

Fighting back tears of pride, Churchill principal Rowan Seymour said it was group of students who last year discovered the National Schools Vigil program and encouraged him to climb aboard.

Seymour said the vigil fits in perfectly with the school’s philosophy and vision, and is an excellent opportunity to share an important message with the community at large.

"This is a very solemn occasion here at our school. We are named for (former British prime minister) Sir Winston Churchill, and I think that gives us the backdrop to really take this to a whole new level of understanding and empathy for the students. You can hear it in the students’ voices and you can see it in their faces," Seymour said.

During the vigil students will act as ambassadors, handing out poppies and information.