{"id":39611,"date":"2017-11-03T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2017-11-03T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=39611"},"modified":"2021-02-07T18:54:33","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T01:54:33","slug":"field-of-crosses-to-honour-vimy-vets-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2017\/11\/03\/field-of-crosses-to-honour-vimy-vets-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Field of Crosses to honour Vimy vets this year"},"content":{"rendered":"

M<\/span>ore than 3,400 white crosses will be on display along Calgary\u2019s Memorial Drive until Nov. 11, honouring the veterans and fallen soldiers of Southern Alberta<\/p>\n

N<\/span>ow in it\u2019s ninth year, the Field of Crosses Memorial Project<\/a> has become an annual tradition for community members wishing to pay their respects to those who gave their lives for their country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has become a Calgary staple,\u201d said committee member, Laura Vandercruk, going on to say the display is important to the city, especially because it is temporary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only up around Remembrance Day, so it really focuses people\u2019s minds on exactly what we\u2019re doing here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vandercruk took the project on after the death of her father, George Bittman, who was head of the Poppy Trust Funds<\/a> and helped to form the Field of Crosses Memorial Project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he died, we wanted to carry on what he started, so we formed a committee, and every year this gets bigger and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year will feature tributes to the 100th<\/sup> anniversary of the Battle at Vimy Ridge.<\/p>\n

There was to be a dedication honouring those soldiers and their families on Nov. 2, following the sunrise flag-raising.<\/p>\n

\u201cVimy was a significant part of Canada\u2019s history and it\u2019s our duty to acknowledge what happened,\u201d said David Howard, president of the Canadian Legacy Project<\/a>, which helps support projects like the Field of Crosses.<\/p>\n

Howard said people forget a lot of Canadian history because they are no longer learning about it in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was taught about Vimy when I was in grade school, but my daughter is seven and so far hasn\u2019t learned anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Rows of crosses: <\/strong>More than 3,400 white crosses on display for the ninth annual Field of Crosses Memorial Project running along Memorial drive in Calgary on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017. The tribute is on display from Nov. 1 to 11, honouring southern Alta. soldiers who died in the line of duty. (Photo by Mitchell Danser\/The Press)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Labels will be placed on all of the crosses of soldiers who died in that battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the dates of when they were born and died, you\u2019ll see that some of these soldiers were kids,\u201d Howard said, adding that they lied about their age to join the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt puts everything in perspective,\u201d said Howard.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s because of people like these, who gave their lives fighting for our country, that we\u2019re able to have what we do today,” said volunteer co-ordinator Donna Wieckowski.\u00a0Over 380 people are lending their time and support to the project this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just amazing,\u201d said Wieckowski.<\/p>\n

Each year, the project gets a wide variety of people coming to volunteer for different reasons.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s only up around Remembrance Day, so it really focuses people\u2019s minds on exactly what we\u2019re doing here. \u2013 Laura Vandercruk<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cMany of our volunteers have no connection to anyone in the ceremony. They simply want to do their part in honouring our veterans and it\u2019s a way of saying thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Veterans will also be involved with the raising and lowering of the flag at the sunrise and sunset ceremonies taking place each day while the installation is open.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though there is a deep respect for our veterans in Canada, we don\u2019t go around telling people how grateful we are.<\/p>\n

\u201cQuite frankly, the best thing you can do when you see a veteran, is simply say thank you for your service. You\u2019ll see tears in the eyes of some, because many have never heard that,\u201d Howard said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 3,400 white crosses will be on display along Calgary\u2019s Memorial Drive from Nov. 1 to 11, honouring the veterans and fallen soldiers of southern Alta. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":430,"featured_media":39641,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S2 Field of Crosses Memorial Project","footnotes":""},"categories":[1136],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-remembrance-day","8":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39611"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39713,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39611\/revisions\/39713"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}