A larger crowd than usual found its way to the Russell Township municipal office in Embrun on November 11, as the warm weather allowed a lot more people than usual to come. The Russell Legion had its parade earlier in the day in the Village of Russell, and almost everyone who attended was at the municipal office as well. Some technical difficulties at the start meant that the crowd sang Oh, Canada! without any accompanying music, a sombre yet touching development, and then representatives were invited up to place a wreath by the cenotaph
MP Francis Drouin was unable to be there, so Mayor Pierre Leroux placed his wreath as well as the municipal government’s. There were also wreaths for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the Russell Legion, the local high schools, and a dozen other groups.
The ceremony continued with a recitation of John McCrae’s poem, ‘In Flanders Fields’ , followed by the ‘Last Post’ and ‘Reveille’; the two are used to symbolize the connection between a soldier’s last duty, with the final note of ‘Last Post’ marking the beginning of the two minutes of silence, and “rising” above their mortal station in ‘Reveille’.
Finally, the crowd was invited forward to place their poppies on the wreaths and cenotaph.
