Field of Crosses honours the Southern Albertans who gave their lives serving Canada. Photo by Stephen Strand
Along Memorial Drive in Calgary, there is a field filled with white crosses, each bearing a Canadian flag, a poppy, a name, an age, a date, and a rank.
This is the Field of Crosses Memorial, which honours those who gave their lives fighting for Canada.
Sean Libin, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Field of Crosses, explains more.
While there is no one buried at that site, each cross represents a person, and each person has their own story.
The Field of Crosses is in place for 11 days at the beginning of November, and each sunrise they have a ceremony, where they raise the flags, play The Last Post, and tell some stories about the group they are honouring that day.
At sunset, they reverse the process.
Some of the groups they honour include the Indigenous people that fought for Canada.
They also recognize the animals that have given their lives for Canada, but they don’t have crosses to represent them.
Libin says that it really moves him to see people visit the crosses during the day.
Libin adds that he doesn’t care when people come to look at the crosses, as long as they still honour those who gave their lives.
Every year, the Field of Crosses is in place from November 1 to November 11.
There are roughly 3,700 crosses installed, and there are multiple crosses that have the same last name on them.
While Libin says it must be horrible to lose a child, he feels it would be unforgivable if we forgot about their child and the sacrifice they gave.
As part of the Field of Crosses, they have an information board that shows the different sets of siblings.
In the Field of Crosses, there are 142 siblings, which includes 5 sets of twins, 4 sets of 3 brothers, and 2 sets of brothers and sisters.
On top of the 3,700 crosses with names on them, they have 120 unnamed crosses that represent the 120,000 other Canadians who gave their lives for Canada.
They also have markers for the Jewish people who went and fought for Canada, and those who won the Victoria Cross for their actions.
Each year, they make sure that the name on every single cross gets said out loud at least once, to make sure the person is not forgotten.
At the Field of Crosses, they educate about 2,200 children a year on Canada’s war history.
The day they celebrate the Indigenous people who fought for Canada is on November 8, which is also Indigenous Veterans Day.
During WWI, as Libin says, the times were different, and Indigenous people were stuck choosing between fighting for Canada or keeping their Indigenous Rights.
And when those Indigenous people who fought for Canada and returned home, they ran into some more issues.
Libin had previously spoke with Windspeaker Media about some of the Indigenous people represented at the Field of Crosses, and you can read more about them here.
The Field of Crosses began in 2009, when a businessman, there were only 300 names they could find, with the hopes they would get up to 800 names represented. Now, they have about 3,700 names and crosses.
Those who wish to donate or help out with the Field of Crosses, head over to their website.
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