Nov. 11

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School glee club prepares for Remembrance observance

The sound of soft voices is echoing through the music room at Holy Cross Catholic Elementary School, in East York. It’s the music of a famous Beatles tune.

“Let it be, let it be, let it be,” Alexandria Hunters, 11, sings with her classmates and vocal teacher, Patricia Hinschberger.

The Holy Cross student glee club is rehearsing for the school’s upcoming Remembrance Day ceremony.


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Veteran distributes poppies and awarenss

Morris Polansky worries that Canadians don’t understand the relevance of Remembrance Day.

“I spend a lot of time with the Legion, and we spend a lot of time delivering great bags of poppies to schools,” Polansky said.

Polansky, 95, is a Jewish-Canadian war veteran, who works with the Royal Canadian Legion to distribute poppies to different Toronto schools and subway stations. He is the vice-president of General Wingate Legion, Branch 256, the only Jewish-based branch in the organization.



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Afghanistan war vet pauses to remember fallen comrades

In the days leading up to Remembrance Day, Nick Fusca takes time to remember comrades from the War in Afghanistan.

“On my last tour, in 2006, we had six soldiers in my (brigade) who were killed in Afghanistan,” Fusca said.

Fusca particularly grieves for his good friend, Pte. Mark Anthony Graham, 33, who was killed in a friendly-fire incident on Sept. 4, 2006, in Afghanistan.

“A couple of those guys were close friends of mine,” he added. “To me, Remembrance Day is very important in remembering them and supporting their families.”


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East York students prepare Remembrance Day program

On Tuesday, Narin Shamasi joined her classmates in the gym at Jackman Avenue Junior Public School in East York.

As a recording played out the music, Narin swung her arms behind her back and then back in front of her chest in a prayer motion; occasionally she froze in a tableau.

“All my life I’ve been waiting for, I’ve been praying for people to say … ‘We don’t want to fight no more,’” the song says.

She was preforming to the song “One Day,” by Matisyahu, a Jewish-American reggae vocalist.

“I always sing the song in my head and then I look at myself as if I’m doing it,” Narin said.


Veteran recalls his deadly role in D-Day invasion

On a moonlit night in June 1944, Martin Maxwell, a glider pilot with Allied forces, landed his aircraft near a bridge in Normandy, France. He then joined invasion troops seizing the bridge and quietly killing the German sentries with bayonets. Maxwell, 20, hadn’t even finished high school.

“It didn’t feel good, let me tell you that,” he said. “It changed my life; the war made me who I am.”

Maxwell, now 92, was born in Austria in 1924. He will be speaking of his service in the Second World War during a Remembrance Day observance at Centennial College’s East York campus on Nov. 11.


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Former British volunteer helped decode wartime German messages

The loss of a personal friend pushed Theo Hopkinson to volunteer in the Second World War. At the time she lived in Cardiff, Wales, where German aircraft regularly bombed the city docks.

“One day, when I was at school, I was sent home to see why one of the girls in my class hadn’t come (to class),” Hopkinson said. “I walked to her house and bodies were being brought out.”

During the aerial raid, bombs fell on her classmate’s house and exploded. Then only 17, Theo decided to volunteer for the military.


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Westwood students learn meaning of war and peace

As they have for the past three years, on Remembrance Day, the students at Westwood Middle School in East York will read aloud the names of soldiers who attended the school in the past and who died in the Canadian armed forces. And while Principal Marc Sprack reminds the students of the need for peace in the world, he recognizes the opposite still exists. “Peace is part of war,” he said. “(But) we can’t just talk about peace without offering the dichotomy.”


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She sells poppies to honour her father

It’s rush hour. Amid the buzz of conversation and crush of passersby at Scarborough Town Centre, Sarah MacIntosh sits at a table adorned with red poppies. “My father belonged to the army. He was… in World War II and I just carry on his legacy,” she said.


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Cadets gain education and sense of respect

Moera Hunter wears the uniform of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets to help her understand the significance of Nov. 11. “It brings honour,” she said.

Moera, 12, joined the Air Cadets two months ago. During the lead-up to Remembrance Day, she’s been selling poppies for the first time on Pape Avenue in East York even in freezing temperatures and chilling winds.

“I think everyday people … every race, culture, generation, religion, all of them should remember … (those) who have given them all that they have today – the freedom, the ability to walk onto the street,” she said.