Fernie gathers to remember

It was snowing lightly, and the grounds of the Fernie courthouse were crowded this Remembrance Day, the first time since 2020 the entire community could gather together to remember Canadian veterans past and present.

In attendance were local dignitaries and a large showing of the Fernie public, with numbers pushing towards 300.

With a parade from the Fernie Legion, The Last Post, a two-minute silence, the laying of wreaths and comments and a prayer by Reverend Canon Andrea Brennan and reflections from past legion president, Jennifer Cronin, the day was a return to form for Fernie, which has been without a large, community remembrance day ceremony for the last two years.

In her reflection, Cronin bade attendees cast their minds back to simpler times, the Fernie of decades past and the people who left their homes, families and livelihoods.

“Leaving home and family for a war on a battlefield far from home, packing up and leaving on a train as it pulled away from the station, mothers, wives, husbands and children would press their hands against the window trying to steal one last glance, one last touch, one last smile – Taking a snapshot in their mind of their loved ones, which for some would be the very last time.

“These are our veterans – everyday folk, from everyday walks of life, whose lives were interrupted. Faceless to our enemies, yet family to our friends. Many left home as boys, while on the battlefield they learned lessons in humility and humbleness, discipline, comradeship, life, and sadly death. They learned the fragility of life, the sadness of loss, and the joy of victory.

“So many life lessons, gratefully some of which we will never have to learn.”

Cronin asked attendees to consider the names etched on the cenotaph at the Fernie courthouse, reminding us that they were all real people with hopes and dreams.

In years past the veterans of those wars would have stood to remember their fallen comrades, while today a generation of Canadians to whom those memories are second hand gather to reflect.

“At this cenotaph, the grass beneath the snow grows green, watered by years of falling tears.”

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