Highway of Heroes Remembrance Campaign

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In mid-October of 2010, students in Ontario and British Columbia decided they wanted to sing a new song at their Remembrance Day ceremony. Highway of Heroes is a tribute song dedicated to fallen soldiers and their families.  Written by Canadian rock band The Trews, the song benefits the Canadian Hero Fund scholarship program for the children of fallen soldiers.  The Highway of Heroes Remembrance Campaign is about bringing new relevance to Remembrance Day for today’s school children.  It started with a class of grade 5 students and their teacher, who arranged the music for school choirs, and is spreading to schools nationwide.  We have included the song and full story below.  We hope you are able to bring this amazing initiative to your school.

The Story

Youth serving Youth

In 2009, a group of students at the University of Toronto began their own scholarship fund.  Touched by the number of Canadian casualties in Afghanistan, many of whom were the same age as them, the students wanted to do something to recognize the fallen, and to comfort their families in some small way.  Many of those who gave their lives left very young children behind, and so the group established the Canadian Hero Fund – a scholarship program for the children of fallen soldiers – as a way of providing these children with the same post-secondary opportunities that they had benefited from.

The motto of the Canadian Hero Fund, “keeping their dreams alive,” stands for the dreams of the children that are supported through Canadian Hero Fund scholarships, as well as the dreams of fallen soldiers who wanted more for future generations.

The Highway

The Macdonald-Cartier Freeway is a stretch of road along the Ontario Highway 401.  Since 2002, Canadians have spontaneously gathered on overpasses along the highway where they stand in quiet solidarity every time a fallen Canadian soldiers is carried home.  In 2007, the Ministry of Transportation gave the highway the additional name of Highway of Heroes, in recognition of Canada’s fallen Heroes.

Over 150 soldiers have been carried down the Highway of Heroes since 2002.

The Song

In May 2010, Canadian recording artists The Trews released Highway of Heroes, a musical tribute to Canada’s fallen.  The band members had been high school classmates with Captain Nicola Goddard, the first woman to be killed in Afghanistan.  Moved by her story, and the story of countless others who made the ultimate sacrifice, the band dedicated the song “to all soldiers past, present and future who are carried home on the Highway of Heroes.”  All proceeds from the song go to the Canadian Hero Fund scholarship program.

This Remembrance Day

On October 10, 2010 a music teacher at Riverside Public School in Mississauga, Ontario contacted us about a music score he had arranged of the Highway of Heroes song.  His junior/intermediate choir hoping to perform it at their Remembrance Day ceremony this year.

Then, on October 12, 2010 a music teacher from Harry Hooge Elementary School in Maple Ridge, B.C. told us his Grade 7 class wanted the music to sing along with at their Remembrance Day ceremony as well.

We contacted The Trews and their producer (who were touring in Australia) and they responded within hours giving their full support to students wanting to sing the touching tribute in their schools on Remembrance Day.

The Campaign

The Highway of Heroes Remembrance Campaign is a grassroots movement that started with elementary school students, and is spreading across the country.  The Highway of Heroes song brings a 21st century sound, and a new relevance to Remembrance Day for young Canadian school children.  And this couldn’t be more fitting.  Remembrance Day should be more relevant than ever to today’s young people.  Canadian Hero Fund stresses an apolitical message of awareness – a message that young people, who do not choose where they are sent, are serving our country every day.

Participate

Schools from coast to coast are invited to participate in the Highway of Heroes Remembrance Campaign by making the Highway of Heroes song a part of their Remembrance Day ceremonies.  By uniting with schools across the country to sing, perform, or play this song on November 11th, your student body can engage with a new, living tribute to Canadian soldiers and instill new relevance into the long standing tradition for your students.  Ways you can get involved are:

  1. Playing the song or video at your school’s Remembrance Day ceremony. The song can be downloaded from iTunes, and the music video can be played on Youtube.  The Trews and their management have given full permission and support to schools wanting to play the song or video in their schools.
  2. Having your choir or entire school perform the musical arrangement. The musical arrangement for band and choir can be found below.
  3. Send us footage and pictures of the performance! The Canadian Hero Fund can share your footage with the rest of Canada on our website and through social media.  Please check with your school regarding their policy on sharing pictures and videos on the internet.
  4. Raising money for Canadian Hero Fund scholarships at your school. See ‘Ways to Fundraise’ below.

Ways to Fundraise

‘11 for 11’: From November 1st to the 11th, the Canadian Hero Fund is running a campaign called ‘11 for 11’ to raise money for its scholarship program.  The ‘11 for 11’ campaign asks for individuals to donate $11 on a one-time, or monthly basis, and can easily be incorporated into your Remembrance Week program.

In addition to raising money through donations, the ‘11 for 11’ campaign incorporates an awareness aspect, asking Canadians to do 11 acts of kindness for Canadian military personnel and their families during the first 11 days of November.  Students can write a letter to troops, thank a solider when they see one, do a small act of kindness for a military family in their neighbourhood, wear red on Red Fridays, or a host of other things as a way of showing they care.

For more details about the ‘11 for 11’ campaign visit 11for11.ca.

Civvies Day: Civvies Day gets it’s name from the military, and if your school has uniforms, a Civvies Day during Remembrance Week can be a great way to fundraise.  Collecting $1, $2 or $5 from each student who dresses down can mean that, depending on the size of your school, your students will be donating enough for a course, or a semester’s worth of books for the child of a fallen soldier.

Musical Score

//Highway of Heroes Music Score //    //A Capella SATB Choir Arrangement//

“What inspired me to arrange this piece.  In September, two of my school colleagues approached me with an idea for a song to be performed at Remembrance Day.  Both are big fans of The Trews, and both had heard the song at concerts this past summer.  The song happened to be their new piece, Highway of Heroes.  I, personally, had never heard or heard of the song until that day.  After watching the video and hearing the music for this song, I quickly decided that this would be an inspirational piece for my students to perform.  Trouble was, there was no music for it.  So, I took to transcribing the music from ear, arranging the music for the instrumentation that is easily available at my school.  The soprano recorder part could easily be transposed up the octave to accommodate a flute or violin player – whatever your school has available through school instrumentation or student ability.

Musically Yours,

Adam Brox

Grade 5/6 & Music Teacher

Riverside PS, Mississauga, Ontario”