The Lacombe and District Historical Society (LDHS) have created a field of remembrance display in honour of the Lacombe soldiers who lost their lives at war.
The display will feature 100 white crosses to commemorate those that gave their lives while serving in the First World War, Second World War, Korean War and Afghanistan War. The LDHS has said they don’t know the exact number of soldiers from Lacombe who died during the war but estimate 100 would be close.
“We decided we didn’t want to accidentally or inadvertently leave anyone out. That’s why we’re going with 100 white crosses just more as a symbolic visual memorial for them all,” said Melissa Blunden, executive director for LDHS.
Wolf Creek Building Supplies generously donated the building materials and the crosses were hand made by Blunden along with other volunteers.
Due to the colder than average October weather Blunden has had to wait for the ground to thaw so the crosses can be properly set up.
She hopes the ground will be ready by Thursday when the memorial will be assembled. The display will be open to the public on Nov. 6 and will remain up until Nov. 15.
The crosses will be set out in the yard of the Michener House on 51 Street for people to stop by and view at their leisure. There will be a QR code for visitors to scan that will take them to a website with an honour roll based off the Lacombe Cenotaph.
This is the first stage in an ongoing project being done in partnership with the Lacombe Legion, Branch 79. They are planning on launching a joint research project next summer to learn more about the exact number of veterans across the county who lost their lives.
“Instead of doing the work separately and doing twice as much we wanted to come together and join forces to make it a bit simpler for both organizations and share our resources,” said Blunden.
The LDHS plans to make the memorial an annual fixture and update the number of crosses and names listed as they dig into the research.
In addition to this physical memorial, LDHS has also released two new virtual exhibits to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the liberation of the Dutch in Holland.
The exhibits are available online and look into how the war impacted people from Lacombe both at war and at home.