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Remember them well

Each year, as we begin wearing our poppies and taking part in ceremonies of remembrance, I’m struck by how quickly the events of 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945 are becoming more and more distant.

Each year, as we begin wearing our poppies and taking part in ceremonies of remembrance, I’m struck by how quickly the events of 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to 1945 are becoming more and more distant. This year, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the armistice, signed Nov. 11, 1918, that brought an end to the First World War. It’s a sobering reminder of how many people died during that conflict – estimated at 16 million – either on the battlefield or as civilians. There are no veterans left from the Great War – the last living veteran was Florence Green, a British woman who served in the Allied armed forces, who died Feb. 4, 2012, at the age of 110. The last veteran to serve in combat was Claude Choules, who served in both the British Royal Navy and the Royal Australian Navy. He died May 5, 2011, aged 110. The last veteran serving for the other side was Franz Künstler from Austria-Hungary, who died May 27, 2008, at the age of 107. The number of veterans of the Second World War is beginning to thin, as well. As of March of this year, according to Veterans Affairs, only 41,100 veterans remain, with an average age of 93. All of these brave men and women deserve to be remembered – as do the residents of Rocky View County who served or lost their lives in combat. On Oct. 20, crosses memorializing those killed in combat during the First and Second World War were erected on Veteran’s Boulevard in Airdrie. It’s worth taking a moment out of your day to stop by and read the names on the crosses. Similar ceremonies will take place across the county in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Day. Airdrie students placed 152 crosses at the Light Armoured Vehicle memorial at the Nose Creek Valley Museum during a ceremony Oct. 29, in recognition of the service and sacrifice of those Canadians who died in Afghanistan and other peacekeeping missions around the world. Students from St. Gabriel the Archangel School in Chestermere will place Canadian flags in the Field of Remembrance at the Garden of Peace cemetery Nov. 5, as part of the No Stone Left Alone program. I am heartened to see the younger generations continuing the practice of remembrance and gratitude that I grew up with. While the World Wars may be fading into the annuls of time, keeping that tradition alive is so important. “Sing a love song for the first to fall. Keep singing ‘til they fight no more.” – Dover, Delaware by Jez Lowe, 2012

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