WHOBA - The WHS Alumni Assoc.
WHOBA - the Westmount High School Alumni Association
C/o Westmount High School
4350 St. Catherine Street West
Westmount, QC H3Z 1R1
Canada
steve
Annual Events and Services:
ANNUAL EVENTS: WHOBA - the WHS Alumni Association, annually sponsors and/or participates in three major events. All Alumni are invited so please note the dates and plan to attend. They are:
1. WHS Graduation Ceremony sponsored by WHS, held at the School on Sunday in October, annually, date to be announced and participated in by members of the Alumni.
2. Remembrance Day Ceremony sponsored by WHS, held at the School annualy on November 11th or a prior friday when it falls on a weekend, starting at 10 am, and participated in by members of the Alumni.
3. WHOBA-the WHS Alumni Association Reunion Dinner and AGM is sponsored by the Alumni Association, held at the School on Thursday, usually in May and the date to be announced AGM starts at 5:30 pm, followed by a social. Dinner is served at 7 pm.
See the following for further details.
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TYPICAL REMEMBRANCE DAY CEREMONY 2010
Westmount High School
Remembrance Day
2010
Order of Service
Opening Remarks Mr. M. Crsitofaro& Introductions Principal
Alumni remarks
(see below for details ) Mr. Stephen BrewerPres. WHOBA - the WHS Alumni
Meditation Mrs. Ginette Sauve- Frankel
Commissioner, EMSB
Remarks Ms. Karen Goral
Petty Officer First Class
HMS Donaconna
Lament & laying of the wreaths Mr. Darrel Bowes-Lyon
Master Jonathan Rapacz-Clark
Miss Farhanna Begum
Reading of the Names of The Fallen
World War II (141) Miss Christina Iorio
Master Jermey Andrews
World War I (58) Miss Selahna Pompeo
Master Jayde Dawson-
Gordon
Prayers of Remembrance Ms. Gladys Batin-Baldwin -
Reading of “Flander’s Fields” Master Emmett Keyserlingk
“The Last Post” Mr. Stephen Incze
Moment of Silence
National Anthem
Closing Remarks Mr. M. Cristofaro
& Acknowledgments
Recessional
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WHOBA PAST President steve brewer's remarks:
I want to remind the Alumni that, as every year at this time, there is a special Remembrance Day ceremony at the School to honour the 58 WW1 and 141 WW11 WHS past students who made the supreme sacrifice so that we could live in peace. The Ceremony starts at 10 am in the School lobby at the corner of Clark and St Catherine St. I hope many of you will join us.
Following is part of what I told the Alumni and Grade 11 students present at the Nov 11, 2010, Ceremony:
**********************************************************************The The WHS Alumni return to the School each year at this time to participate with the graduating class, in this Remembrance Day Ceremony in order to remember and give thanks to all the Canadian soldiers and in particular the close to 200 past students of Westmount High School , many who were not much older than you , who sacrificed their lives in the service of their Country so that we might live in relative peace and enjoy our precious democracy and freedom.
As you know, today's Remembrance Day Ceremony is not about glorifying war but rather about remembering the tragedy of it and It enables us to pledge our every effort to avoid it in the future where ever and whenever we can.
In a few minutes some of your fellow students will read aloud the individual names of those past Westmount High School students who sacrificed their lives in wartime on our behalf.
As their name are read, I want us to try and imagine in our minds eye and give thanks to each of these alumni who gave their life, sacrificing their goals, ambitions, pleasures and loves so that we might continue to enjoy ours.
In order to help us do so, I want to tell you the stories of just two of these individuals.
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The first is Lance-Corporal Fred Fisher VC. Who was killed in World War I.
Lance Corporal Fisher lived from 1894 to 1915 and died at the age of 21.
He was awarded the first Victoria Cross to a Canadian in WWI and it is the highest military decoration which recognizes outstanding valour in the face of the enemy in Canada and throughout all the Commonwealth nations. It takes precedence over all other orders, decorations and medals.
Fred Fisher was born on August 3rd, 1894, in St. Catharines, Ontario one of four children. His father, William H. Fisher, was a bank accountant for the Canadian Bank of Commerce. They lived in a large brick home at 197 Church Street, in St. Catherines, and as Fred reached school age, the family moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake where his father managed the Sovereign Bank, then later to Toronto, and finally to Montreal.
Fred Fisher continued his high school education at Westmount High School, where he was an accomplished athlete and all round student .
He was studying engineering at McGill University when the First World War broke out and he joined the 5th Royal Highlanders of Canada (the famous Black Watch Regiment) on August 16, 1914.
In September, he was transferred to the Canadian Expeditionary Force and in October was shipped out to Britain with the First Canadian Contingent.
After arriving in Britain, Fisher was trained on machine guns and promoted to Lance-Corporal where he was put in charge of a four-man machine gun crew.
In February of 1915 the Canadians were moved to France and began to relieve the Seventh British Division.
By April the Canadians were well-established with Fisher's unit next to French colonial troops, in a small detachment in the town of St. Julien.
The First World War was going full force when the Second Battle of Ypres began on April 22, 1915. It was the first major action for the Canadian troops, and the first large-scale use of the Germans' new weapon, poison gas. The attack was directed at the French troops at a time when troops were not issued gas masks. The French were forced to retreat.
Canadian troops were ironically fortunate in that several individuals recognized the green gas as chlorine and ordered the men to urinate in their handkerchiefs, and tie or hold them over their mouths. It may have been unpleasant, but the urine neutralized the gas and likely saved their lives.
The retreat of the French left the Canadian 10th Battery exposed facing direct action from German soldiers. the battery requested assistance and among the men sent to their aid was Fisher. Also ironically, the 10th Battery was from Fisher's home town of St. Catharines.
According to the Victoria Cross citation, Fisher "gallantly assisted in covering the retreat of the battery, losing all four men of his gun-team. He then, obtaining four more men, went forward again to the firing line, and himself was killed while bringing his machine gun under very heavy fire."
Fisher was shot either late on April 23, or early on April 24,1915, and was buried in a shallow trench where he fell. In the confusion of battle the exact location of the trench was lost and so Fisher now lies in one of the many unmarked graves in Flanders Field.
There are many memorials to Lance-Corporal Fisher in Canada including a Provincial Government historical plaque in St. Catharines, unveiled in June , 1970.
if you look to your right, you will see a treasured portrait of our heroic Westmount High School alumni in his Black Watch Uniform, that has hung in the School since I went to Westmount High 55 years ago and probably many years before that.
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The second WHS hero was Sgt. Norman Lachlan Johnston .
Sgt Johnston was killed in the 2nd World War, in 1941 at the age of 22.
Norman was born in Outremont on April 11, 1919. His parents were David and Agnus Johnston who immigrated from Scotland before the 1st World War.
They were Presbyterians and his father worked for the CPR. The Johnston's moved to Westmount and lived at 6 Park Place.
Norman went to Queens Public School from 1926 to 1932, then Westmount High School from 1932 to 1935. After graduation, he took a 1 year business course at Sir George Williams College and then worked in the Insurance Department of the CPR from 1937 to 1940.
When he applied in April, 1940, to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was thought of as "a handsome, well groomed, young man, with brown hair and eyes, who enjoyed sports including rugby, golf, skiing, hockey and swimming.
He was trained as a gunner for 3 months from April to June 22nd, 1940, and then for 7 months as a pilot from July, 1940, to January, 1941, when he was transferred to England on March 6th, 1941, and assigned to the 115 RAF Squadron.
On June 10, 1941, he was made a co-pilot on a Vickers Wellington twin engine bomber which had a crew of 6.
They were assigned primarily to night flights because of the Wellingtons superior navigation equipment and gun sites and relative lack of armament compared to the larger allied bombers.
He and his crew flew 7 successful flights over Europe between June 10th and July 21st, 1941, however, on July 21st at 22:39 hours, 5 Wellington bombers took off from Markham, England but only 4 returned.
Norman's aircraft was flying low over Belgium when they were unable to avert the enemy search lights, and it was shot down over Snaskerke, Belgium before they had an opportunity to drop their bombs. It crashed and exploded in the town, destroying a church, a rail station and a private home and killing all 6 crew and one civilian. The crew were all between the ages of 18 and 23 and their remains were buried and remain in the local cemetery in Snaskerke, Belgium .
On July 23, 1941, a cablegram was received by his parents in Westmount stating that Norman was missing in action and On March 6th, 1942, one year to the day after his transfer to England, they received his Memorial Cross and the official correspondence from the Government of Canada confirming his death.
May they both rest in peace but may their memories and those of their fellows, live on forever, through us..
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I hope many of you will decide to join us, and the Grade 11 students at the School, at the next November 11th Ceremony.
Sincerely,
Steve Brewer
Past- Pres. WHS Alumni
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NB: the above info re Sgt Norman Lachlin johnston was taken from the publication 'RCAF pilot N.L. Johnston's last flight'Written by:Peter Simoens, Joos Griettensstraat 11, B - 8900 Ypres, Belgium. psimoens@scarlet.be_________________________________________________________________For additional products and services provided by whoba click on 'about us' on the right.
ALUMNI PHOTOS:
following are pictures taken at recent alumni dinners at the School etc...
More will follow .............
More will follow .........
PLEASE ALSO SEE OUR 'SERVICES ',ABOUT US' AND ,CONTACT, PAGE LINKS ON TOP RIGHT!
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Board of Directors - 2014/15: See above.
Feel free to contact any one of us c/o the address on the right or the email addresses or phone numbers above.
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whs circ 2010
WHOBA - the Westmount High School Alumni Association
C/o Westmount High School
4350 St. Catherine Street West
Westmount, QC H3Z 1R1
Canada
steve