At noon on Saturday 128 Canadian flags will be unfurled one by one as a tribute to the 128,000 Canadian soldiers killed or missing in action.
The same sombre ceremony will be taking place in a dozen other communities across Canada from Charlottetown, P.E.I. to Vernon, B.C.
It will be the fourth year the ceremony organized by Veteran Voices of Canada will be held in Sylvan Lake.
Red Deer Legion Pipe and Drum Band will lead the veterans procession at 11:30 a.m. to Centennial Park. Alberta’s Jodie Leslie will sing the national anthem.
A pair of veterans, one from Calgary and another who is travelling from Nova Scotia to take part, will ride the line of flags on horseback, each unfurled as they pass. The Pipe and Drum Band will perform “Amazing Grace.”
“It’s a pretty emotional sight,” said Allan Cameron, Veteran Voices of Canada executive director and a Sylvan Lake resident.
A bugler will perform the Last Post and Reveille and then the names of sponsored veterans will be read out.
Yellow Thunder Aerobatic Team will do a flypast with their vintage Harvard planes.
“It’s going to be another really great tribute,” said Cameron.
The event also salutes past and present military and other front-line service personnel, such as police, firefighters and emergency medical services responders. All have been invited along with the public to take part.
Cameron plans to have a veteran or other service member on each flag. He is still looking for volunteers. See www.vetvoicecan.org
After the ceremony the flags will be planted along Hwy 11 just east of Sylvan Lake and will stay there until after Remembrance Day.
pcowley@reddeeradvocate.com
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