Our Veterans, Their Stories: Veterans’ Week concert
By Trident Staff
The Stadacona Band of the Royal Canadian Navy, along with 12 Wing Shearwater Pipes and Drums, honoured the service and sacrifice of military members past and present at their annual Veterans’ Week concert, held on November 6 at the Spatz Theatre in Halifax, NS.
S1 KARINE CHARETTE-GOURLIE
Through music and video, the event, ‘Our Veterans, Their Stories’, paid tribute to veterans with a diverse range of selections, including Highway of Heroes, a song written by the Trews in memory of Captain Nichola Goddard, who died in Afghanistan on May 17, 2006 and was the first Canadian woman killed in combat, as well as Footprints of a Giant, written by Dean Brody in memory of Corporal Nathan Cirillo, who was killed on October 22, 2014, while standing guard on ceremonial duty at the Canadian National War Memorial in Ottawa.
The musical programme also included a selection of pieces played by 12 Wing Pipes and Drums in honour of the six military members who died on April 29, 2020 after the CH-148 Cyclone helicopter they were on crashed in the Ionian sea while deployed with HMCS Fredericton on Operation Reassurance: Master Corporal Matthew Cousins, Sub-Lieutenant Matthew Pyke Abigail Cowbrough, Captain Kevin Hagen, Captain Brenden MacDonald, Captain Maxime Miron-Morin, and Sub-Lieutenant Abigail Cowbrough, who had been a member of the pipe band.
“As we commemorate and remember our veterans, let us keep close to heart the deep debt we owe our veterans, our fallen and their families,” said Rear-Admiral Brian Santarpia, Commander Maritime Forces Atlantic and Joint Task Force Atlantic, in his address at the concert.
The concert, which is held each year in collaboration with the Camp Hill Veterans’ Memorial hospital, began with a video compilation of Camp Hill veterans enjoying a performance of the Stadacona band earlier in the fall, highlighting the importance of the Camp Hill music therapy program.
“As a serving member, spending time with veterans is a huge thing for me,” said Sailor First Class Emily Bellman, who plays trumpet with the Stadacona Band and takes part in the music program at Camp Hill. “For me, this is what it’s all about, being in the band and part of community outreach, but also speaking with veterans, getting to meet them and listening to their stories.”Moving video montages and music also paid tribute to the 80th anniversary of the Wrens, the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS), as well as Terence Barnes, a former Camp Hill resident and former Associate Director of Music at the Stadacona Band.
