Calgarians honour fallen at Remembrance Day celebrations

Thousands of Calgarians came out in droves to Remembrance Day ceremonies to honour those in uniform who gave their lives for Canada.

At the Jubilee Auditorium, the Alberta-N.W.T. Command branch of the Royal Canadian Legion hosted its annual service.

Now that the Military Museums’ ceremony has come to an end, visitors are encouraged to lay a wreath at the museum’s Eternal Flame monument.

To North Glenmore Park, the King’s Own Calgary regiment hosted a full unit parade at the 137 Battalion Memorial.

Another morning parade took place in the Beltline district, as the Calgary Highlanders marched at Central Memorial Park.

Night of Lights

Sunday marked the Night of Lights at Calgary’s Field of Crosses, where lanterns are placed in front of thousands of crosses and burned from sunset until sunrise.

Many Calgarians came out to pay their respects to the 3,620 crosses.

The founder of the Field of Crosses Murray McCann says it’s heartwarming to see so many people Sunday night, and this shows that Albertans never forget our soldiers.

“Isn’t this wonderful seeing the crosses,” he said.

“To think that every one of those crosses was once a soldier that lived in southern Alberta and went off to war to keep this country free and gave up his life, and here we are on this glorious evening celebrating and remembering.”

McCann says he thinks the younger generations should be taught more about the sacrifices veterans make in schools.

“So we are trying to reintroduce that back into the school system or with the young people, because we can never forget we’ve helped way too much to just take it for granted. Our freedom wasn’t free,” he said.

Field of Crosses

The Field of Crosses held its special Remembrance Day ceremony Monday.

Officials say parking in the lot next to the field is very restricted, and it’s recommended that people park on the south side of the river in the Eau Claire area and walk across the bridge to access the field.

Memorial Drive in front of the Field of Crosses will be closed from 9 a.m. until the ceremony is complete.

Here are the details of road closures for the ceremony (Nov. 11 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.)

• Eastbound & westbound Riverfront Avenue S.E. access to the Centre Street Bridge will be closed from 9 a.m.-noon
• Eastbound Memorial Drive N.W. to northbound Centre Street will be closed from 9 a.m.–noon
• The right-hand lane on westbound Memorial Drive N.W. will be closed between the Centre Street underpass and 3 Street N.W. between 6 a.m.–1 p.m.
• Please watch for increased pedestrian volume in the area.

More information on Remembrance Day events can be found here.