17 January 2004 by Rick Low: I resized the photos to make them load faster when you click on them. To view all the original hi-res photos, including some not shown on this page, see this listing. Just click on a file name to view a photo.
By Derrick Bouchard
18 November 2003
Ex-Cadet Week-end 2003 has come and gone. There were but 6 of us at the Legacy Dinner on Thursday night (Randy Cooper, James P. Doherty, Tony MacDougall, Tony Hunt, John Carswell and Derrick Bouchard), and we all dined well on quail and other fine food. The dinner recorded a record number of attendees (342 as I recall).
Friday afternoon saw clear blue skies and warm temperatures - not exactly the weather you want for a tough obstacle course, but nice for a leisurely stroll about campus for the spectators.
(Note- all of these pictures are thumbnails. Just click on the picture to see a larger version of it. Click on the back button to return to this page from the enlarged picture.)
Friday night at Fort Henry proved to be a wonderful experience. We were greeted by a piper as we entered the main gate. Our party was held in the Officers' Dining Room at the Fort. At 9 p.m., the music began, provided by a band made up of Roger McIsaac, R.B. Darlington, Steve Sakaluk, and Randy Cooper. We caught them rehearsing in the new cadet band room earlier in the day:
After a few opening remarks by the class secretary, Derrick Bouchard, the M.C. for the evening, James P., took over. First up was a taped message from General de Chastelain, who reminisced about his time with us at RMC, and who finished by wishing all of us well in our lives and careers (stay tuned for the message on this page at some point soon). Another musical interlude followed, and then we watched that movie classic, Red, White and You - there were howls of laughter as we watched many of our fourth years become recruits and then first years, and we were all left wondering if the movie ever really encouraged anyone to join the military to go to RMC. More music followed, and then we were given a chance to tell some "Remember when..." stories. John Carswell told us about his first night at RMC (well, it wasn't actually spent at RMC), Craig Sandiland talked about a road trip in the back of a truck with Mike Secord and Don Olechowski, Dave Christensen and Randy Cooper told us about adventures at AERE training in Borden, Derrick Bouchard talked about BOTC, and Roger McIsaac told us about being one of two Canadian fans at a hockey game at West Point. It was a great evening, and a special thanks must go to the boys in the band for so kindly playing for the rest of us. In all, 86 classmates and their spouses/signficant others attended the function (along with 3 babies!)
Saturday morning, we had a brief class meeting, and Tony MacDougall accepted John Carswell's nomination to be class secretary. Tony would like us to work towards a class project, and will contact us shortly with some ideas. He would also like to make it a priority to get stones laid at the Arch for classmates who have passed away. A class photo was taken. Two versions are available - one without hats, and one with hats (the ball caps were a souvenir of the week-end):
Saturday morning, it was windy, so the decision was made to have the parade at the Field House in the (relatively) new sports centre. The Cadet Wing marched on, there was an inspection, academic awards were presented, and then the First Years joined the Wing. It was a long parade in a warm and stuffy gym, and, after 3 hours of standing motionless, many cadets succumbed to the heat and had to be carried away. Most of us went to the Cadet Mess for a buffet lunch after the parade, and then went to bed to catch a few ZZZs (except for a few keeners who played sports against the cadets).
The Dinner/Dance was also held at the Field House. Our class filled 9 tables of 8 people. There was a lovely buffet supper that included roast beef, smoked salmon, shrimp, and many trays of cheeses, veggies, desserts and other goodies. Music started shortly after, provided by the band, Soul Survivors, who played a wide range of music that kept the dance floor full all evening.
Sunday morning, many of us joined Ex-Cadets from other years and marched to the Arch for a memorial service to fallen comrades. For those of you who may not know, we have lost 4 classmates: Tristan de Koninck, Jeff Jones, Jim Baldaro, and Mickey Scott. After the service, we marched back to RMC. As we came through the gates at the Guard House and marched onto the Square and saw all the red coats there, everyone seemed to get a little sharper and stopped talking, and we all managed to stop together when the "Halt!" was called.
The week-end was over.
In all, 57 classmates returned, and their names are listed in the table below - if you were at the reunion, but don't see your name, please let us know. We were also joined by 31 wonderful ladies, who we were glad to have with us.
If you attended the Friday night bash, but did not pay, it would be appreciated if you could send a cheque to Tony MacDougall as soon as possible - we were hoping to collect $40 from classmates (plus $25 for spouses).
We are also missing 9 red ball caps - you should only have received 1 cap if you were alone, 2 if you were accompanied. If you some how managed to end up with more than that, please send Tony $10 for each cap.
See you in 2008 for our 30th!
| 11742 | Alan Beveridge | 11743 | Henry Blasiak | |
| 11745 | Frank Bognar | 11746 | Derrick Bouchard | |
| 11748 | Dan Bracuk | 11751 | David Button | |
| 11622 | Douglas Campbell | 11623 | John Carswell | |
| 11870 | Dave Christensen | 11872 | Glenn Clarke | |
| 11758 | Randall Cooper | 11759 | Ross Cowie | |
| 11875 | Richard Darlington | 11634 | Bernard DeGagné | |
| 11765 | Jim Desprey | 11639 | Paul Detering | |
| 11766 | James Doherty | 11644 | Luc Dumouchel | |
| 11881 | Robert Dunlop | 11661 | Dave Graham | |
| 11783 | Richard Hagerman | 11784 | Wayne Haggart | |
| 11786 | John Hall | 11787 | James Hanna | |
| 11669 | Joseph Hincke | 11790 | Rodger Hitesman | |
| 11791 | Brian Houlgate | 11898 | Keith Hunt | |
| 11671 | Anthony Hunt | 11509 | Ken Joseph | |
| 11998 | Kevin Kenny | 11801 | Jeffrey Lamb | |
| 11807 | Peter Lenk | 11809 | Richard Low | |
| 11913 | Patrick Lucas | 11386 | Tony MacDougall | |
| 11921 | Roger McIsaac | 11699 | Ian Munro | |
| 12003 | Vincent Muolo | 11828 | Mark Newsome | |
| 11829 | Peter Nixon | 11835 | Robert Reilander | |
| 11954 | Wayne Ridgeway | 11837 | Dale Robertson | |
| 11839 | Steve Sakaluk | 12007 | Bill Samulack | |
| 11955 | Craig Sandiland | 11956 | Gary Saunders | |
| A1201 | John Selkirk | 11720 | John Stacey | |
| 11721 | Lawrence Stevenson | 11722 | Ken Stewart | |
| 11421 | Mark Stokes | 11848 | Frank Vagi | |
| 11732 | John Wenek | 11853 | Jim Wright | |
| 11989 | Lorne Zens |
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