Like most other special events in 2020, Remembrance Day services in Airdrie are being scaled back this year with the Airdrie Legion only holding a small ceremony for around 100 people at the cenotaph and cancelling their normal large service at Genesis Place.  

Yesterday (October 31) a ceremony went ahead in the city to honour the fallen who have served Canada.  Around 45 white wooden crosses, with the names of soldiers who have passed away, were placed on the Field of Honour located on Veterans Boulevard after a parade of motorcyclists and police escorts that left from the Town and Country Centre.  A colour party and members of the public paraded to the Field of Honour to place the crosses.

Former Airdrie City Councillor Allan Hunter is a National Service Officer with the Army, Navy, and Air Force Veterans Association (ANAVETS).  He says the Field of Honour started around 10 years ago with 29 crosses along Veterans Boulevard.  The 45 crosses placed this year means sadly that 16 more veterans have been lost since that time.  The thought of the most recent loss brings Hunter close to tears.

"One of our veterans has lost a number of brothers that he served with in Afghanistan, one very recently.  On October 14th he lost his battle with PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) and took his own life.  It's absolutely heartbreaking that we've lost another one but that's why we're doing what we do to call attention, not only to the fallen but also the ones who have come home and really haven't left the war behind."

The Field of Honour will remain up until the weekend after Remembrance Day.  Hunter hopes that parents will take the opportunity to go to the field with their children and reflect on the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom. 

"To teach their kids and look at the names and look at where they fell and those kinds of things and to realize that we've got some really young people who have given their lives in the name of freedom and democracy and we need to cherish that.  In this day and age when things seem to be so divided, we can all come together and honour those who paid the ultimate price in making sure that we do have the ability to have freedom and democracy."

Hunter is also hopeful that veterans will use the Field of Honour to gain some emotional healing. 

"Coming to a better place in their own minds.  Some of the things seen in war, humans shouldn't see and once it's imprinted on your mind it's almost impossible to get rid of.  These are the horrors of war and to help our brothers and sisters that are struggling with PTSD and struggling with the things that come with it, it can be homelessness, broken families, this is one of the small pieces to help them put life back together and to heal and really reach out and tell them Canadians do care about you and we're going to support you and we really will say we will remember them.  In the morning and at the going down of the sun, we will remember them."