WATCH ABOVE: A special memorial currently in Edmonton is honouring the heroes who lost their lives during the Afghan mission. Quinn Ohler reports.
EDMONTON – A special memorial has been set up at City Hall to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan.
The memorial is a collection of plaques, pictures and other items from the Kandahar Air Field. It recognizes the 158 Canadian Armed Forces personnel who died during the 12-year operation in Afghanistan.
Sgt. Shawn Eades is one of 41 Edmonton-based soldiers being remembered. He was killed in 2008 alongside two others when an IED expoded. His widow and his two young daughters came to pay their respects on Monday.
“To have it here is just priceless actually, because you know we’re the capital city of Alberta and we do have a very large population of military here,” said Lisa Schamehorn-Eades. “So it’s giving a lot of people the opportunity to come and see it. Not just military families, but the public as a whole.
“The public needs to see the losses that this country has taken.”
The memorial is making its way across the country, allowing Canadians to reflect on the sacrifices made by its servicemen and women and their families.
It was built by soldiers to commend their comrades and was repatriated at the end of the mission.
So far, more than 300 people have stopped by. The vigil will be at City Hall until August 14. It will then continue on to Saskatchewan and Manitoba, before being permanently installed in Ottawa in November.
With files from Quinn Ohler, Global News
Comments