Annual Airdrie Memorial Crosses Parade; 'Take an hour other than Remembrance Day to come out'

On Saturday, Airdrie will commemorate men and women, who in past and present were called to the highest altar of sacrifice for the most universal human need; freedom.

 

Allan Hunter, a National Service Officer for The Army, Navy & Air Force Veterans in Canada (ANAVETS) who is coordinating the Annual Memorial Crosses Parade, said that the event underscores the fact that wars that are being fought in foreign lands are much closer to home than many may think.

 

"Last year, we had a number of Afghanistan veterans place crosses of the brothers that who laid their lives down in Afghanistan," Hunter said "We started out with 22 crosses many years ago, and I believe this week, we're at 53."

 

Hunter underscored that while many think of the war dead as those who perish on the battlefield, there are those dying right here in Canada after they come home from the battlefront.

 

"The hardest thing I've ever done is this past year, when I went to the funeral of a 47-year-old brother,  "I watched six of the seven kids carry his casket out to out to the hearse. He came home and he was never able to heal."

 

Hunter said that while remembering on Remembrance Day is important, there should be more time devoted to those who answered their country's highest calling.

 

"Freedom is an action word. It means you have to stand up and you have to stand for something, Hunter said. "If we're not going to stand for something, we're destined to continue to be burying people in vain."

 

The Annual Memorial Crosses Parade will start at approximately 10:30 A.M. 

 

"We encourage everybody with motorcycles or even if you don't have a motorcycle and you want to be part of this come out and support us," Hunter said. "We go down East Lake Boulevard, up Yankee Valley Boulevard, up Eight Steet and over to Veterans Boulevard."