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Veterans honoured at West Bench Elementary pre-Remembrance Day ceremony

There was song, there were poems. There were bagpipes, there were Indigenous drums. There was even a bit of levity, but mostly it was an event marked by reverential silence as speaker after speaker came to the podium.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

It was a morning of ceremony Wednesday at West Bench Elementary School, where 150-plus students, instructors, parents, members of the community and assorted dignitaries got together for an early Remembrance Day gathering.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

It wasn't the first such ceremony for a school where Remembrance Day packs a little extra meaning.

In fact, the community known as West Bench, just outside the northwest corner of Penticton, was essentially developed from scratch in the 1950s through the Veterans' Land Act, which provided loans and grants for purchasing land and farming gear to veterans and families of military personnel killed in World War II.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

Today, many area homes are still inhabited by descendants of those veterans, which makes West Bench a rather unique spot.

"It’s quite special here," said West Bench PAC chair and event organizer Kristi Tatebe. "We're all living on land that was first Penticton Indian Band land and then was set aside for veterans. And like Richard Cannings (MP and West Bench resident, who was in attendance), many of them are still living in those homes."

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

Typically the event has been held outdoors, just down the street at Selby Park, where a variety of area-specific veterans' memorials were unveiled in 2103. But with a few inches of snow and a whole bunch of ice still on the ground, the decision was made to move the first ceremony since 2019 into the school's gymnasium.

"Kristi approached me this year and asked, 'What do you think about going back to this?,'" said school principal Janice Binding. "So I said we should do it and she took the lead.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

"She said let's get the community involved and let's get West Bench involved and let's get the Penticton Indian Band involved because many of our students live on the reserve."

Arguably the most impressive part of the day? That 100 or so very young kids maintained their cool for a full 45 minutes. Some of them recited, some of them sang, some of them laid wreaths, and all of them were hushed and respectful throughout.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

Making remarks was the aforementioned Richard Cannings, who spoke of the West Bench and his familial attachment, and PIB chief Greg Gabriel, who spoke primarily of Indigenous contributions to Canada's military and continued support for our armed forces.

Also taking a turn at the podium were West Bench residents and wife and hubby, Heather and Chris Allan. She is the alternate RDOS Area F director, he is the architect responsible for the Selby Park redesign. They capably filled the historical gap for anyone who wasn't sure about the West Bench-veteran relationship.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

But the most poignant speaker was retired Capt. Tyler Riches.

Riches is a "modern" veteran. Currently 36 years old, he served in the storied Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. And in 2018, during tryout for the elite Canadian Special Operations Regiment, the Pen High grad broke his back.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who> Retired Capt Tyler Riches at the podium

He was ultimately forced to undergo surgery. And then he was medically released.

Today, Riches has returned to the South Okanagan, where he lives with wife Rimma and daughter Shayna on the West Bench. Indeed, Shayna is a student at West Bench Elementary.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

"I'm happy to be home," he told PentictonNow, adding that he has a good life and is paid a pension. But the impact of the injury and then the surgery has been dramatic, leaving him, he says, "feeling like I'm in my mid-60s instead of my mid-30s."

But Riches, who served in the same regiment as Penticton native Capt. Jonathan Snyder, killed in battle in Afghanistan in 2008 and famously memorialized in 2013 with a lakeside plaque, had a message and it wasn't about personal suffering.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

It was to keep the younger members of the military, the more recent veterans, and those who've sacrificed their lives or well-being since WW II in mind on Remembrance Day.

"Everyone thinks of the World War veterans and I understand that," he said. "But there are guys in their 30s and 40s and 50s who are Afghan vets and saw fighting that was just as bad. Korean vets had the same problem."

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>

Riches said being invited to speak at the school Wednesday was "a huge honour that I'll never forget."

Both he and his family and several other West Bench families will be attending Friday's Remembrance Day ceremony at Veterans Memorial Park in the 100 block of Main Street.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia</who>



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