The following letter was submitted by Jason Peck, Red Deer County, written by his late uncle. It was originally written in 1991.
We all have memories that stay with us all our lives. One in particular I will never forget.
We were on a training mission with the Alberta Light Horse and the Militia at Sarcee Camp west of Calgary over 50 years ago. A bishop from Calgary came to deliver a sermon to the troops. A hot sultry day with that ominous stillness just preceding a storm.
The troops were all assembled on a hillside, foot soldiers and the cavalry unit standing by their horses, holding them by the bridles. The scent of horse flesh and saddle leather perfumed the air. The faint jingle of bits and bridle, the creak of saddle leather and horses occasionally snorting and pawing the ground as they become restless with the approaching storm.
The Bishop commenced his sermon by telling us the value of the human body in dollars and cents, so much lime, calcium, etc., approximately $1.30.
As he continued the wind came up and huge dark clouds rolled in ever closer from the mountains to the west, and his voice over the public address system sounded almost like the voice of God speaking to us from the clouds.
As he closed his sermon, he described to us how although our bodies may only be worth $1.30 the value of the human soul is beyond all measure, for all eternity. At the close of the sermon the troops marched off the field and over a hill to the west towards the on-coming storm, led by foot soldiers and the Highland Pipe Band, then the cavalry unit.
As they disappeared over the crest of the hill, with the sound of the pipes growing fainter and fainter, it looked as if they were marching straight into the rolling black clouds with jagged lightning flashing and straight into eternity.
Shortly thereafter the Second World War broke out and many of those young men did, indeed, “march into eternity” to keep our country free.
Let us hope we never forget them and we will always keep this beautiful country free, in spite of politicians.
John Carr Robinson (1916-1997), Wapoose Ranch, Innisfail