Well over 100 people attended the 100 Mile House Remembrance Day Ceremony.
With no snow and clear skies members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 260, the 100 Mile House Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, the 100 Mile RCMP, 100 Mile Fire Rescue, 2887 Rocky Mountain Rangers Royal Canadian Army Cadets, the District of 100 Mile Council, the 100 Mile Girl Guides and 100 Mile House Wranglers marched down Birch Avenue to the 100 Mile Community Hall. Dozens of attendees lined the streets to watch and filed into the hall for the celebration.
Legion president Wayne Coulter said he was happy to see so many people attend the ceremony. Coulter noted that he was especially pleased to see so many young people in the crowd this year.
“All the support of our Legion members and the community was incredible. For me personally, it was awesome to see all the young faces out there,” Coulter said. “Remembrance Day is a special day but seeing all the young people made it just that more special.”
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When young people attend Legion events like Remembrance Day, Coulter said it’s an opportunity for veterans to pass on their stories to the next generation. He said it’s important they learn about the sacrifices the armed forces have made for us who live in peace today.
Following the playing of the Last Post and two minutes of silence, Coulter took the time to read a statement supplied by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In it, Trudeau noted that 2024 will see the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings where Canadians, Americans, the British and other nations invaded Normandy and took the fight to Nazi Germany.
“On June 6, 1944, over 14,000 Canadians, along with our allies, stormed Juno Beach and achieved a critical victory. These heroes demonstrated tremendous courage as they fought for freedom, human rights and democracy,” Trudeau said. “For over 100 years we have donned our poppies and observed a minute of silence on the eleventh hour, of the eleventh day of the eleventh month for those who fought for our country. We are forever in their debt.”
Retired RCMP Cpl. and pastor Clint Lange offered up a prayer for those who have fought and died in wars across the world. Lange said that freedom is fragile and is never more than a generation away from extinction.
“We must remember how quickly it can be lost. Over the last century all over the world, there have been great battles fought for the preservation of liberty and the liberation of oppressed peoples,” Lange said. “Tyranny has always been spawned through selfish ambition as people have tried to exercise power to benefit themselves at the expense of others.
“The victory of freedom over tyranny has never been easy, it’s always been won through the tremendous sacrifice of those who loved their country and were willing to fight for a cause greater than themselves.”
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Respect must also be paid, he said, to the men and women who serve today in our armed forces and police.
“They stand in the gap and resist evil and injustice in the world. To preserve the peace and to uphold the freedom paid for in the spilled blood of our veterans,” Lange said.
Following the ceremony, Coulter said that things went so well there were a couple of times they ran ahead of schedule. Thankfully he said the Eclectica Community Choir were able to fill the gaps with song, which he joked was preferable to him singing himself.
On more serious business, Coulter took the opportunity to address the crowd on an important issue the Legion is working to resolve. He said the plaque honouring 100 Mile House’s UN Peacekeeper Veterans on the Cenotaph has been missing now for over a year.
Anyone who has any information on its whereabouts or may possess it is asked to return it to the Legion. A reward is being offered by a private member of the Legion, Coulter said.
“Even if someone has a picture of it. We haven’t even got a picture of it right now, so we can’t get a replacement made up. If we can get a picture of it the Legion will pay for it to be made and back on there,” Coulter said. “If anyone has a picture of that UN Peacekeeper plaque please bring it by the Legion, we’re open Wednesdays and Saturdays 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.”
