News

Local students and volunteer archivist, Iris S. dug through the archives at Crescent Heights High School in Calgary, Alberta in hopes of bringing back the memory of the fallen heroes and Alumni of Crescent Heights. Pictured is Mike Wilson, Principal and Warrant Officer Glenn Miller standing proudly before the new memorial wall.

Iris is quoted as saying:

Outside the Main Office of Crescent Heights High School is a World War II Memorial which honours Crescent Students who fought inb the war. It is titled

“Crescent Heights High School Students Who Served in the Second World War”

“The Torch They Nobly Held Aloft That Freedom Still Might Give”

The middle panel of the Memorial has the name of 88 servicemen who gave their lives, including well known figures such as William Lidstone McKnight.

The Memorial was created by the Girl’s Association War Service Records Committee. This group was very active firing the war, keeping records of where the servicemen were deployed, sending them Christmas newsletters and Crescent Bugle yearbooks, and answering servicemen letters. In 1946 the committee organized a Welcome Home Night and then with the help of the student body and the Calgary Board of Education funded the WWII Memorial which you see in the picture.

The staff and volunteers of the Canadian Fallen Heroes Foundation who like to express their eternal gratitude to the team at Crescent Heights High School for showing Remembrance in Action and allowing Canada’s younger generation learn the value of remembrance.

For more information on the project and how you can help, please visit the Support section of our website.

Friends of the Foundation, Calgary’s Kerby Centre for 55+ living has featured their Wall of Remembrance in this months edition of the Kerby News. Located in the centre’s “Hall of Valour”, you can walk about the top floor to view the prints and pay your respects to some of Calgary’s 3000 Fallen Heroes. For more information, please read the full length article on page 10.

https://issuu.com/kerbycentre/docs/kn_nov19_web

We wish to send our deepest gratitude to the community organizations, such as the Kerby Centre, for their on-going support of this project. It is only with community spirit like this, we can continue our work in honouring all 118,000 men and women for their sacrifice.

Please visit our online memorials at http://www.canadianfallenheroes.com/in_memoriam.html to view the fallen of your local community.

On Saturday June 22, 2019, the West Smoky Legion Branch No. 244 proudly presented an afternoon of commemoration for the Bezanson Fallen Heroes from WWI and WWII. The Legion had partnered with the Canadian Fallen Heroes Foundation to put a face to the fallen, to share a glimpse into the lives of the soldiers and to preserve their memory through memorials. Bezanson is the 2nd Community in Alberta to have all of their Fallen Heroes Commemorated.

It was an honour and a privilege to be involved in the project to commemorate the Fallen Heroes of Bezanson. The Memorial Plaques will be a constant reminder of the sacrifices made to ensure we can enjoy life as we know it. After the event, I was approached by the great grandson of one of the Fallen Heroes to tell me that he was so moved by the presentation that he is now planning a trip to France next year to see his great grandfather’s headstone. That led me to believe that the event had made a significant impact on the attendees.

This letter has been provided by Wanda Zenner of RCL Branch No. 244.