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They walked the same halls: Sud Sec remembers 11 alumni killed in WWI

Sudbury High School, precursor to Sud Sec, opened its doors in 1909, and some former students died in Europe's killing fields

Wilfrid Carroll. Felix Clemow. John L. Curley. Vernor DeMorest. Harry Greenwood. William Irving. Guy Johnson. Russell McIntyre. Joseph Potter. Maurice Rowat. Wesley Tuddenham.

The names of these 11 Canadian soldiers who fought and died during the First World War more than a century ago were read aloud during a Remembrance Day ceremony at Sudbury Secondary School on Monday morning.

They died in a variety of ways — killed in action, died from wounds or from illnesses such as pneumonia and blood poisoning.

The soldiers, whose names are immortalized on a bronze plaque that hangs at the school, have something in common with the students that attended the ceremony: at one time, they also walked the school's halls.

All of the aforementioned soldiers are alumni of Sudbury High School, the precursor of Sudbury Secondary School, which opened its doors more than a century ago, in September 1909.

“I think we have a rather unique history that not a lot of other schools have,” said Sudbury Secondary teacher Wayne Cuculick, who organized the ceremony.

With Nov. 11 being the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the First World War, special emphasis was placed on the century-old conflict at the school's Remembrance Day service this year.

Although they attend high school at the same location as these long-ago soldiers, Cuculick said his students are very far removed from the First World War, so it's important to educate them on the conflict.

“We haven't had a conflict that's been of the same magnitude,” he said. “They just don't know. Things like these are very important so they don't forget.”

Besides hearing about Sudbury High alumni who served in the First World War, seven-decade-old letters from alumni who served in the Second World War were also read during the ceremony.

In 1944, the school sent care packages to alumni serving in the armed forces, and received a number of touching thank-you letters. Those letters are on display at Sudbury Secondary's library if you'd like to read them.

The ceremony at Sudbury Secondary — now an arts high school — also included an original song about war performed by four students.

More traditional elements, such as the reading of “In Flanders Fields” and a trumpeter playing the Last Post, were also included.

Student Alyssa Desanti spoke about her great-great grandfather, John Albert Lineham, who enlisted in the armed forces in 1916, lying about his age to be accepted.

Lineham, who was born in London, England, but spent part of his life in Copper Cliff, was just 15 years old when he went off to war, the same age his great-great granddaughter is now.

He served in France for two years, fighting in the First World War battle of Passchendaele and surviving. “They were kids, you know,” she said. “I don't think I would ever be able to do anything like that at my age.”

Desanti said hearing the names of Sudbury Secondary School alumni who died in the First World War is overwhelming.

“They were people who walked through these hallways, who came here, lived here, had their own lives and aspirations,” she said.

Royal Canadian Legion Branch 76 member Lionel Rudd, who helped to organize the ceremony, said it's important to give today's kids a sense of the history of their country and community.

“If you don't have some sense of where you came from and what the past is, you really have something missing,” he said.


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