Honouring the brave men and women who paid the cost

Vanessa Courchesne credits her friend's poem for her submission to the the annual Veterans Affairs Secondary Art Contest.

This is Veteran's Week across the country and once again the North Bay District Veterans Affairs Office put together a program honouring the brave men and women who paid the cost so others can enjoy freedom.

An open house at the Shirreff Avenue office and Remembrance Ceremony officially opened the week’s events with students from Sacred Heart School singing ‘Oh Canada’ and reading ‘In Flanders Field’ and the winners of the annual Secondary Art Contest were revealed.

Each year, without fail, students from St. Joseph-Scollard Hall answer the call from Veteran’s Affairs Canada for submissions of art work that pay homage to Canadian Veterans and that also depicts what Remembrance Day means to the students.

Staff members said the depth of the work from the students this year was very deep and evoked great emotion as they reviewed the pieces, however, they also found that four works stood out above the others.

1st - Vanessa Courchesne
2nd – Brittany Lamers
3rd – Christine Boudreau
3rd – Jessica Piekarski

Courchesne says it was difficult to come up with the artwork in the short time provided but says thanks to her friend Maleah Seguin’s poem ‘Old News’ she was able to convey a message.

Old News
By Maleah Seguin

Through the sands I have crawled
Fellow comrades in bloodshed sprawled
Piercing yells and ripping cries
Drowned out by the bomb-filled skies

Women to safety flee; children alone are lost
Scorching desert heat, yet my soul turns to frost
Taliban are scattered few and far…
How many hits till I reach the par?

Protecting innocents is my fate
Working to rid the world of hate
Stories of a peaceful mission now just lore
I find myself in full out war.

I know at home of what they think
Watching TV from the kitchen sink…
Another Canadian, who the battle he braved
In the land of broken hearts so depraved

But this story is nothing new
Except to those, death sensitive few

Scout the area; look ahead
Do it so they don’t shoot you dead
Signal to your partner next
Wonder if you sent the final text.

Scurry on through the rubble and dust
Do it… do it, just because you must
I fought for freedom, now I fight to live
And to my family please forgive.

Mission’s over, lets get out
Heard the orders, the commander’s shout
In the jeep and down the road
Too late to react when it did explode…

I know at home of what they feel
So many deaths, it is unreal!
But it is news they’ve heard before
As I am lowered beneath the earth’s green floor.

Colonel Galvin, Chief Warrant Officer Laroche, Mrs. Anne Van Gorder World War II Veteran, and William Mossip who served in the Korean War participated in a Ceremonial Puck Drop last night before the Skyhawks' game.

The week will come to an end with the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies Tuesday at Memorial Gardens.