LAC LA BICHE - For Louise Gauthier, Remembrance Day is vital for observing the sacrifices made by Canadian men and women in conflicts both past and present.
Gauthier, who served 31 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force, was among several veterans who participated in this year’s Remembrance Day ceremony in Lac La Biche at the McGrane#28 branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.
“It’s important that we have this freedom because of those individuals that sacrificed their lives and still continue to do that today,” Gauthier told Lakeland This Week.
Under cold, grey skies, a large group of community residents lined 101St Street and Churchill Drive to watch the customary procession at the local legion’s cenotaph and Eternal Flame, comprised of local firefighters and peace officers, provincial fish and wildfire officers, military veterans, and members of 2995 Lac La Biche Army Cadets.
Members of the Lac La Biche RCMP and a contingent of troops from CFB Cold Lake who normally attend the event, were not at this year’s ceremony.
The event’s agenda included the singing of O Canada, speeches from local dignitaries, the recitation by a local army cadet of the poem In Flanders Field, the lowering of the flag of the flag to the bugle notes of The Last Post, a moment of silence, the raising of the flag and a prayer. Wreaths were then laid at the base of the Legion’s cenotaph.
Dennis Johnston and Cliff Chamberlain were two of many people to place wreaths at the cenotaph.
Johnston, who served as a combat engineer and an aircraft mechanic during his 20 years as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, stated that the significance of Remembrance is to remember all those who served their country.
“We should always remember, of all the lives that were lost…and the cost of war…and it should be prevented,” he said.
On Remembrance Day, Chamberlain, a veteran of the Royal Canadian Air Force and a local legion executive member, keeps alive the memory of his father, a World War II veteran.
Chamberlain, who was in the military from 1966-1972, is a familiar face at the annual ceremonies hosted in Lac La Biche.
“Every year, no matter hell or high water, I’m here,” he said.