Remembrance Day in Calgary

The sun peaked from the clouds to warm those gathered at the Field of Crosses memorial on a frosty winter’s morning in Calgary yesterday.

Threatening clouds held for the 10.45am Remembrance Day service as about a thousand attended a simple but moving service to remember the province’s fallen service men and women.

There are 3,200 white crosses displayed each year on November 1 to represent each Southern Alberta soldier killed in action, crosses are added as more of the estimated 4000 fallen soldiers are identified.

Each cross is inscribed with the name, rank, regiment, age and date of death of a Southern Albertan soldier from wars since 1899 including the Boer War through the First and Second World Wars, Korean War, Vietnam peacekeeping mission, United Nations peacekeeping missions in the Middle East and Cyprus, and the Afghanistan War.

Whether it’s an Anzac Day ceremony or Remembrance Day service back home stopping to remember can reveal a mixture of emotions from grieving and sadness, to joy and appreciation.

Although we are so far from home the service was very similar to services in Australia.

The Calgary Fire Department marching band commenced the service followed by a youth choir singing the Canadian National Anthem.

There was the reading of The Ode, In Flanders Fields and The Longest Day.

The bugle played and the crowd stood in silence for two minutes.

Usually, thoughts that come to mind are of those lost long ago, grandparents and great grandparents. But yesterday I was consumed by thoughts of the recent lost.

Our AirBnb host told me we could go to another quieter servicer attended by their friends whose brother died in Afghanistan. I remembered that there are people who continue to grieve from war’s effects still today.

My thoughts also turned to those with current serving family members. On November 11 last year my partner was one month into a six month deployment and I remembered the heartache and longing that I felt. I thought of those feeling that pain for loved ones away from home, most likely over Christmas and New Year’s, the birthdays, Father’s Days and anniversaries they would miss.

I noticed most Calgarians took great pride in Remembrance Day. When we stepped off the plane on October 4 the majority of people were already wearing poppies. Buses displayed 'Lest we Forget' and signs up at banks and other government facilities noted closed hours on November 11. We found some shops and malls also closed and families and friends spending genuine time together in the restaurants that were open.

After the service we took time to walk amongst the rows of crosses. Mark noted that although most said 02/09/18 or 31/03/44, some now had to read 2008, and 2006 to show between the centuries.

When I was younger war was something we ‘remembered’ a reminder of the past. Today thinking of that lost soldier, someone's brother, someone's son, war is not in the past for them, will they ever have the chance to ‘forget’?

Do not call me hero,

When you see the medals that I wear,

Medals maketh not the hero,

They just prove that I was there.

Do not call me hero,

Now that I am old and grey,

I left a lad, returned a man,

They stole my youth that day.

Do not call me hero,

When we ran the wall of hail,

The blood, the fears, the cries, the tears

We left them where they fell.