News Release
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As a part of the Ceremony of Remembrance at Tweedsmuir Public School, North Bay, Friday November 9th , starting at 10:45 a.m., students and honourable guests will unveil a new and permanent memorial to one of its former students who was killed at Dieppe, Pte Orval McParland. This memorial is a significant improvement and expansion of the small, temporary collection put together last year, and will permanently hang in a place of honour in the school.
It has taken over a year to complete the project which was started in October 2006. The late Mr. McParland has no immediate family living, but photos and documents have been gathered from a niece and from Archives Canada and his war records in Ottawa, with the help of MP Rota’s office. The Maple Leaf Legacy Project provided a photo of Pte McParland’s final resting place in France. Barlow Patten, the principal said “They hadn’t yet got posted onto their website Pte McParland’s grave marker from the little cemetery in France where he now rests, but after I e-mailed them, and told them why I was looking for it, a photo of it arrived on my e-mail in less than fifteen minutes! They knew it mattered.”
(The Maple Leaf Legacy Project is a non-profit organization with the mission of photographing and making available on the Internet a photo of the grave of every Canadian soldier killed in action.)
The Tweedsmuir memorial project has received excellent behind-the-scenes support from the North Bay business community, with Photo-Metro on Lakeshore providing complimentary photo-editing and finishing work and The Framing and Art Center on Trout Lake Road doing the final design and mounting.
As part of the Ceremony of Remembrance, the memorial will be piped into the assembly carried by two Grade 6 students—Orval McParland was in Grade 6 when he designed our school crest, still in use today. It will be unveiled by his neice, Mrs Barb Peterson, a former teacher at Tweedsmuir, assisted by a student representative. A currently-serving Chief Warrant Officer (Army) from CF Base Petawawa will represent Canada’s Armed Forces.
“I didn’t know much about my uncle,” Peterson said. “Everyone in my family who knew him died before I got a lot of information. He died before he had any children. I am so honoured, and my family is so proud, of what Tweedsmuir is doing to keep alive the memory of my uncle.”
CWO Davies will also speak to the children and guests about why it is important to him, and other current members of Canada’s Forces, that memory be kept.
“We are very honoured to have someone of the rank of Chief Warrant Officer come from so far away for this event,” said Patten. “It shows that Pte McParland’s sacrifice is recognized.”
The Last Post and Reveille will be played live on muted trumpet by North Bay musician Ralph Burton. “The Lament” will be piped live on Great Highland Bagpipes. (Pte McParland was a member of a Highland Regiment: the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry—one of the photos in the display shows him in kilt.)
Members of the public and the press are invited to attend this unique event.
There will be excellent opportunities for photos during and after the ceremon. Pupils will be available to answer questions or be interviewed by the Media.
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