Remembrance Day at Oak Bay Rotary

President’s Corner

Today’s meeting is devoted to Remembrance Day. President Joan outlined the agenda and advised that Wynn Taylor would assume command of the program once the preliminaries were completed.

Oh Canada was played on the piano and sung by Stephanie Sartore a student at the Canadian College for Performing Arts.

The grace proffered by John Snively suited the occasion. In part it read “In these chaotic times we must reflect upon our personal purpose and responsibility, remaining grateful for our many blessings …...”

Our visitors were introduced by Victoria Pitt 

– Rotarians David Newberry (Victoria), Barb Cameron (Saanich) and Irwin Hare (Saanich) 

– Guests Jean and Mike Sharlow, Stephanie Sartore (at right), Tom Croft and Colleen Buker. 

No Time For Sergeants  (Dallas Chapple)

Our energetic Sergeant-at Arms was told to be ‘quick about it’ and so she was. A timely Armistice Day fine was levied – one dollar from everyone not wearing two poppies. That was it - save for selected Happy/Sad dollars from Phil (received an unexpected Halloween crown), from Lynn (Ola’s pending marriage), from Corey (survived an All Candidates meeting) and from David Philip (‘recovery complete with a frog on my head’!!!), 

Announcements

DG David Stocks visits Oak Bay Rotary on November 22nd. Please plan on attending and giving David a special Oak Bay welcome.
Spinnakers Brew Pub is the venue for our November 29 meeting; an opportunity to sample a few craft beers while enjoying lunch at this unique establishment looking out on the harbour. Heather Aked has the sign-up sheet.

Lest We Forget

The theme for today’s meeting. Wynn Taylor noted that we are now the elders of our society and the repository of stories from war and peace. To this end he assembled a group of Oak Bay Rotarians to share with us their memories of the participation by their families in the many conflicts between nations in the twentieth century.

Eugen Bannerman recited a poem written in Belgium on the 60^th anniversary of D-Day by Mary Gates of PEI while she was on a battlefield tour with her veteran husband. One verse had particular appeal for this reporter: 

Was it God’s plan they should have to endure

The horrors of war which still has no cure?

Planet Earth is here to respect and enjoy

Not to waste, ruin and destroy.

John Edgell narrated a slide show of the recent tour he and Linda made to the D-Day beaches and to the Jewish Memorial on the Isle de la Cote in the center of Paris. He was visibly moved as he described a stop in Oradour-sur-Glane also known as the Village des Martyrs. Just four days after the D-Day landings the Germans rounded up and shot all 642 residents then they burned the town.

Philip Neroutsos and Barbara Cameron (left) presented a light-hearted tribute to the King’s Own Calgary Regiment complete with authentic dress and dramatic sound effects from Phil. We learned that a Canadian invented a temporary bridge by removing the turret from a tank and replacing it with a metal span then driving the tank into the river. He did not say if the contraption was reusable.

Tav MacPherson displayed his father’s medals including the DFC which he was twice awarded. His father joined the Navy at age fourteen. A sobering statistic from Tav – it is estimated that there were between fifty and seventy million casualties in the Second World War.

Victoria Pitt (right) showed photographs of her mother and father in naval uniforms. Her mother joined the WRENs soon after graduation from high school in Swinton. Her father served in the Royal Naval Air Force on the Ark Royal which was sunk by the enemy and suffered only one casualty. Her father later served for thirty-two years in the Canadian Navy.

Jim Force related how his father, a Captain in the American Army serving in Korea, had sent a six man unit out on patrol. When they did not return he was directed to send out another patrol. This he refused to do on the grounds it was pointless. He was decommissioned for this act.

Perry Bamji recalled his school days in Bombay and the annual assembly to remember the sacrifices of previous generations. He recited a particular poem that has remained in his memory - “For The Fallen” written in 1914 by Laurence Binyon, This verse is familiar to us all:.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the year’s condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

Colleen Buker, a guest of the Club, spoke about her father Dan Hartigan. He joined a parachute batallion at age eighteen (actually he was only seventeen) and was dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day. They parachuted from 500 feet which is about the height of the Calgary Tower. You can learn of his adventures in his autobiography, A Rising Of  Courage.

Jean Sharlow, assisted by son, Mike Sharlow (above), laid a wreath at the front of the room followed by two minutes of silence. The program concluded with the familiar yet haunting song ‘In Flanders Fields’ performed without music by Stephanie. 

President Joan (above with Jean and Mike Sharlow) closed the meeting at 1:30 pm trying hard to keep her emotions in check after such a powerful program. Stephanie played God Save The Queen.

Reporter: David Sills; Photos by Will, Tom C., and Tricia. Blogger today: Tricia.