It is always great to see the number of people that take time on November 11th to attend the Remembrance Day Ceremony in Drumheller.
The Badlands Community Facility was jammed with locals showing their respect for those that have fought for our freedom. A special treat this year was the Alberta Sheriffs Pipe and Drum Band who attended.
According to Royal Canadian Legion Branch 22 President Ron Evans, they were preparing for a large crowd and were not disappointed. “One thing I noticed in the setup of the space yesterday, the BCF staff actually put in several extra rows of seats compared to last year. As we all saw, those seats were very quickly filled up, there were plenty of people standing on the sides two deep or three deep. The support from the Town of Drumheller and area, to fill up this room, incredible and year after year.”
As was mentioned earlier, the added bonus of having the Alberta Sheriffs band on hand was very memorable for Evans. “I’m going to have to say the pipes and drums. The sound, the feeling it gave, I felt a huge sense of pride of being Canadian and a veteran.”
Evans was also presented a special gift before the ceremony from one of the attendees. “A lady and her daughter, friends of the Royal Canadian Legion, handed me this poppy that has been flattened inside a picture frame, and on the other side of the fold up frame is the poem ‘In Flanders Fields’ written by Major John McCrae. It will be put up in the Branch, don’t know where, but this is an incredible thing and another example of the people of our community supporting our veterans.”
2025 is the 80th year since the end of World War II and Evans acknowledges that conflict continues throughout the world which confirms the need for Remembrance Day. “Unfortunately, we still have had conflicts since then, the Afghanistan’s, the Bosnia’s, the tours that our Canadian Forces members are on currently as we sit here today. Unfortunately, we are always going to have some conflict to remember. Canadian Forces step up to the plate, every single time.”
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