The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The following is the address given by Flin Flon Deputy Mayor Bob Dadson on Decoration Day in 1946. This year, Civic Decoration Day has greater significance than ever before. The World Conflict of the past six years is over, with the Allied Forces again victorious. We have won the war - can we win the peace? Yes, we have won the war! And the Town of Flin Flon contributed mightily to the victory. There is no other community in Canada which had such a high percentage of enlistments in all breaches of our Armed Forces. Flin Flon service men and women have served on all fronts and spread that Flin Flon spirit of courage, character and determination throughout the world. Those of us left in town were shoulder to shoulder behind our boys and boosted production of those base metals so vital to victory to record tonnages. Our local service organizations did a great job in sending a steady stream of parcels, letters and local papers, which meant so much of home, to those so far away. By our great contributions to the Victory Loans, Red Cross and patriotic drives, we let our service men know that the Flin Flon spirit continued at home. What is the Flin Flon spirit? I call it that - for no better name. Let us look back a few years to 1929 - a town growing up in isolation - on the rocks and in the muskegs - people of all nationalities, all religions, capital and labour, a melting pot, working together, living together, playing together, building a great industry, and a great town. This isolation in which we grew to maturity enabled us to appreciate the other fellow's point of view, his customs, his philosophy, and his arts and crafts. A Flin Flon spirit was growing - that pioneer spirit, the spirit of getting along with the job and each other. In the fall of 1939, the greatest job of all was thrust upon us. The job of defeating fascism. Flin Flonners to the extent of nearly 1,500 men and women have served in Canadian and Allied armed forces. Most of these boys and girls are now back home with us again - home with their families and back on their jobs. Tomorrow, at Phantom Lake, we folks of Flin Flon are endeavouring in our small way to welcome them back with us and present each with a small token of our appreciation. There are 80 boys who will not be with us tomorrow - they will not be here to receive that scroll which we had hoped to present to them. They lie in all parts of the world, little plots of hallowed Flin Flon ground. They died so that the spirit of Flin Flon could continue in a free and democratic world. Today, this 13th Annual Decoration Day, we are gathered here to revere their memory - let us not forget their sacrifice, their courage, and the Flin Flon spirit. We all knew these boys; we watched them grow through school, in sport, and on the job. They were one of us, and to their parents, relatives and friends, the sympathy of Flin Flon goes out to you. Let us never forget! Yes, we can win the peace! If only nations and peoples could partake of the same spirit of tolerance and philosophy of life as Flin Flonners, there would be no wars, no needless sacrifice, no starvation. To you who have returned to us and to those of us here, these 80 men have left us a challenge! A challenge to keep the Flin Flon spirit alive in a world of unrest, distrust among nations, and industrial strife. Yes, with more of the Flin Flon spirit abroad in the world, the pioneer spirit, the spirit of getting along with the job and each other - yes, we can win the peace!
